More than 30 students forced to sit on hot bus
Last Updated on 2/11/2012
Published on 6/23/2009
By Scott Harper
sharper@gtowntimes.com
A group of gifted and talented students from the Waccamaw Neck were forced to sit on a hot school bus Monday afternoon after the driver felt it was unsafe to keep driving.
The 6th-12th grade students, who are bused from the Waccamaw Neck, are participating in a three week program at Georgetown High.
One parent whose child was on the bus with at least 30 other students called police to El Cerro Grande on Church Street where the bus was parked.
She told police she received a call from her daughter who was stuck on the bus who said the driver "refused to operate the bus because of some sort of disturbance that occurred."
The woman said when she and some other parents arrived at the restaurant, the driver "refused to let any of the children off the bus even when the parents demanded their children."
One parent, according to the report, got into a scuffle with the driver in an attempt to get her child.
The parent told police her child - as well as some other children on the bus -- have various medical conditions.
There is disagreement about how long the bus was stationary.
Another woman who had children on the bus she takes care of called the Times and said it was more than an hour. She said the bus arrived on the Waccamaw Neck before 4 p.m.
School district spokesman Ray White said the bus did not leave Georgetown High until 2:45 p.m.
"We are looking into what happened and are checking the timelines," he said.
The caller said she was told the students were being loud on the bus and the driver pulled over and warned them.
White said the bus stopped the first time because of a funeral procession.
Once the bus was moving again, some of the students started to cheer, the woman said. That is when the driver pulled in the parking lot refusing to drive any further.
"She had a hissy fit, cursing at some of the parents. She got into a shouting match with some of them in front of their kids," the caller said.
See BUS, Page 2A
"Those kids should not have been left on that bus in the heat."
White said the driver felt the students were being unruly.
"Our drivers drive so many miles safely and they do that because of procedures that have to be followed," White said. "Children on a bus need to behave."
White said a driver's main priority is safety.
"She made a judgment call that it was unsafe to go on," he said.
Another driver is now running the route as the investigation takes place, White said.
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I am part of the Gifted and Talented Program and was one of the students that rode that bus on Monday. None of this would have happened if the people in the back (a large group of friends) would have been quieter and actually listened to the bus driver. Seriously, those people were rude to her when she was just trying to get us to the high school safely. I was towards the front of the bus and she stopped and told everyone to be quiet so she could drive. Right when she started back up again, the same people in the back started to clap and cheer. She stopped again at El Cerro and called some administrators to come down. Some people started to call their parents to come pick them up and that's when one of the parents came in and demanded the bus driver to let her kid off the bus. THE TRUTH IS: the bus driver never cursed or yelled at those parents. The articles states that the caller said that, but I was there and everyone was quiet during the parents little spat. The bus driver just put her arm on the seat and wouldn't let the other kids off because she called Mr. Tester, the director of the Gifted and Talented Program, and he was going to give us a "talk". After he left, we continued on the bus route to Pawleys and everything was back to normal. I don't think that the bus driver should have made us stay on that bus for that long, but I do think that the callers probably gave exaggerated information (probably the parents of the students). I listened to the whole thing. Also, those kids in the back should learn to respect others because that lady was just trying to do her job, and it's not going to work if you just yell in her ear continuously. I don't think you could drive a bus with kids getting out of control. That's all I have to say. Posted by on 6/26/2009 |
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My question here is this - if this is a school function were there not any supervising teachers on the route as well? Were the students unruly, or summer school kids, or what? I tend to believe in this - only believe half of what your kids say to you in situations like this, because it tends to get over exaggerated - I get that it was hot, but I'd rather have my child sit on a hot bus than have my child in an unsafe environment stranded without a setback on Highway 17 - Posted by on 6/25/2009 |
