This is horrendous.

[frugal50]

I hope she takes that money and gies on a long voyage!

On the other hand, her not wanting to press charges: doesn't that just tell those brats that what they did to her wasn't very important? That they can walk away with a slap on the hand by the school?
They deserve to be made examples of! They're too young for tarring and feathering, but SOMETHING!!!!

she's probably a very forgiving person with low self-esteem, not everyone are made of stone.

[DaveP]

she's probably a very forgiving person with low self-esteem, not everyone are made of stone.

I'm with you on the forgiving person part, but I don't think she has low self esteem. A lot of,people with low self esteem would have blown their stack under those cicumstances.

[thriftygranny]

I couldn't finish the video either. She must have amazing self control to be the better person and take that. Probobly one of the most disturbing things I have watched in a long time. I am hoping those kids will be punished accordingly. Unfortunatley i think behaviour like that comes from upbringing ...a learned behaviour. I really hope all the examples and lessons I taught my children and the importance of empathy and kindness has stuck. I know kids act differently when out of sight but If recognized one of those children as being mine I don't think I could have them come home , they would be at boot camp.Honestly I couldn't look at my child the same for a long time and I would question my ability as a parent. Just a sad sign of the times.

[Lynn49]

I'm with you on the forgiving person part, but I don't think she has low self esteem. A lot of,people with low self esteem would have blown their stack under those cicumstances.

I agree, Dave.....personally, I believe in forgiveness, AND I believe in justice.
What I don't believe is that they are mutually exclusive.

[Lynn49]

I'm SO pi$$ed off right now! I was watching HLN, as I usually do each morning, and Robin Meade read comments that had been sent to them thru twitter, and I'm SO angry at the people who blame the parents!!
One said the parents should wear a sign that reads: my kid bullied the bus monitor!!

Listen: you can raise a child in the best way possible, but when they head out that door, and meet up with their peers, you have absolutely no control over what that kid does! Alone, he or she may never, ever do such things. But collectively, when one starts, others feel it's 'cool' to chime in. It's the old "mob mentality". One would hope one's little darling would never do such a thing, because...well, they're such angels at home! And what about families with multiple kids, where only one of them goes rougue?!
No. We cannot assume it's the fault of the parents, although yes, we've all seen some parents on tv holding hate signs, but I'm talking generally here. Innocent until proven guilty. That goes for parents, too.
GAH! My blood is boiling! I'm hoping those twitters are coming from young twits who have yet to raise a kid and have NO clue what it takes and what a truly difficult job it is!

[muggos0101]

As horrible as bullying is, I can't decide if it's good or bad that when I clicked on a link here http://thedailywh.at/tag/bus-monitor/ there was another 'revenge' link http://pastebin.com/V11jTyCw

[bairdgoodwin]

Close to $400,000 raised for this lady!! Hopefully she can retire, but I wonder if she will accept the money. If it was me I'd feel a little guilty accepting that much money. She's seems like a pretty calm lady to put up with that and although I'm sure those words hurt, she knows they're just kids and maybe it's just water off her back. She doesn't want to hurt anyone's future by pressing charges. I think she's just trying to be the better person.

[hollyquaiscer]

Unfortunately things like this go on everyday in schools. It is very sad that I sit there and watch this and this lady does nothing to defend herself or try to stop this. I am in no way blaming her, but it is evident that she should not be doing this type of job. It looks to me like these kids are about middle school age so they do know better.

The school board seems to be this as just another incident that can be stopped by having another "assembly on bullying" This is not right. Should these kids not be banned from the bus??? Maybe with the parents forced to find alternative arrangements to get there kids to school, they might take action to stop their kids from this type of activity.

Clearly the school board needs to have a good look at the type of personalities they are hiring to be bus monitors. This lady would be better for a k to grade 3 bus, but not for older children. I have always worked with teens in a jr. high/high school setting, (the ones that would rather tell you where to go and how to get there, then go smoke drugs and drink, than be in school learning, and it takes an outspoken personality to deal with these kids.)

I want to scream when I see this type of abuse!

[Natalka]

Holly, she said herself that she normally would have said something to try put a stop to it - but it seemed that this obviously wasn't the first time, and it was enough for her... easier to let it just go on.

I think it's not that they should be banned from the bus, but how about being expelled from school - and make those darlings walk to their new school in a different division... hm, wonder if that would inconvenience the parents?
I was hoping there would be lots of discussions in lots of homes over the past two evenings, but have yet to hear of any real consequences for these little darlings.

[hollyquaiscer]

[QUOTE=Natalka;4783118]Holly, she said herself that she normally would have said something to try put a stop to it - but it seemed that this obviously wasn't the first time, and it was enough for her... easier to let it just go on.

I think it's not that they should be banned from the bus, but how about being expelled from school - and make those darlings walk to their new school in a different division... hm, wonder if that would inconvenience the parents?
I was hoping there would be lots of discussions in lots of homes over the past two evenings, but have yet to hear of any real consequences for these little darlings.[/QUOTE

Speaking from a point of seeing what happens when teens get expelled from school....unfortunately the parents have to go to work, so this leaves the teen usually unattended. Thus....playday, even if parents said they are grounded. All to often when our school had expelled a teen, I would see them out about town (I worked in a school with a population of only 12,000). The teens treated this like days off school, and I always found it did more harm that good. We would put teens with this type of behaviour in a supervised room for a week or two and they had their schoolwork brought to them. At lunch and breaks, they had no friends as we would give them their lunch at a different time. They hated it, and often we would never see that behaviour again. If they were reprimanded at home, by the time school was out, a parent would be home or home shortly after, so no time for play.

Yes, she mentioned this is not unusual, but she should have requested a change as I don't think this was the bus for her. The kids obviously did not respect her, therefore causing these types of situations. Someone should have taken charge of this situation.

[Natalka]

Max Sidorov of Toronto - saw a great interview with him on tv this morning, how he was just hoping maybe to raise a few thousand dollars over a month to give her the chance at a vacation, but once he posted on a social site, it just grew and grew.

What a wonderful man with such a good heart - he emigrated from Ukraine as a child, explained he was often bullied because of his smaller size and accent - and just wanted to let her know that others were empathetic to what she had endured.

[kparker1786]

I personally would kick them off the bus and in-school suspension. I am just an entry-level EA but I've seen it happen(in school suspensions I mean) and it works. Not always, but usually it does. What drives me up the wall is when it comes to kids like this, the parents blame the SCHOOL for their behaviour... REALLY?! Who raised them and teaches their morals and manners? Not school...

[QUOTE=hollyquaiscer;4783148]

Holly, she said herself that she normally would have said something to try put a stop to it - but it seemed that this obviously wasn't the first time, and it was enough for her... easier to let it just go on.

I think it's not that they should be banned from the bus, but how about being expelled from school - and make those darlings walk to their new school in a different division... hm, wonder if that would inconvenience the parents?
I was hoping there would be lots of discussions in lots of homes over the past two evenings, but have yet to hear of any real consequences for these little darlings.[/QUOTE

Speaking from a point of seeing what happens when teens get expelled from school....unfortunately the parents have to go to work, so this leaves the teen usually unattended. Thus....playday, even if parents said they are grounded. All to often when our school had expelled a teen, I would see them out about town (I worked in a school with a population of only 12,000). The teens treated this like days off school, and I always found it did more harm that good. We would put teens with this type of behaviour in a supervised room for a week or two and they had their schoolwork brought to them. At lunch and breaks, they had no friends as we would give them their lunch at a different time. They hated it, and often we would never see that behaviour again. If they were reprimanded at home, by the time school was out, a parent would be home or home shortly after, so no time for play.

Yes, she mentioned this is not unusual, but she should have requested a change as I don't think this was the bus for her. The kids obviously did not respect her, therefore causing these types of situations. Someone should have taken charge of this situation.

[nightlite]

I sobbed when I saw this on TV. All I kept thinking was WTF is wrong with kids these days? Is this what they aspire to? To post a video on You Tube, berating someone's else's Grandmother? I lost both my Grandfather's this year within 2 months of each other and this made me want to throttle these kids. I hope she takes the money and uses it on herself and on her grandchildren's education. KARMA did good this time.

[TrueNorthTreasures]

Whoops! I didn't realize someone already posted about this. I am glad the campaign for Karen is going so well!

http://www.indiegogo.com/loveforkarenhklein?c=home


...and someone established a campaign for Max Sidorov, to pay it forward! Neat!

http://www.indiegogo.com/love-for-max-too

[Lynn49]

[QUOTE=kparker1786;4784256]I personally would kick them off the bus and in-school suspension. I am just an entry-level EA but I've seen it happen(in school suspensions I mean) and it works. Not always, but usually it does. What drives me up the wall is when it comes to kids like this, the parents blame the SCHOOL for their behaviour... REALLY?! Who raised them and teaches their morals and manners? Not school...

And once again we're blaming the parents!!
Without any proof whatsoever regarding the morals of the parents and the environment in which the kids were raised.
In a perfect world, perfect parents would have perfect kids.
This is NOT a perfect world.
When one has had kids, and knows what it takes to raise them, it should be evident how little control we have over them when they leave the house.
I cannot "Like" this.