I use to be a school bus driver for Chesterfield for 13 yrs. The driver did the right think in Powhatan. Have some of you parents had kids in the car and you had to stop your car?  Try 50+ kids yelling behind you.  It takes a very special person to be a school bus driver. And I am fair to say that some of the stories about the bus garage in Powhatan is very poor management. In Chesterfield, we always had someone in the transportation office till about every bus was off the road. Plus we had a phone number to call in case of problems with the bus or kids.  I have heard of cars passing buses loading in the bus loop. Powhatan thinks its ‘ok’.  Wait till something happens and then we will see whose yelling.  Good luck to ALL the bus drivers in Powhatan.  You need NEW management in your office!!!

As a parent of 3 in Powhatan,  I think there are bigger issues at hand the county could be dealing with, but if this one section of Powhatan feels they have to have their 1 or 2 days in the spot light, then let them.  I can fully understand the concern and frustration of calling the garage and not getting any resolution or even an answer, but the residents and parents have to look at the big picture.  New volunteer fire stations, libraries and sports facilities (YMCA), are being budgeted, approved and built, and the bus garage is located in an old, outdated, “mom and pop” shop with 2 lines.  How is that feasible for a place that is responsible for 1000 plus kids and literally mobs of parents trying to get through? Yes, the phone issues need to be addressed and handled, but maybe the set up of this should be an issue as opposed to a bus turning around, having to take kids back to school on account of some of THEIR own misbehavior.  I feel that the new Director has changed things for the good, but nothing is perfect and it is a work in progress.  What the teachers, directors and superintendent do is not easy, and they will never be able to please everyone.

The parents are upset about the bus turning around, why don’t you all drive a bus for a week or so and see how far you get?  Like “Jim” stated, the schools are not required to provide transportation and instead of those who are unhappy complaining, take your child to school on your own. PROBLEM SOLVED… If a bus accident had of occurred as a result of those misbehaved children, then what would everyone have said?  It is easy to stand back and judge and complain, but given the chance to “walk a day” in a driver’s shoes, I bet all these complaining parents would FAIL!! I know I would, if I did not jack one of these bad kids up first!!!

It is a no win situation because you can’t and won’t please everyone, but before those parents on that route start jumping on the school, the Director and the Superintendent.. Look at your children and make sure they are doing their part, by sitting their tails in the seat and abiding by the rules of the school and bus.

Just when you think,Stupid did not have a name….Some of you Powhatan people are in the stone age….These kids are Bad!!!! You are crying about a phone call to a garage, gimme a break…Let’s just give them their way when they cuss, spit and yell at bus drivers. You do know that,there is no law in the state that says “they even have to transport children, check it out- but then the ones crying believe that their child is above the rules. To the person who said something about being FAIR, to the two drivers…You need to get some real facts, but again, you still tell you high schooler that the boogie man is real too. Good job Dr. “M”, moving that driver….You cannot please people that will follow a school bus with cell phones in hand a take pictures as it does the route.

Hail to the bus driver…
The driver did the right thing here. The school needs to look into the training and policies for this type of situation in the future. I hope that the driver is still employed by the school. It’s a tough job.

To ‘anonymous parent’ in Powhatan…  I wasn’t referring to a parent calling ‘foul’ because the busdriver did what she did…  I’m talking about all the parents who jump in when anyone in authority tries to discipline their child…  consequently we have kids who are literally killing other kids (beating them to death, setting them on fire, to name a few recent events) because the parents either don’t give a darn, or don’t believe in any punishment, and consequently are too quick to criticize those who do…  So kids have no respect for authority, whether it be the busdriver, or the teacher, or the elderly man in the neighborhood, or anyone else…  Kids 20, 30, 40 years ago respected the busdriver, the teacher, the elderly, the minority, and that included mine…  and BTW, mine knew that if (when) they did get into trouble, I would back up the authority, not try to get the kid off the hook…..

The bus driver is probably glad to be reassigned, but that still doesn’t excuse the fact that the bus garage didn’t answer the phone.

I have a high school age child who has been in Powhatan schools since kindergarten and not getting an answer has been the norm for the bus garage all these years. 

Having the bus drivers cell phone number doesn’t help because I don’t want the bus driver answering a call while she is driving my child.
 
Dr. Meara needs to work on the so called “malfunction” of the phone lines at the bus garage or work on the bus garage personnel. 

I applaud the bus driver for trying to deal with inappropriate behavior on the bus.  If she didn’t the parents would complain because she didn’t deal with it and their kids were subjected to it.  Come on parents, you can’t have it both ways.

As a school bus driver in another county,I just want to say until those parents sit in that drivers seat with 40-50 students BEHIND them,screaming & playing, hanging over the seats….etc.  They have no business judging the driver. 

Sometimes the only way to get a bus under control is to pull over and wait for them to decide to calm down.  Everytime we have to look in the mirror to see who is yelling or misbehaving, takes our eyes off the road and endangers everyone on the bus. 

If the parents would trust the school personel and quit thinking their children are “angels”, our jobs wouldn’t be so hard. 

I believe every parent should have to volunteer at schools and there should be some kind of ride-a-long program on busses(not there own childs bus..but in a different area, so they r on their own childs bus) so that they can see what we put up with everyday.

I understand the concern of the parents when they couldn’t get ahold of the transportation dept., but they shouldn’t take it out on the driver until they know the whole story.
Sometimes it is in the best interest of all parties involved to change out the driver.

Let’s look at it from the bus driver’s point. She is driving a bus with kids some behaving some not. These kids were being rude not following directions. This is putting all kids in danger. A bus driver does their best to get the children of our county safely to school and home.
How many parents would drive a bus. Let’s see. You drive when it is over 100 and you drive in the pouring rain. Let’s not forget the snow. Ah lets also not forget the ice.You are resonsible of each of these children. You do the route oh but guess what little Sally’s parents are not home. They are in town had appointment. Well have to take Sally back to school. Well this will happen 2,3 4 times. Who’s fault is it this parent is not at the end of the driveway to get Sally? Is it the bus drivers fault or is it parents?
At the same time there should of been someone to answer the phone when the parents called. We all are worried about our children. We all want them safe. We need to look futher up than the bus driver. This driver did here job.
How many parents would be a bus driver. In this day in time everyone needs a job. So if you think you would do something try driving a bus for a change. Let’s see how many of you would take the class pass it and get to drive something that is bigger than a large suv. You will be driving Powhatan’s future. So if you want to make a change then drive a bus then I bet you will find it is a hard job. For our county we need bus drivers and subs. So let’s see how many of you can handle being a bus driver.
Again someone should be at the phones from early morning till every child is taken home. This is something that really needs to be look in.

And fyi, it’s spelled Superintendent.

“One complaint was that parents were not able to reach school or bus garage personnel to find out what was going on, leading to both confusion and heightened concern as to where the children were being taken.”

So they replaced the driver?  This sounds like another example of the little guy taking the fall, in my opinion.  If the driver acted appropriately, then there was a lack of communication between school officials and parents.

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