Autistic Girl Kick by Busdriver

[Loafer]

As a grandparent of a 6 y.o. girl with autism, this got my blood boiling this morning.
The young girl slapped the busdriver and refused to get off the bus. As a special needs child
the driver should have been trained with how to deal with uncooperating children. Kicking is
not how it is done.
Make sure you know who your children and grandchildren are dealing with everyday.

[cnc]

That was just plain nasty, hope he loses his job for that at the very least.

[Red Rider]

Don't know the entire story, regardless there is no excuse for his actions. Punishment should fit the crime...legally change his name to "inmate" and play this video every movie night at prison! He would have plenty of opportunities to regret what he did.

[fish]

WOW! I would be fired if I did something like that. Why was the camera on that angle usually its facing towards the back of the bus.
Although things are getting crazier every year. I'm going to ask if I could mount a video camera facing out the windshield to capture all the dumb shit the cagers do.

[Loafer]

I believe that the driver is a woman, and she was fired. We all have stuff
to deal with in our days, but physically harming a child is not right. The
girl suffered a broken ankle when she was kicked and fell off the bus.

[jlreeves]

This apparently occurred in Tampa in September of last year. The school system had just been sued because on another special needs bus a kid had gone into respiratory arrest from slumping over due to an inappropriately stowed wheelchair.

Regarding the kicking incident, the driver was arrested a month later:

"The driver, who was hired by the Hillsborough County School District in 2008 and earned $14,500 a year, now faces a charge of aggravated child abuse, a first-degree felony. She pleaded not guilty. Police say the child broke her ankle in the fall."

Question, do special needs bus drivers receive any type of specific training to avoid this sort of thing? or do you just get the next available driver? Seems to me that this type of transportation should require more thorough training in the behavioral and physiological problems they might encounter every day with these kids.

[Loafer]

Originally Posted by jlreeves

This apparently occurred in Tampa in September of last year. The school
system had just been sued because on another special needs bus a kid had gone into respiratory arrest
from slumping over due to an inappropriately stowed wheelchair.

Regarding the kicking incident, the driver was arrested a month later:

"The driver, who was hired by the Hillsborough County School District in 2008 and earned $14,500 a
year, now faces a charge of aggravated child abuse, a first-degree felony. She pleaded not guilty.
Police say the child broke her ankle in the fall."


Question, do special needs bus drivers receive any type of specific training to avoid
this sort of thing? or do you just get the next available driver? Seems to me that this type of transportation
should require more thorough training in the behavioral and physiological problems they might encounter
every day with these kids.

I'm not sure if any special training is given. But there should be. A driver on a special needs bus should
be given a raise for every course they take on how to deal with these children. I have known the bus
driver for my road for about 20 years. The one before him treated the children horribly, I reported him
and how he was on the bus to his superiors and he wasn't at work afterwards. I believe that the
drivers in my district are courteous, from what other parents have said.