School bus driver tapes kid's mouth shut.

[buttmunch]

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- School officials say a school bus driver could be fired for allegedly taping the mouth of a 5-year-old boy so he would stop talking.

Kindergartner Kyle Gerber told his parents the driver taped his mouth shut with duct tape. His parents then reported it to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

The boy said they took the tape off before his stop.

"It hurt when you take it off, and when you put it on you, it's a little bit sticky," said Kyle Gerber.

The county's schools spokesman Sterling Ivey says both the driver and the adult aide on the bus could be fired. The bus driver has been temporarily assigned to another route.

Ivey isn't releasing the name or work history of the driver or the aide. And he says the surveillance camera on the bus had been removed, so there is no footage of the alleged incident.

This is at least the sixth incident in 14 months in which the safety or treatment of Pinellas County students has been called into question.

Last year, two students were hit and killed by cars after bus drivers let them off on the wrong side of busy streets. Another student was hit by a car and seriously hurt after he ran out of his school.

This year, police handcuffed two other students, one aboard a bus.

AP

You know, I've often wanted to tape shut my kid's mouth but I of course haven't done it. If someone did it TO him, I'd beat the living shit out of them.

And here's another charming school bus driver story:

KAAAWA, Oahu, Hawaii -- A Kaaawa Elementary School special education student has complained that bus drivers duct taped his mouth shut and beat him up last week.

One of the bus employees accused in the case has already left the employment of the bus contractor, KITV has learned.

Sherry Martinez was concerned when she picked her 11-year-old son up from Kaaawa Elementary School on Tuesday. He had sticky-tape on his face.

"And he says the bus driver had duct-taped his mouth shut because he wouldn't stop singing. And I was like, 'OK, this isn't OK," Martinez said.

So, she complained to the school and school officials asked for "disciplinary action" against the bus driver and aide who work for Kailua Local, the bus contractor that takes special education students to Kaaawa.

"I'm appalled. This is a special education bus with special education bus drivers and an aide. It's not like it's one individual. There's two different grown men, who must be in their forties and fifties," Martinez said.

On Thursday, she said the same two men did the same thing to her son and worse.

"And it wasn't a piece of duct tape over the mouth, it was duct tape all the way around his head," Martinez said.

She said as another student watched, the men assaulted him.

"They punched him -- close-fisted punched him -- pinched him, swore at him," Martinez said.

She said the Kailua Local employees also threw golf balls at him.

Martinez praised faculty and staff at Kaaawa Elementary School for quickly and aggressively investigating the incident.

Staff there said they took photos of welts and bruises on the boy's neck after the Thursday incident. School officials asked that one of the bus employees be removed from working on buses until the investigation is complete.

"We're going to keep these children safe," said Windward Schools Superintendent Lea Albert. "If the allegations are proven, we will not tolerate this kind of thing."

Albert told KITV that one of the Kailua Local bus workers was either fired or quit on Friday, a day after the second incident. It's unclear whether the other bus employee is still working.

"If these bus drivers are going to that extreme with our special education children riding a special education bus, then they need to not be driving these buses and something needs to be changed within the system," Martinez said.

The bus company did not return KITV's phone calls.

http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/news...99/detail.html


Lovely, letting asswipes drive the kids.

[Fonzarelli23]

I'm shocked that the bus driver is still working!!! No suspension, nothing. I mean they "could" be fired. If I was a parent and an adult 'might' be fired for taping my 5-yr.olds mouth closed, there would be major problems.!!!!

[A*O]

Go Bus Drivers! If they were put in charge of instilling some discipline and respect for adults into these little brats (something their parents consistently fail to do) then I say give the man a medal!

[Fonzarelli23]

Go Bus Drivers! If they were put in charge of instilling some discipline and respect for adults into these little brats (something their parents consistently fail to do) then I say give the man a medal!

Since you're using plural form, I assume you're referring to both stories. So it's okay to tape a special needs childs head, hit him, and throw golf balls at him?

[drama_queen]

Go Bus Drivers! If they were put in charge of instilling some discipline and respect for adults into these little brats (something their parents consistently fail to do) then I say give the man a medal!

Yeah ok

[A*O]

Oh man - I have driven my bus into a Humour Free Zone dude (backs out, beep, beep, beep)

And don't patronise special needs kids. They can be just as rowdy and ill mannered as any other kids - I know, I've got one

[suede]

Well, screaming yabbering kids are a safety problem for a driver to properly drive a bus.

While I don't support taping a child's mouth shut - a fair amount of kids could use a good dose of discipline.

Actually thinking about this - 5 years old - wouldn't that be pre-k?
They put pre-k kids in a bus these days? When I grew up pre-k and kindergarten kids were driven to school.

[Elvira]

Both of my children were age 4 when they started Jr. K and age 5 when they started Sr. K. They can be a little younger or older depending when their birthday falls.
My daughter’s friend had her mouth taped by a supply teacher in grade 1. Her mother went to the school to report it and the school told her that the supply teacher was no longer allowed back at the school. I think she should have been given an upaid suspension by the board of education and sent to some kind of classes.
This girl was very bossy and mouthy but I would be furious if that happened to my child (I did secretly chuckle to myself).

[calendargurl]

when i was little i had a babysitter that did that to us but what SHE did was first put a giant spoonful of really hot salsa in our mouths and then duct tape over it so we couldnt spit it out and had to eat it. whenever she felt like letting us go she would first rub the tape against your face to make sure it was stuck on really good and then she would yank it off. bitch was crazy. that's not as bad as when she made a kid take a cold shower (didn't get a towel or anything to dry off with) and stand outside of the house wearing nothing but a babies diaper.

[Tiara]

No matter how badly a kid behaves, nobody has the right o do that. They wouldn't have done it to an adult who was being rowdy so why a child?

[buttmunch]

I agree with you, Tiara. This would probably be considered assault on an adult, so why should it be ok to do to a kid?

[nana55]

The difference being they would have thrown the adult off the bus. I certainly in no way condone what the bus driver did, but have you ever been on a schoolbus? The noise is awful, and most buses do NOT have an aide. The bus driver has to drive and tune out the noise, unless something serious happens. No way would I do that job, kids are little monsters on the bus. I should know I'm an elementary school librarian and have been on a few field trips.

[miss_perfect]

My afternoon bus driver was so verbally abusive. She totally was Ms. Crabtree from South Park.

[buttmunch]

I see what you're saying Nana, but isn't that what a bus driver would expect when taking the job? It's not like any of us who rode school buses aren't aware that they're noisy but if this is considered acceptable punishment for noisy kids, I guess most kids on the bus would have to be subjected to the same thing. Fire the bus driver or better yet, tape his bloody mouth shut when he tries to defend such idiotic behavior.