To make things simple, I’ll post the story that was written by our local radio station regarding the incident:
“A Gimli-area parent is speaking out about problems on a local school bus – problems that resulted in a bus driver returning a bus load of kids to school Thursday afternoon and refusing to drive them home. The parent, who asked not to be identified, spoke to CJ107 yesterday afternoon after the incident and said parents were forced to drive to the school to get their kids. The parent told us problems on the bus have been ongoing for about a month now and accused the driver of unsafe driving. Students allege the driver has slammed on the brakes, pulled over and yelled on numerous occasions and escalated yesterday after the parent said several students argued back. No one from the Evergreen School Division was available for comment on the situation late Thursday.”
So, in reality, the driver turned around because a student grew the courage to talk back and curse at him. Upon arriving at the school, our bus was boarded by the assistant principal and the Director of Operations for the division. They both reprimanded us high schoolers in particular, and didn’t even acknowledge the fact that he had slammed on the brakes while doing 90 k down the highway, yelled at and pushed a kindergartener into her seat, and other things.
It was apparent we weren’t going anywhere, and when I saw that I was supposed to have been home five minutes prior, I basically lost it. I stood up and houted something along the lines of:
YOU KNOW WHAT? THIS IS BULL****! THIS IS ******* RIDICULOUS! **** YOU GUYS; I’M GETTING OFF THIS GOD**** BUS!
And with that stupid yet powerful statement, I marched off the bus and called my mom to come pick me up. There were students cheering and clapping for me, and some students even followed suit and left the bus.
And you know what the real kicker is? When they drove by my house (a full hour late), the bus driver gave the middle finger to my neighbour and I! (naturally, we both returned the gesture.)
Today, there was a meeting, and apparently there is a temporary substitute for our route. Now, it is up to the Operations department to decide the fate of the bus driver.