Unbelievable Series of Unrelated Events

For those of you that are following along with all that is happening around here, I wanted to give another update:  Yesterday, Dani went with her class on a field trip to the zoo.  Apparently, her behavior was so bad that she has been banned from attending Field Day.  I will be going in to talk to the Principal on Monday but seriously, this smells like payback to me.  Upon talking to Dani, she said that she got in trouble for falling behind the group a couple of times and once for playing on some bricks with another boy, but when asked to get down, they both did.  That hardly seems worth her losing Field Day over.  I'll definately update on this situation Monday. 

It boggles my mind that she can receive such severe punishment following such a minor infraction, but they are still looking into the incident that left these marks on her (sorry pics aren't the best, but they are from Tuesday):

Also, on the ongoing fight over the bus incident, they are now talking about using a bus and getting the kids to "reenact the events". I'm sure that will go smooth. On the upside, I may have found a witness that was not actually involved! I spoke to him and his parents earlier today, and his story coincides with Dani's version of events.   Hopefully, soon we will see some action on this!  My resolve on this will not waiver and I will not stop fighting for Dani and all bullied kids until our school does something!

My Daughter The Bully

I had a meeting with the principals of the grade and middle/high school yesterday. As far as the bus driver goes, they are saying that he has a contract and the board will be reviewing his contract in May. They are also (board) the only ones who can do anything about him (terminate, suspend, etc) but by the time they next meet, there will only be 2 weeks left of the school year so... As far as the attack itself, the elementary principal says she looked into it and got a totally different story. She says that the incident started with my 6 year old pulling on the jacket of the oldest kid (6th grade), then she crawled under the seat which is how she got dirty. And, that Dani said that no one hurt her. We pushed that her story has always been pulled under, kicked and stepped on. Also pointed out that she has bruises to back up her version and when the incident happened she had muddy footprints on her. The final result seemed to be that they are still looking into it, but that Dani was the instigator and until they know for sure what happened, no one can be punished. If a clear understanding is reached, then they will decide appropriate punishments for the 4 kids involved (yep, Dani may be up for punishment for bullying the 6th grader if we pursue this!) To say I am outraged is an understatement. I have never seen a greater series of injutices being carried out. Also, the overall meeting felt very hostile. I don't feel like we were treated the same way other parents would have been. I came out feeling more like a scolded employee than a parent with a problem. Also, yesterday I found the mother of the oldest child involved because I got the impression that we were the only parent concerned with this incident. Until I showed up, no one at all had contacted her! Not even her son had told her about the incident or being questioned on Monday. Seriously, any time my child does anything, someone calls me. I report a violent attack on my daughter and no parents need to be contacted! I know this may sound crazy, but I cannot let this just drop. I know that I have provided a safer situation for my daughter for now (by getting her bus reassigned) but we all know if these kids aren't reprimanded for this incident, things will get worse. Today, I placed a call to our State Department of Education and hope to hear back from someone who can do something to resolve this. I do plan to address the school board when they meet on May 9 regarding the bus driver and the complete lack of concern for what happened on the bus. It really is no wonder kids take such drastic measures on themselves and others to get away from the bullies. Otherwise, no one takes it seriously or does anything to stop it!

Update on Bus Issue

This is still not resolved!  We did file a police report on Tuesday.  The officer took pictures of her injuries (several bruises and scrapes), my SD card with the pics I took Tuesday afternoon before he arrived, and her clothes from Monday.  Of course, I didn't think to take pics of her covered in mud with footprints on her on Monday.  I really never imagined I'd be filing a police report over the issue.

When the officer came, Dani was told to tell what happened completely without my interferance.  Up until then, I had understood her to be angry because during all this, someone stepped on her backpack (I know is seems odd, but you know kids).  When she was talking to the officer, I finally understood that the kid stepping on her backpack was helping to keep her on the ground!  So, it was in fact 3 kids (two in middle school and one in elementary) that did this.

As of now, the bus driver is still driving his route, and when talked to by the police this morning, he basically called us liars saying he never said it wasn't his business.  Interestingly, he also didn't do anything about what was happening on the bus. 

And of course, no one wants to get involved.  Kids that said they heard Dani screaming on Monday now don't remember hearing anything. 

The kids who attacked her have yet to receive any sort of punishment.  They are still in school, on the bus, etc.  I mean, it just makes me sick that my child was treated this way and no one is having to take any responsibility.

The administration seems to think that since my children are now on another bus, that everything that happened can just be forgotten.  I'm sorry, but that is not going to work for me.  Today, I contacted the newspapers for the cities to either side of us (we don't have a paper here).  It may not have been the best thing to do, but I am angry and frustrated by the lack of action around here.  Perhaps it will be harder to ignore what happened if everyone who reads the paper in this area hears about it!

I know that I tend to rant about a lot of things, many perhaps that are not worth worrying about.  And honestly, on those things, I cool as quickly as I get heated up.  But this was a blatent attack on my child and nothing is being done.  This I cannot let go!  The safety of my child as well as other kids is at stake here.  That's not something I'll calm down and forget about.

Driving in Oblivion

A new driver took over our in town route this year.  Though I have heard many rumors of problems, I of course, cannot substantiate rumors.  I can however, share my personal experiences.   So far, there have been 3 major incidents involving this bus driver and my children and several minor ones.  As far as minor concerns, the bus driver rarely waits for the children to be seated before moving and I have seen on many occasions students moving around while the bus is in motion.  Though not very safe, this is minor concern.  As for the major concerns, I’d like to share those. 

The first happened way back in October.  My 2 children crossed the street to get on the bus, one got on, and the bus started rolling!!  I screamed stop.  My other child was standing right there next to the door before the bus started moving.  When he stopped, she was standing beside the bus, just past the front wheel.  He told me he didn’t see her.  Thank God she wasn’t hit. 

The second incident happened either in January or February.  My children got off the bus and crossed in front.  My younger daughter was not more than 2 steps past the bus (still in the street mind you) when he drove off.  What would the results have been if in typical little kid fashion she had remembered she left something and turned to get it walking right into the path of a moving bus?  These incidents were both reported and we were told he would be talked to about them, but there was no one else available to drive the route. 

Over the last several weeks, one of my children has become more and more insistent that she doesn’t want to go to school.  She told me that someone on the bus was calling her names and picking on her.  I told her to tell the bus driver and to sit in the first 3 rows of seats.  About a week ago, she came off the bus crying saying that someone pushed her as she was getting off.  I asked her if she told the driver, she said no.  I reminded her of where she was supposed to sit which she said she was doing and that if there was a problem she needed to let the driver know.   Yesterday was the worst incident yet.  My child came off the bus, covered in mud and literally screaming and crying.  When asked what was wrong, she stated that 2 kids pulled her under the seat and were kicking her and stepping on her. 

 The driver said he hadn’t seen anything!  The driver said she gets off the bus crying a lot but he didn’t see where that was his business.  Whose business would it be if not his?  Isn't he is responsible for watching what is going on while they are on the bus?  The driver responded that he is doing the best he can.   

My child is 6 years old and was sitting in the second row and the driver noticed nothing while she was pulled under the seats and assaulted!!  And I cannot imagine that this happened without her making a sound especially with the way she was screaming as she exited the bus. 

This was immediately reported to the head of the drivers while she was still covered in mud.  When we looked her over carefully, it was clear that some of the mud was indeed footprints.  Upon cleaning her up, we found bruises, scrapes, etc from the incident. 

Today, I spoke with administration at the school in the morning.  In the afternoon, I checked to make sure that this was being handled.  I was told there were two sides to every story and it would be looked into.  The driver is still driving his route! 

Alternative arrangements have been made to transport my children to and from school, but what about the other students on this route?  If this can happen to a child sitting in the second row, what can happen to a child in the middle, or even worse, the rear of the bus?  What will it take for us to get this man off our bus and get someone competent in his place?  Will it take a child being beaten, broken,  and hospitalized?  A child being raped while he ignores the ruckus on the bus?  When do we protect the children first?

Learning the Hard Way

In this digital age, we rarely print pics, but take lots. We found that they were taking way too much space on the computers, we bought a 1T external hard drive about 2 years ago. I put every picture we had ever taken on there, then promptly deleted them from the computers. I have continued to do the same every since. 

So, Friday I plugged in the drive to get together some baby pics of Dani (she's 6) for Kindergarten graduation. The light came on the drive but I couldn't access the files. I took it to a data recovery place hoping it was simple. 

No such luck! I fould out today that it has spindle seizure (meaning the drive can't turn). It has to be sent to a specialist, and if the files can be recovered, this process will cost $750-$1200! This is all the pics of all 4 of my kids,  family vacations, etc. I can't stand the thought of losing all my pics. If anything is saved, I have been told in the future to back everything up 3 times. I feel absolutely sick.

A word of advice: make sure to back up those important files! I never thought this could happen to me.