Kids kicked off a bus -- for speaking English...

[zhelas]

Students kicked off school bus in St. Paul

Imagine sending your kids off to school, but when they get to the bus they are told they can't get on because they speak English.

That's right, English.

It happened to a few children in St. Paul and now the school district is apologizing.

Rachel Armstrong sent her kids to pick up the bus as usual Monday, but after the driver let the kids on, he told them he would not pick them up again. He even said he wouldn't take them home that afternoon.

Armstrong left work early Tuesday, forced to pick up her kids from Phalen Lake Elementary School.

Her twin girls, 10, and her son, 8, were kicked off their regular school bus. They were told by the bus driver the route is for non-English speaking students only.

"I was furious. I was at work and I was just mad." Armstrong said. "I felt like we were being discriminated because we speak English. Just because they speak English, they can't ride the school bus. I mean, this is America, right?"

Administrators at St. Paul Public Schools admit the district made a mistake when it stranded the kids at school Monday.

However, the district points out, that particular bus route serves one of three language academies. The one at Phalen Lake is for Hmong students learning English.

The academies all have separate bus routes to keep its students together.

The district decided to enforce the separate routes beginning Monday, but it did not tell the Armstrong family.

"It is our responsibility to ensure the safety of these kids and we made a mistake. The kids should have gotten home that day," Dayna Kennedy, a public relations representative said.

The district also discovered the Armstrongs no longer live in the Phalen Lake School boundary because they moved last year.

So even though the district apologized, if they want to still go to Phalen, they are going to have to get their own ride.

http://kstptv5.com/article/stories/S21143.html?cat=1

[ElanthianSiren]

-Most fucked up thing I've read today.

[zhelas]

-Most fucked up thing I've read today.

:yeahthat:

[Sean of the Thread]

This is nothing...I think you get executed in Miami if you speak English.

[zhelas]

But you see that is how it how it works in America.

[Skirmisher]

They weren't kicked off for speaking English.

They were kicked off because they were on the wrong bus.

Complain that they were kicked off without parental notification but don't get into histrionics over something that is not in fact what it's about.

[Kyra]

Fuck how about suing the goddamn school for stranding their kids. Can you say emotional trauma?

I have no sympathy for the schools, I've seen entirely too much fucked up shit coming out of them in too many places.

'Oh oops, sorry we just told your kids they were FUCKED for getting home today & we shouldn't have"

Dumb bastards. Calling the parents, not telling the kids they were not going to be able to get home would be the appropriate thing to do. Heaven forbid school officials have some common sense though.

K.

[Gan]

Lets not forget the fact that the parents moved out of the area elligible for bus coverage and failed to notify the school for over a year, just so their kids could still ride the bus instead of having to pay for the service or providing their own transportation.

The schoold district needs to send the parents a bill for the bus service the school has been providing during that time. Lets see how loud they yell now.

[Methais]

Why the fuck are non-English speaking people allowed to go to school here anyway? They still won't speak English when they're done, they'll just loiter outside Wal Mart at 3am eating burritos.

[Lomoriond]

Kids these days are so spoiled...

If you missed the bus when I was in elementary school, your ass WALKED. There was no "call their parents!" there was no "oh you poor baby, lets make sure you get home" all you got was "GET OFF CAMPUS, YOU'RE NOT OUR PROBLEM AFTER 3 PM"

And.. um.. 10 miles, uphill, both ways... in the snow... without shoes... while dinosaurs chased me

[FinallyDomesticated]

Its ridiculous.

If you are a parent and you are going to have your kid riding the school bus - it is your responsiblity to contact the school regarding what bus your child should ride. If it is a younger child, you are expected to inform the school if your child is a car or bus rider.

You don't stick your kid on the curb and expect that any big yellow bus that comes by is responsible for getting them to school. The kids were told they would not have a ride and they had all day to call their mother or speak to someone regarding their concern. I mean, if they are in school, I assume they have the mental capacity to understand its a problem if someone tells them need a different bus/ride to get home.

[Clipt]

No hablo english

[Back]

Quick, build a fence! They are taking over!

In all seriousness, I feel bad for those poor kids. Traumatic. Bet that bus driver is looking for work right now.

[Bobmuhthol]

<<If you missed the bus when I was in elementary school, your ass WALKED. There was no "call their parents!" there was no "oh you poor baby, lets make sure you get home" all you got was "GET OFF CAMPUS, YOU'RE NOT OUR PROBLEM AFTER 3 PM">>

Unfortunately, the spoils have not transferred to high school. Walking home for over two hours isn't the coolest thing in the world.

[Apathy]

A severe ass-kicking is justified.

[Kyra]

Well, assuming they had access to a phone TO call their parents.

The schools here will not allow the kids to use the phones unless they are seriously injured & need to go to the hospital or are very ill and need to go home.



The kids were told they would not have a ride and they had all day to call their mother or speak to someone regarding their concern. I mean, if they are in school, I assume they have the mental capacity to understand its a problem if someone tells them need a different bus/ride to get home.

[FinallyDomesticated]

Well, assuming they had access to a phone TO call their parents.

The schools here will not allow the kids to use the phones unless they are seriously injured & need to go to the hospital or are very ill and need to go home.

I'd like to see a teacher try to tell one of my kids they can't call me for a ride when they are 10 and 8 and the bus driver said they couldn't ride the bus home. I have children of my own and have taught both primary and secondary programs and I simpy cannot imagine any teacher telling a kid no in that situation.

[Stanley Burrell]

Whoever finds a movie still in JPEG form from "Canadian Bacon" with the mounty telling John Candy to spell anti-Canadian slogans on his truck in French, as well as English is the bomb.

I need to draw a metaphor with photographic evidence, dammit.

[Lomoriond]

Um.. the mother had to "leave work early" and come get them... I assume they were given access to a phone, or that the school was well aware of the problem.


Where is the ZOMG TRAUMA in all this?

They were on a bus they weren't supposed to be... and rather than prevent them from getting on the bus (leaving them unsupervised on the side of the road, and potentially unable to get back into their own home) he took them to school and told them what the problem was... they called the mother and had them picked up.

You say BOO on the bus driver? I say good job... it's not HIS problem, he is just doing his job. They lived out of district, and he didn't HAVE to pick them up... but to cover his own ass, he made sure the kids were in a safe environment while it got sorted out.

What's the alternative? Tell a 10 year old they aren't supposed to be on the bus, and HOPE they relay it to their parents and don't show up for the bus the next morning?

Pffft

[Tsa`ah]

I agree with most of the sentiment, the kids weren't kicked off the bus for speaking english. They were picked up and taken to school and informed that they didn't have the correct bus ... the bus they were on went to different schools.

The school district covered their ass a little too much. I don't think (outside of protecting the children) they had any responsibility to the mother or the children and they certainly didn't have to apologize. I think the school district should have given her a hearty "fuck off" and agree they should have sent her a bill for sponging off their transit while being outside of the district.

[Drew]

Fuck how about suing the goddamn school for stranding their kids. Can you say emotional trauma?


Sue the school, are you kidding me? Almost this exact same thing happened to me when I was a kid. Guess how emotionally traumatized I was? I was upset for like 5 minutes. Then I got over it.

[Back]

Notice the cheery disposition now.

[Celephais]

Whoever finds a movie still in JPEG form from "Canadian Bacon" with the mounty telling John Candy to spell anti-Canadian slogans on his truck in French, as well as English is the bomb.

I need to draw a metaphor with photographic evidence, dammit.

http://www.planetsimpson.com/archives/media/Canadian%20Bacon%20+%20PS.JPG
This good enough?

[Kyra]

I could write a book on how badly the transportation system has fucked up here in Kalamazoo. After 2 years of having cases of "oops I forgot & left some poor kindergartner who fell asleep locked on the bus in the yard of hours on end" they finally started making the drivers check the buses. Years.

After 2 kids were beating each other into bloody pieces and the driver refused to get up & do anything or stop the bus & call the police because "She wasn't getting in the middle of it" a few months back. Yeah, I have no sympathy for transportation systems.

So yes were they to ditch my kids without contacting ME instead of leaving it up to the kids to hopefully have time & be allowed to make the call (all this providing i were IN the correct district) You bet I would sue the bastards.

K.

[TheEschaton]

He didn't DITCH the kids, he dropped them at their SCHOOL, and told them to tell his parents.

READ the fucking thing, for Christsakes.*

You want to sue the bastards? This is what makes the Framers cry.

-TheE-
*Note, I didn't read the thing, I just read someone's post about the article, whose reading comprehension I trust far more than yours.

[Gan]

He didn't DITCH the kids, he dropped them at their SCHOOL, and told them to tell his parents.

READ the fucking thing, for Christsakes.*

You want to sue the bastards? This is what makes the Framers cry.

-TheE-
*Note, I didn't read the thing, I just read someone's post about the article, whose reading comprehension I trust far more than yours.


So the bus driver told the kids to tell his parents? [the busdriver's]

:whistle:

(yea, I went there)

[CrystalTears]

"Hey Bus Driver's mom? Your son left me stranded at school. Kick his ass when you see him again."

:D

[TheEschaton]

you take classes on constitutional law, civil procedure, and criminal law all in one day, and see if your brain works correctly. Grammar, bah. pronoun agreement, bah. subject predicate agreement (and capitalization), bah. ;)

-TheE-

[Gan]

you take classes on constitutional law, civil procedure, and criminal law all in one day, and see if your brain works correctly. Grammar, bah. pronoun agreement, bah. subject predicate agreement (and capitalization), bah. ;)

-TheE-

Grammar, comprehension, a rose is a rose is a rose.

Or... stones are not best thrown from glass houses?