i wouldnt worry too much about it. their lives are ruined already.

A phoney apology will not undo the torture and video harrassment this woman went thru. This is again a sign of our screwed up society...from politicians to weasel bankers to stupid coddled kids...not matter how bad the offense, you just have to mouth the words. I hope some skin head group beats the crat out of all of them.

As with most criminals, they're sorry they got caught. I hope their schoolmates give them a sound beating.

One of the fathers had to do the dirty work for his son... Unreal, I truly hope that these kids realize how disgusting they were and learn a very important lesson from it all.

On the side note: I'll take 15 minutes of ridcule, name calling, and all that for half a million! Dang, that's a lot of money!

You know, every generation since the first man could form a sentence has complained about society going down the toilet. These kids did something unbelievably cruel that makes me want to vomit, but I wouldn't chalk it up to being an example of society-at-large. The same thing could well have happened fifty years ago or a hundred years ago, but no one heard about it because social media didn't exist.

These are four rotten little boys who need to be punished in the worst way, but that doesn't mean all or even most kids behave like this.

Ryan, the majority of kids act this way. And yes we are going down the toilet.
Sorry.

SO RIGHT!

The motivation here is only because they might not be able to ride the bus to school for a year, can you imagine how pissed the parents would be having to transport these juvenile delinquents every morning to school so yes they are sorry.

Come on Rochester and D&C- We want more info on the kid's punishments!! Was the appology it? Are they now going to have a great Summer or do they need to do SOMETHING as punishment? Are they going to be on the bus next year? Don't let the story die on this note. Give us more!!

I get the father's statement, but I would have put it out in tandem of making my son say something to the press too- he'd need some more humiliation as well. How about that #4 kid, where's he??

So how long do we wait until MTV gives these kids their own show?

Too all you people who donated money, I want too thank you. I am not related too her in any way, but you have somewhat restored my faith in humanity, a little bit. I think I'm proud of the father who said that his kid would work for her, for part of his punishment. It's better than at least beating a kid with a belt, for doing something stupid. Again, thank you fellow humans!

Actually MOST kids don't act this way. Most kids, like many aduts, sit by and watch the very few who do these things get away with it.

What we ALL need to do is to stop it when we see it, and encourage our kids to hold each other accountable for this type of behavior.

Aside from the taunting itself, the most disturbing thing to me about this whole incident was that not one person told them to stop it.

That is why we as parents need to set the example. We need to instill compassion and a courage of conviction that inspires the MAJORITY to say "enough!" when they see this type of thing. Bullies back down fast when they see they are outnumbered -- because more often than not they are also cowards.

This is a prime example why corporal punishment should be allowed to continue in our schools.

I still want to kick the sh!t out of these little phucking bastards....I'm glad the rest of their families are being threatened (although I hope nothing to these people happen but the threats are enough to make the little bastards know how it feels). These apologizes are so fake it's sickening....also what happened to the 4th little prick or his parents...scum all around as far as I see.

Those kids were obviously not taught respect and courtesy at home. Those are difficult lessons to teach, but they must be taught. Though the kids obviously need more spankings, so do their parents.

I thought she was doing her job. She told them to stop, tried to change the subject to their year books. Told them "if they don't have anything nice to say not to say anything at all."

What more would you expect from her rw in mn na?

'Via a statement to the police,' or via a statement thru an attorney, a blog, the paper, the radio/tv, and like some do by inserting the big sentence; 'IF I caused any harm to anyone, I apologize,' is just a coward's way of NOT facing your wrongs, NOT facing the person you've done harm to/against. And it was only done as to hopefully NOT be dragged into the courts, school, media at a later date by being embarrassed and humiliated in public, yet STILL 'play' with the emotions of the victim who does have a heart, a concious and cares yet again, over children who obviously don't.

Actions speak louder than words. These kids AND THEIR PARENTS should work their entire summers for this woman and others like her to teach respect for others.

Don't worry. These kids will get theirs.

It's going to be very popular and main stream to beat up these kids next year after all this attention. Happy hunting.

In response to the commenter about no one taking up for the bus monitor, why didn't the bus driver do SOMETHING to stop this abuse? The report sounds like the overgrown brats were talking loud enough that the driver could have stopped the bus and taken action of some sort!!! Or is behavior of this kind so normal on school buses that the adult drivers don't notice? I'm sickened and disheartened that society has stooped this low. I'm in my 60's and pretty sure if I were in the same situation, I would have slapped the brats as hard as I could in self defense and not worry about "breaking the law".

Well, Woman Voter, that is honorable but these days that is likely to get you shot. Or at the minimum, sued by their parents and possibly arrested because, when they attack you and you defend yourself, you'll be charged with a crime. A hate crime if they happen to be black or muslim. There is no room in todays society for personal responsibility, conviction or passion unless it involves corruption and greed. The "instant gratification" society has created a "make judgement now, be corrected if necessary later" ideology that is twirling us all along the whirlpool headed to the sewer completely oblivious to the cesspool around us. In a time where it is largely believed that tiny vibrating strings that are capable of trans versing through any of the many dimensions of space time makes up the tiny particles that construct the entire universe is easier to believe than the idea of God, we have a problem. Even when Science itself is currently comparing the structure and workings of the known universe to that of a living organism, they refuse to put 2 and 2 together and make the leap to a "God Theory". If science was true to itself and its own intentions, a God Theory could NOT be dismissed until proven incorrect, yet they dismiss it everyday. The people are only as good as the ones they hold in high esteem.

Years ago I was reading the American Girl series to my daughter. We read the Native American, Kaya. In this particular book was the Whip Woman. If any of the kids go out of order or did something wrong, she would like up ALL the kids and give them each a few smacks.

If we look beyond the superficial contact and see what the real lesson is, it is self-policing. The kids would police the others so they all wouldn't get whipped.

I say we line up all the kids from the bus in public, drop their drawers and give em each a couple hard smacks with a flat, wooden paddle with holes drilled in it. You can bet these kids won't do anything like this again and any kid that sees it happening won't do it either.

Remember, it's the perception of punishment that is more important than the punishment itself.

The sad part is many kids do act this way. Of course living round abouts Trenton, NJ (at present) might also influence my perceptions some. At a school around this area, we had a register break down in the lunch room, and several of the kids who didn't like waiting as only 1 cashier could sell their lunch, started throwing, YES THROWING their lunch money at the cashier. And we're not talking dollar bills, no they pelted her in the face with nickles and dimes. Then there was another kid who went to use another student's account number to pay their lunch, and the next thing you know another student comes up behind (because the person asked if the name that came up was them) and said "actually that was me, and I didn't authorize him to use my account". They have to have on-duty city cops in the schools now...

But I wouldn't buy this whole nostalgia argument of "the world's going to hell in a hand basket, things never used to be this bad". Problem is, how far back do we want to go? I mean, a lot of the rather barberic acts we hear about in the Middle East? Our ancestors in Europe used to do those things, we evolved... Political assasination? Rome had that as well, aka Julius Caesar. There's also question of whether Cleopatra's supposed suicide was really an assasination/murder as well (applying modern day forensics to historical and archaelogical evidence of old). In fact, Rome would have been far from non-violent, considering gladatorial combat, other stuff that went on in the arena, that crucifixion actually was a form of capital punishment, and other aspects of their society (much of which we in our own civilization have borrowed a fair bit from).

Or do we go back to the crusades, witch trials, stoning people to death, or some ancient societies that engaged in human sacrifices of throwing people down as sacrifice to the gods of a volcano, etc... Even in our more recent days, the Civil War wasn't without it's violent aspects, and 2 world wars, blaming women for "allowing themselves to be raped" and worrying more about family honor then their own health/safety, Vietnam, etc; I don't exactly see any of that as reflective of a better world. To suggest it's bad today, but was all nice and pleasant in the past would require a certain amount of selective forgetfullness. The past has also had it's own share of things one could cringe at. Hell some of my own ancestors lived in New England around the the time of the 1700s. I'd hate to think they were a part of the witch trials and stuff, but who knows :o

The little punks need some serious 'attention' and some serious punishment. Making them walk to school, wow, how awful. The apologies were pitiful, lacking in any real remorse, and, as others have stated, the only remorse was that they were caught.

I am heartened by the outpouring of care, money and compassion for this lady. She deserves it and the 'kids' seriously need their butts kicked.

She is a great woman to not wish too much punishment upon them. I think here punishment is right though, next year no school bus rides and no sports. That will show their parents as well and punish them as well for raising such little pukes.

What these kids sad was horrible, but lets also not ruin their lives for 5 minutes of stupidity "as kids'.

They should be given community service. Serve meals to the hungry on Thanksgiving Day, shovel some sidewalks on a cold December, January day.

Make them think about what they did while they perform an unbearable task, something they obviously take for granted.

I think this goes way beyond "5 minutes of stupidity as kids".

"5 minutes of stupidity as kids" is stealing a candy bar or breaking a window.

Not assault of this magnitude.

What a Lady who repeatedly turned the other cheek with the offensive comments. These 4 youths need a Psychiatrist! If my son would have talked that way he would still have soap in his mouth. How the Bus Driver heard none of this or noticed nothing I do not understand either. What they said was cruel and disrespectful to a Human Being. I can not imagine what their ears have heard growing up.

I don't understand the comment, "I can't believe I did that."
Why not? Weren't you there? What's not to believe. And though they did apologize, it will never erase those words and actions she had to endure from these boys.

rw in mn na - This has gotten crazy considering it was her job as bus monitor to prevent them from doing this sort thing. Clearly she was incapable of performing the job she agreed to do.

Are you serious?

She did all that she was allowed to do, she told them "if you can't say anything nice then don't say anything". Nowadays kids can't be disciplined by anyone but their parents and even the parents have a hard time getting their kids under control because if you spank them CPS will take them away and possibly put you in jail. Now parents are resorting to having their kids standing out on the street with signs proclaiming they are bad but even that has its critics.

Our culture has degraded to the point where kids do this so they can post it on YouTube and since they don't have any consequences except becoming famous they are all doing it. Even being infamous is a desired trait by our youngsters (witness Snooky).

On the other hand we have trolls like you questioning the VICTIM!

The victim is NEVER the one at fault, get that through your thick heads people.

Very sad. If one of these kids had be mine, I would have been thoroughly ashamed of my child and questioned my own parenting skills. Only two boys apologized and the father did it for the third? And where was the bus driver in all this? Did he just sit there and let it happen? These kids should not be allowed on the bus again and kick them out of whatever fun activity the school has to offer. I'm glad the woman is being compensated to some extent by donations, but had this been in California, she'd be suing the school district, the bus company, the bus driver, and the parents of these kids. I'm not a sue-happy person, but in this case, I'd say "go for it" and teach them a lesson. This type of thing should not be tolerated.

Everything those boys did was wrong, and they knew it was wrong when they did it. They didn't video it and put it on youtube because they were showing off on how nice they could be to an older person. I'm with everyone who says severe and PUBLIC punishment. That said, Mrs. Klein erred by allowing this to go on, and on, and on. Someone above asked why the driver didn't stop it. Well, we don't know the driver knew about it, but if the driver did then the driver should be fired. Still, Mrs. Klein SHOULD HAVE demanded the driver act.

I don't know what a bus monitor's job entails, but it can't be to tolerate this kind of abuse at the hands of the pubescent jerks. I've worked with hundreds of kids and this behavior isn't normal, and isn't acceptable, unless and until the rest of us accept it. Just trying to change the subject with these brats wasn't enough. I'm not going to blame Mrs. Klein for what happened as the boys involved are responsible for their own actions, but a simple shout to the driver to stop and deal with these kids at that moment would have been a far better outcome at the time than what did happen.

Since it did happen, this idea of no bus and no school sports just doesn't cut it with me. My policy as a school coach was to bench a player for just one vulgarity, to suspend for a week for the second vulgarity, and to cut from the team if there was a third. A public humiliation to include a suspension from school, a publicly spoken apology in front of their classmates, and then a personal act of contrition to this woman would be my minimum. But I also want to know about the other kids on the bus, beyond these four brats, who were seen in the video, and why no one said, or did, anything to stop their visciousness.

Too little, too late. Insincere. "Apologies" <gag> came ONLY because they were caught. Smack the crap outta them AND their parents.

I had no fear of cops while growing up - we were good kids. I had fear of Father. Kept me outta trouble my entire life. But then, the few time we did do something wrong, we got spanked.

End of Story.

I was bullied in HS, but I read these posts and figure the mob isn't any freaking better?

Sounds like the parents are stepping up.

Threats against the families from the community... bullies bullying bullies... yeah, that'll solve the problem.

The parent that offered the son up to the woman for work is a good solution.

If these 4 SOB's and their parents apologized until hell itself froze over it would not be nearly enough. Years ago there was such a thing as public whippings - these "boys" should really feel a "taste of the cat" along with their parents (for "raising" bullies).

Go ahead and rant but until such time as people like this get REAL punishment and said punishment becomes so common place EVERYONE knows the consequences of this kind of behavior it will continue.

We have tried the "goody two shoes" treatment for years and at great expense - in today's economy that is a luxury we can not afford.

If society feels people who have worked hard and kept their noses clean only to have their retirement and SS and Medicare cut then why in hell do we continue to pay $60k-$80k /yr to keep creeps like these in "three hots and a cot". Lets get some JUSTICE in this nation NOW!

Proves that kids learn MOB MENTALITY & cruelty early.

I can hear the excuses..."He started it...I wasn't doin' nothin'"

The school administration should recall the ENTIRE bus load of those children to sit in that bus and explain what they were doing and why it was hurtful.

AND...why the bus driver just didn't pull over and STOP the bus.

Let them get back on that bus... sit in their seats and think about what they did for a few hours.

I don't care if that "humiliates" your child.... but I'm guessing they'll remember those hours that they had to give up their summer vacation.

They are sorry... that they got caught.

Damn straight! Now, they get to prove what they apologized for. This is part of growing up. Manners aren't natural. Manners are taught and learned.

The apology is probably not sincere. It is an act but it does make sense to try and calm the situation if they are receiving death threats from people that think this situation with the bus monitor is worth killing for....or at least harassing people.

These displays are probably nothing compared to other attitudes given to other school employees by other children. This is only seen as so terrible because it was captured on video.

Before making judgements on the parents, maybe those people would be reminded of the pervasive nature of these actions taken by children. Many children participate in it. In many cases, these events occur despite attempts by parents to prevent them. Those type of children are naturally hostile and abusive to others...they are simply evil people.

This is about as stupid as the woman that spilled coffee in her lap and then sued McDonalds.....

You mean that woman that was given severe burns by coffee that was too hot then asked for the company to pay for damages but they refused then she had to sue them so that is why the payout was slightly larger then it was considering the cost for skin graphs are incredibly high, she probably received little of that money in compensation after her lawyers secured most of it??? That woman?

It is not just grade school kids who are nasty bullies. I have two Border State relatives, one is a 60ish yo who acts 6 yo and then one is the pushing 40 yo child who acts 6 yo,who have always gotten away with murder because the old folks, now both in their 90s, have always coddled, made excuses and enabled them. These two snakes are looking to cash in when the old folks cash out and have been so verbally abusive and physically threatening of me as it gets closer to the time that the elders will pass on that it is no longer safe to even visit the elders. A problem is you cannot spank 60 and 40 yo delinquents, as some have said as a remedy in this school bus story, and for sure they are getting old and are set in their greedy ways, so it is not likely they will improve to be decent people. What would you do with 60 and 40 yo nolongerjuvenile delinquents whose threats of false arrest and fake crimes keep you away from old folks you care about. It is really extreme bullying there.

This is a story that has some bigger implications.

1. It is sad to need monitors on a school bus. School kids did fine with just a driver for decades. But then, the driver was allowed to discipline. Not now. Even the monitor, truly cannot discipline because of our litigious society.

2. All of the parents of these children should have taken their kid by the ear and drug him in front of this lady and forced them to apologize, forcing them to look at her while doing it. Then the parent should have apologized as well. Written statements are not acceptable. Put the apologies on You Tube as well.

3. The children absolutely should receive discipline from the school. The year off the bus is a minimum, and I do like the no sports as well. Sports programs have ethics codes and this was a clear violation.

4.There should be rules about taking videos of others without their consent. I know these kids were aware they were being taped, and I bet that helped spur them on. It is unfair this lady is the victim of this, but I have a renewed sense of hope, when so many have donated to the fund because they too believe she was wronged. Now, are they going to get this totally off the web? Probably not.

We need to be able to discipline school children, it is not racist or cruel, it is a part of growing up.

Apologies, Apologies. All Political Correctness, now trickling down to a future band of thugs in the making.

The Apology means NOTHING. The damage has been done. The woman has suffered more emotional damage, including her son's own suicide--

The "Kids" should be made to do hard core Community Service, as one mentioned before, and the Parents are selfish Narcissists, who will not take responsibility for raising future ill fitted citizens. Their chance for success in life is nil, if their names are eventually released. "Bad Apples".

This is some of today's society---they are little nothings in the realm of life. The parents should be proud of their brats.

Hopefully this will be a learning opportunity. Bully's don't realize the hurt they create and although I recently turned 50 when I saw this video it reminded me of when I was bullied 35 years ago. The name of the bully came back to me immediately and here I am 35 years later and the incidents are still just as fresh. It hurt so much that 10 years later I was in a mall and saw this guy (now a man) who looked like he might be this bully kid from 10 years earlier. I seriously considered walking up, asking if he was (fill in the name), and if he said yes was going to bust his nose. But then I realized he probably wouldn't even know who I was or why I was angry. He might not remember but I had not (and still have not) forgotten.

My point is these kids do not realize the harm they created although the next day they might have forgotten about it (if the tape had not reminded them) I assure this woman will remember this incident 30 years from now just as clear.

If I had said these things to an elderly woman 35 years ago when I was 15 several things would have occurred. First, I would not have been able to sit down for a week. Second, I would have been told I needed to rake her leaves and mow her grass for an entire summer. Third, I would have been required to go to her house with flowers and humbly apologize for the way I had treated her. Fourth, I would have been grounded for a month. And fifth, I would have been penalized with detention at school and not allowed to ride the bus the entire next year.

We have GOT to start teaching kids they are responsible for their actions and there are consequences for stupid acts. You do something like this you are punished and will never forget the pain and heartache you have caused.

I want their fathers (if they know who their fathers are and live in the same house) to grow a pair of nads and do what you are supposed to do which is PARENT!! These kids need to be properly punished and clearly shown this type of action is severely inappropriate and there WILL be consequences.

I'm hoping the apologies from the 2 boys are sincere- it is quite possible; seeing it, and seeing the reaction from people may have been a much needed wake-up call. I hope the other 2 boys feel the same, as well as other kids who behave this way. Maybe some good will come from this. God bless all involved.

So far the campaign has raised $510,000 and its coming in at the rate of $100 to $200 a minute !! Contributions are around $5 to $10 on average. She will be a millionaire by Saturday night and can retire. A poke in the eye to these morons, and shows that the world does care - even if politicians dont. Great Stuff ..... :)

Donation Page

http://www.indiegogo.com/loveforkarenhklein?c=home&a=752834

First off, just saying, "I'm sorry" is not a real apology. In my house we were raised that a true apology was, "I'm sorry, will you forgive me?" You can say "I'm sorry" all you want, but it doesn't matter unless the person you wronged can give you forgiveness. And secondly, I'm disgusted that they were only statements made to the police. They should have been read, aloud by the boys (blurr out their faces to protect their idenities because they are minors) so that she could hear how sorry they were. I'm completely annoyed that the father turned in a statement for one of the boys...

Secondly WOW, amazing that people have come together to raise over $400k for this lady! Amazing!

Horrible kids, putting it mildly, should be made to do something. I can just hear their parents (especially the non-apologetic one) arguing with school administrators that their kids should be allowed to play sports. So, let them be tackling dummies for football season, launderers for all seasons, and benched for every sport they try out for and team they make. I hope other kids, with sense, teach these four moronic, demonic, bad seeds a private lesson in some woods somewhere. A good shiner to the eye and having to display it at school might be a good reminder that there are still some kids out there in USA land that were raised properly. That goes double for the charming parents who raised this bunch of future inmates.

As for the apologies.............really? The words are out there. So remember, you can't unring a bell. Give her the money and let her have a good time. She deserves more.

Trust your kids even when you think they're lying. Give each one the benefit of the doubt and wait to find out if their apologies are sincere. Otherwise, if we dismiss our children's apologies as not sincere, they might lose hope and turn back to commit the same behavior.

The part of this story that bothers me, having been bullied from elementary through high school, is that it is another reminder to me that this is the kind of crap I can expect MY children to face when they go to school. No amount of rambling in this peanut gallery will prevent that. We need to learn how to prepare our children to face this crap. Especially in a day and age when they will be punished for defending themselves, and whether it is inentional or not, punishing kids for defending themselves conditions the good kids to adopt the victim mentality and train the future generation to become dependant on the "nanny state" while the bad kids are conditioned to understand that the system won't really punish them for being bad and will, in fact, punish their victims for not taking it anymore.

Oh and on a side note:

In a time where it is largely believed that tiny vibrating strings that are capable of trans versing through any of the many dimensions of space time makes up the tiny particles that construct the entire universe is easier to believe than the idea of God, we have a problem. Even when Science itself is currently comparing the structure and workings of the known universe to that of a living organism, they refuse to put 2 and 2 together and make the leap to a "God Theory". If science was true to itself and its own intentions, a God Theory could NOT be dismissed until proven incorrect, yet they dismiss it everyday. The people are only as good as the ones they hold in high esteem.

DUDE! Did you just get on a news forum about a school bus monitor being bullied to bash science? No value, dude. No value.

Besides it's just hypocritical. You're typing on a computer that is hooked up to the internet (both are products of scientific thinking, not religious thinking) to say that science is crap for studying how the universe works by observing reality itself and running tests to see what works in reality and what doesn't rather than accepting and embracing whatever your religion says whole heartedly. Think about the difference between science and religion for a moment and try to understand that they both fill different roles in our lives. Once you understand that, I hope you'll stop expecting science to come up with the same answers as religion...because it's not religion.

The apology will probably help, but the cash donations will buy a lot of therapy time. I hope she will be fine.

1.38

Hey Ron...That "suck it up" comment of yours goes along with your other disturbed thinking.

The Mc Donald's woman claim you allude to is BOGUS.

Stella Liebeck was a passenger in a parked car in the McDonald's lot. Liebeck's burns were extremely serious, and she wasn't the first person this happened to.

Liebeck was not careless. in a parked car, she took the lid off a cup. that was filled to the brim. The spill overflow caused severe burns that required multiple operations and skin grafts to treat. McDonald’s, served its coffee at 180 degrees & had received more than 700 complaints from customers.

Nor was Liebeck greedy or especially litigious. Her initial complaint requested only about $20,000 to cover her medical bills and other related expenses, and she took McDonald’s to court only after the corporation offered a paltry $800 settlement.

The headline-generating $2.7 million Liebeck was awarded in punitive damages (selected because it approximated two days worth of the revenues McDonald’s makes by selling coffee) was reduced on appeal to less than $500,000.

The Liebeck suit was a thoughtful attempt to seek appropriate redress for a serious harm, not about a clumsy woman trying to wring millions from an innocent corporation.

Disgusting as it is, it is not that uncommon - if most of you can recall middle school with some detail, there were probably many instances of kids being cruel to somebody weak and defenseless. Once they start, kids start egging each other on and it kind of spirals/ grows from there.

Difference here from many incidents I remember seeing in school is a) there was no prevalence of cellphone video cameras or YouTube; and b) an adult (what the fakk was the bus driver doing all this time?) would've stepped up to nip things in the bud/ at least wouldn't have let it get so ugly.

Still - hope these kids get an asz whupping from their peers at school. But odds are they themselves are the bullies of the school, so not much chance of that.

There needs to be a connection between such abusive behavior and punishment. When I was a kid any child acting like they did and saying what they did would have gotten a backhand across the mouth by the offended adult, then reported to the principal who would notify their parents, and then the parents would most likely backhand them across the mouth again. That would be just for committing the offense. Then it would have been a face to face apology with an offer to make it up to the victim however they saw fit in addition to any punishment assigned by the parent..

Its about time bus drivers and monitors- hell, responsible adults in general- be able to offer swift and sure punishment without being under the threat of a lawsuit by an incompetent or weak parent. It also might not hurt to have parents whose kids ride a schoolbus sign a contract agreeing to be substantially fined for the misbehavior of their kids on the bus.

All of that sound too much? May be..may be. But my parents raised 7 boys and 1 girl under the rules I mentioned above, and a punishment like that rarely had to be repeated- if ever.

Something else that might be effective is telling their kid's teachers and principal- in front of the child- that they have full permission to punish or spank their child if they misbehave. My father pulled that one on me and it was generally effective.

Good Luck to Granny Klein on her smega-vacation and I hope that all that money DOES help her have a more comfortable retirement.

Some on this vine have commented that I am naive, but I don't think so; I have seen kindness on the part of most kids daily when I have volunteered in my kids' middle and high schools. That said, in much less measure I have seen cruelty too, and I would offer that BOTH are learned behaviors, reinforced by immediate consequences. Trust me, it is definitely "politically correct" (not to mention widely accepted by pretty much everyone) to practice common courtesy and decency.

These kids can learn a lesson, and they don't need it slapped, beaten, or shaken into them. Obviously the parents can learn from this too -- about how to teach the Golden Rule.

Step 1. They should have to watch the video of what they did, sitting right next to her and their parents (talk about squirm-inducing).

Step 2. Then they should have to stand in front of this woman, with their parents present and admit what they did. They should both apologize and ask forgiveness.

Step 3. Then they can go on to spend some serious quality time OVER THEIR SUMMER VACATION doing several hours of meaningful community service at their local Salvation Army or another supervised program that involves seniors, victims of bullying, etc.

The apology will probably help, but the cash donations will buy a lot of therapy time.

Unfortunately it is the kids that need the therapy.

No team sports, no wonder they are sorry. You can't trust these kids nowadays. Can you image if a younger more reactionary person was their victim. They would have that poor bastard on Youtube looking like a raging pedophile. God love the teachers of today because these kids grow up idolizing people like Ashton Kutcher. It's just too easy to punk someone with a camera, bait them and then roll camera.

One, these little thugs should be ban from a school bus for at least a year or more. Two, what was this poor woman doing on this bus in the first place. A 70 year old woman has no business being anything on a bus except a passenger. She was totally helpless against these little piss ants.

I don't know what to think. Kids can be terrible. Nothing new. Adults are supposed to be in charge but society has taken all of there tools away. Kids are protected like fragile tulips. I was a little bastard kid for sure. What worked for me? Fear of the belt. Spankings. That is what works. I'm sorry but, kids are like dogs, you can scold them until you are blue in the face. They just don't get it. Pain is what they know. If you inflict pain, spankings or whatever, they truly understand and comprehend that they did something wrong. They will avoid the same behavior that brought that pain unto them.

Watched part of the unedited video. Couldn't get past the 2nd minute, that's how disgusted I was.

As a child, having been raised to respect my elders, I would NEVER have shown disrespect of the magnitude these little #$%&@s inflicted on this woman.

As some posters have already pointed out, this behavior is not uncommon anymore. When I was growing up it was still permitted for parents to give their kid a slap on the mouth or swat on the behind for misbehaving. As far as I'm concerned, if not taken to extremes, that kind of punishment for misbehaving should be permitted. Today however, if a parent punishes their child in such a manner, it is, in many cases, frowned upon as being too severe, and in some case can even be construed as child abuse. I don't get it.

A couple of weeks ago I was standing on my balcony, minding my own business, when a group of kids (6 or 7 of them, ages 8-12 or so) walked by and commenced to calling me a "white piece of 5h!t". Yeah, I'm white, the kids were black, but I'm not going to make it a racial issue, that's not my thing. It's the disrespect. I wanted to ask them why they would call me that. I had done them no harm, heck, I didn't even know any of them. But I knew that reacting at all would be pointless, so I just went inside.

Where do they get this stuff? I know, rhetorical question. Lousy parenting. Still, do the parents actually teach them this stuff? In some cases, sadly, I'd say "yes"...

If these little "darlings" were banned from riding the school bus for a year, I'll bet the parents, after a year of having to chauffer their rotten kids to and from school for a year will insure this type of behavior won't happen again.

Bad kids have BAD PARENTS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bullying is should be a tough law and saying "Im sorry" should not be an easy way out for those Ignorant characters. If they can't respect the elderly what better thing should you expect from those things. regards to the parents of those characters, SHAME ON YOU FOR LETTING YOUR PETS OUT TO GET MIXED WITH THE NORMALS People !!!!

I know this has been said before, but what the heck was this lady's responsibility on the bus? Why didn't she report these boys to the proper authorities? If the one little dumbass wouldn't have posted it on You Tube (or wherever) then this whole thing wouldn't have ever come out. I think the parents and the kids involved should be held accountable! If the parents are put out because there stupid kids aren't being "parented" at home then maybe a little discomfort and inconvinience on them will change their family dynamics.

The apologies where pathetic, I think we can all agree. These kids are influenced by the stupid @!$%#s they watch one TV for example Jersey Shore, MTV, and even Disney. TV has influenced kids sooooooo much that I dont' think they truely understand that stuff isn't real!!! All of the reality TV is fake, and even the Disney program don't portray life how it really is.

Let's get back to parenting our kids and teaching them to repect others, instead of letting them go down this path of acting like a @!$%# head or even worse being too afraid to step in and help a victim. Damn where has our society gone!!! My son is EXPECTED at the age of 5 to hold a door open for WHOEVER and WHATEVER color their skin is, he is also expected to sit in a resteraunt and eat his food without being loud and messy as well as his 2 year old and 13 year old sister. Parents take your discipline ideologies back. You want to come take my kid because they got a spanking for acting stupid then come take these dumbass kids for acting up too! Stop all this tree huggin @!$%# and get back to reality!

Alegre: You hit the nail on the head. How a child treats others is a direct reflection on the parenting. Now I am not saying there aren't anomalies but a child does not go from "respectful" to "bully" overnight. They learn from observing their parents. They also learn what they can get away with. Once they learn they have minimal parenting then they get worse.

I remember at a very (VERY) young age you say "Yes sir" and "No sir" and greet all adults as "Mr." and "Mrs.". I doubt seriously that even ONE person on that bus greeted this woman that morning as "good morning Mrs. Klein". These bully's are getting the negative attention but it is our society/parenting/children in its entirety that is collapsing.

when i was a kid, we had a substitute bus driver and we were helping her to all the stops and we were loud and obnoxious but not disrespectful. She got mad and stop the bus and started walking back which war a good 10 miles. We opened the back door and said we were very sorry and were very calm and quiet the rest of the way. So, I think the bus driver or the lady should have stop the bus and see how the reacted. It would have been a true sign of how much of a person those kids were. And also they should tell her how sorry they are___— FACE TO FACE____— not through the police or news org.

Just my opinion here,

I take these kids at their word. After all, isn't America about second chances?

I will accept the apologies of these kids. Those of us that are parents, we don't want our kids to do that kind of nonsense. At least one parent want's his kid to do work for her or help her in some way. To me, that is genuine. Any normal human being would see themselves behaving in that manner would feel remorse.

For those that want to blame the parents. Ok, you may have a point. It must be nice being perfect I bet. Seriously, any parent here knows that good kids can, and do really mean, stupid things from time to time. And punishment is sure to follow. It's part of the human experience.

Of course, this woman is a kind sole from what I can see. She didn't want them expelled or prosecuted. This strikes the perfect tone because what is needed here is a firm but kind hand.

Now, in the story, there are people that are making threats against these kids and their families. THAT MUST STOP! Let's not descend into mob rule please.

"Let's just get along!" - Rodney King

Of course, $440,000 for a dream vacation and retirement sure rounds off the rough edges from this and just about anything else doesn't it?

@Ryan - WI - The majority of kids today ARE like this. They are nasty, rude, spoiled etc. Much of this has to do with upbringing. But I believe part of it is due to society's 'do what you want to do' attitude....

Proper punishment for these thugs, bullies, punks and creeps?

1) A good whoopin' with a belt or paddle.

2) Spend all their free time for three months standing at a busy intersection wearing "I'm a Bus Bully." Spend the next entire school year having to wear it in school.

3) Being banned from any extracurricular school activity, or any type of community recreation activity for the rest of their school years until they graduate (if they do).

4) Being banned from using any computer, cellphone, i-pad, etc., for three years for any reason. Along with that, they posted the video on Facebook. What were they doing having Facebook profiles? One must be sixteen; these turds were around twelve-to-fourteen max.

5) No television, movies, CD's, etc., for three years.

6) Do community work during all their free time (after spending three months on that intersection) mowing lawns, shoveling snow, weeding, painting, cleaning, etc. for three years.

The names of all 4 of these kids are already all over the internet, especially on YouTube comments. Looks like they will be in for a rough ride for quite some time in terms of background checks for employment, college/grad school/med school/law school etc., military, etc.

These little *hits (and hopefully their mothers and fathers) have learned and will continue to learn a very harsh and expensive lesson - that you are responsible for your actions, that you must treat others with respect and dignity, that you are held accountable, and that what you post (and what others post about you) on the internet is essentially PERMANENT. The parents clearly had an "epic fail" in imparting any sense of morals and ethics to these kids... the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.

While it would be easy to just call these four boys, despicable little turds, the fact of the matter is, that many kids who would not normally act out in this manner individually, will willingly join in a group of kids to act out in this way. It's a form of "mob mentality", and it can be down right cruel. As for the apologies, well..... I honestly can't say, one way, or the other....as to whether it was sincere, or not! It really doesn't matter, since the damage was already done. I feel sorry for all involved...

The simple fact that there have to be monitors on school buses tells me something--except in the case of special needs students who need assistance.

I think this goes way beyond "5 minutes of stupidity as kids".

"5 minutes of stupidity as kids" is stealing a candy bar or breaking a window.

Not assault of this magnitude.

Some would say stealing a candy bar is far more serious. Naming calling, even to this despicable level, is not a crime in most places.

I suggest you go back and remember your childhood and if you ever named called someone. Not saying people take it to this extreme, but these are kids...and kids don't know better most of the time. Hell they arent even in high school yet.

Like the poster a few posts up, you could have the best kids, but when a mob mentality hits, especially with immature kids that haven't even hit puberty, many fall prey to it.

What these kids did again was deplorable...but most of you want to ruin their lives forever which is ridiculous. I think many of you need to 'rethink' what exactly you are wishing on them for a lapse of judgement..and again..a lapse of judgement that was not a crime.

Bad kids have BAD PARENTS

Many BAD kids have GREAT parents. It's society and the pressures they put on kids that break them. Especially drugs and alcohol.

@Mark. . She may need the money or just something to do. I do take exception to your comment about her age which I understand to be 68. I am not far from that age and I assure you that I could handle these kids. I would like to agree with those who feel that we should be limiting negative influences like some of these reality shows and other tv junk. Sports people used to be heroes but there seem to be more today that lead offensive lives. We need to put emphasis on those people in the world that are positive contributers. And we need more respect for each other and for those we vote for, work for or work with.

While I find the behavior of the kids totally appalling, I'm wondering why as the monitor, she didn't stop the bus and with the bus driver kick the evil little brats off the bus. Which asks the question where was the bus driver???

Perhaps if more adults stood up to these kids, it would happen less often. I know I'm in my 60's too, and if kids talked to me like that I wouldn't let them continue. I would have immediately stopped the bus, stepped outside, closed the door, and let them sit there until they stopped their bad behavior. In the mean time I would call the school to report it immediately and probably the police.

BTW, I've stopped a car filled with misbehaving kids, and wouldn't move until they stopped their bad behavior. Just sat there on the side of the road for about 10 minutes. They were shocked and when I explained why I stopped, they figured it out pretty quick. Worked great.

The lady is just too nice to have a job like that.

Sad when so many people are intimidated by kids. Adults UNITE! Stop tolerating bad behavior. Remember, we are the grown-ups in the world.

It is just heartbreaking when you hear about the comment of this woman's family killing themselves, only to find out that her son, of all people, actually commited suicide. I hear you never get over the death of a child, especially if it was suicide. That must have been absolutely tormenting to hear.

all right- time to play DEVIL'S ADVOCATE-

What the hell is an overweight 68 year old woman going to do in the event of an emergency on a school bus full of children? You all saw the footage, she can barely walk. She cannot even defend herself from the VERBAL taunts of schoolchildren.

Oh, I got an idea- let's give her half a million dollars! WTF?

They are ONLY apologizing because they were caught, and they are ONLY apologizing because now their parents are in the picture. If I were on that bus, at that age, I would have screamed at them to STFU! I swear to God I would have. What the hell was the rest of the bus thinking! And what about the DRIVER?

That poor woman has my permission to use my donation to hire legal counsel and sue the pants off those people!

A lot of people are placing blame on the parents, but sometimes bad kids come from good parents. I know this from my own personal experience. My siblings weren't particularly good kids once they got to high school - always getting into trouble, fights, detention, etc... I escaped without so much as a detention because I learned from their mistakes, had good friends, and actually listened to the advice of amazing parents who taught me to respect others. It is when kids are willing to do anything to fit in, that they forget the lessons they were taught and do some pretty despicable things.

I disagree with what some of you are saying about the apologies not being sincere. They seem pretty sincere to me. For one thing, this is a well-documented psychological phenomenon. In hindsight, these boys probably do genuinely feel disgust after watching themselves on that tape (I know I would) and are likely asking themselves, "Why did I do that?"

It's also worth remembering that these are children-- middle schoolers-- we're dealing with. What they did was utterly deplorable and they could not have found a less deserving victim if they'd tried. But let's keep this in context. Threatening their siblings, for one thing, is completely unacceptable.

And I am saying this as someone who was the victim of this sort of constant, ongoing bullying in school for several years when I was in school. We didn't have bus monitors back then. On several occasions, other students would grab my backpack, open it, turn it upside-down, and dump all the contents into the bus stairwell while the bus was in motion. The driver would then yell at me-- not them, me-- saying I need to get down there and "pick that @!$%# up" (this was also before bus cameras), which I had to do while the other kids laughed; a few would kick me while I was doing this as well. So please no comments about how I'm an apologist for bullies or any crap like that.

Punish these kids SEVERELY! Make sure they never forget this lesson and that other would-be bullies get the memo as well. But let's also remember that they ARE children. Their minds are still physically forming and some might be lashing-out as a result of abusive situations at home or bullying from other kids. Either way, I think they're about as sorry as a kid that age can get. So punish them, teach them a lesson, and make sure this wonderful lady never has to work another day in her life.

Let's see: lack of civility, callous disregard for another's feelings, attempting to verbally wound an 'opponent', propensity for cruelty, desire for revenge, lack of empathy ... where in the world could those kids have learned that?

Certainly not from social media sites like this one.

If the punishment for such crimes is to be things like 'beatings' and 'public whippings', there are quite a few on this list I'd like to nominate.

I feel do badly forthis lady. This never should have happened!!! These kids deserve some serious punsihment which should include a heck of alot of community service for elderly people. What saddens me is that there are people out there that want to threaten the families of these kids!!! Way to perpetuate the bullying!!! Those making threats need punsihment themselves. I am amazed and pleased at the out pouring of caring and assistance for this deserving lady!!! IT out weighs the negatives over this whole thing!!! Bullying is a serious issue and more needs to be done to stop it!!!!

Mark Taft..."these kids are as mean as snakes"

hey Mark, even snakes have more feelings than this...

most kids are NOT this horrible..

but this situation does bring to light a lot of what America has become. Just look at political discussions we have no tolerance of reach other, and I'm guilt of that.

Americans do some nice things, but many are mean nasty hateful vindictive @!$%#s

I see the Code of Conduct has not only been thrown under the bus today, it was stomped on and then run over by the bus. Whatever happened to not death wishing on others or is Tyler asleep at the switch. It seems to get enforced only when it suits his purposes

how does a juvenile bully an elder? i dont get it, they are just immature kids and yet they were able to 'bully' an elderly bus driver. how does that even happen? do adults not understand when they are grown up that words are just words and they dont hurt you? does not most all parents teach kids this -sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me -is still true today as it was back then. they are just kids, if you lets kids hurt your feelings then you are still a kid yourself.

something like this tells a lot more about the bus driver than the kids, she should have been retired long ago if she cannot handle some unruly kids, she is the elder in this situation and the authority but somehow we ended up with this story. the kids should been reprimanded with a suspension and a permanent mark for their actions and made to work some hours in a convalescent hospital and maybe after schools class on respecting elders and authority.

I'll tell you how. This is the direct end result of the "warm and fuzzy" Oh don't "abuse" the child with discipline approach to parenting which has created an entire generation of narcissistic, self absorbed a$$holes who truly think they are on equal terms with adults because their parents treated them like they were rotten eggs that would break if you even raised a voice at them,much less lace a belt across their hides for being obnoxious,entitled little jerkoffs!

I love it! The don't discipline the poor little "abused" children no matter how unruly and ungrateful they are syndrom is nothing more than the "hippie turned yuppie' me generation creating an approach to parenting that directly suited their self absorbed desires to squirt babies out like rabbits and not actually have to take the time to raise them! "Bullying" is certainly a childish description of what this is...but then again they are having to relate to the readership as if they are children so they can understand just how screwed up this society has become for not wanting to actually fullfill their roles as parents out of complete selfishness! What they should do is line every damn one of them up drop their pants and take that 500,000 dollars out of their a$$'s! and then put them in detention writng 1000 words an hour on the black board describing why being a miscreant a$$hole leads to leather imprints across the backs of their legs!

Oh i know...i'm going to be labled a monster and a child abuser...but quess what i never had to lay a hand on any of my children because they were raised from the get go to show respect to all people no matter what the age! These little hoodlums however are far beyond that sort of reasoning and need an immediate crash course in humanity!

I married a woman who had 4 children and they were good kids, of course they did some growing up oops. but nothing that warrented more than a grounded week end. I got to admit that having 4 kids is one thing but having 4 kids land on you is a different experience. they are in their 40s now and they are 4 of my best friends.

As for these boys this does show that Bullying does not pay. I hope that the parents let these kids know that she probebly could have sued them out of their homes and into the street if she was vengeful about it. No body should have to suffer that type of indigity.

I believe some, if not a lot of you have children of all ages. If you have daughters these boys want dates. if they can't respect an adult do you think they would respect your daughter? These boys are very lucky indeed. The school wants to suspend them for the entire next school year. As a parent I guarentee that this Summer, Next School year and the next Summer would not be a vacation of any sorts. Having grown up in a Farming area and working for farmers I know there is always somebody that needs something done hammer and nails, painting, pick and shovel. Something always needs to be done.

I think this is nice, but this is imo going a bit overboard now. If people can raise this much money in such a short period of time, then why the hell can't the people all donate 5 dollars a piece to fix our current deficit.

We need to also focus on how to teach and fix these heathens behavior and attitudes toward other people.

jussayin-

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Everyone knows their face, everyone hates them, this WILL be on their record, both private and public, and frankly, I fully expect to see these kids either in the electric chair in 10 - 20 years, or in Prison enjoying free meals and health care for the rest of their life, depending on which state they end up in.

MAKE THEM SAY IT TO HER FACE! If school officials won't keep them off the bus for a year as she suggested, she should file for an order of protection with the police.

Actually, 6dogs made me think of something - don't punish them by expelling them for a year. Make them attend summer school for 3 years. 3 years of no vacations for their parents might inspire them to discipline their brats a lil differently.

-sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me -is still true as much of an urban legend today as it was back then.

Fixed that for you.

Arieus,

I think what it is is a fairly clear indication that people are finally tiring of allowing this sort of behavior to be shrugged off and forgotten and this being under the circumstances the only way they know how to make a loud enough statement to that affect and i say...more power to them and where do i send a check!

My heart goes out to this grandmother. I agree that there need to be strong consequences for these kids actions.

HOWEVER, these are middle school kids in the middle of puberty. Bad choices by kids doesn't necessarily mean bad parents. There are volumes of research for why we shouldn't charge adolescents as adults. This would seem to apply here as well. Kids make bad decisions, they do stupid things. One kid starts and then the next kid has to show he's the alpha male and then you get situations like this. Also, kids this age are looking to belong. They are trying to figure out who they are. It is hard to stand up to the crowd and risk being an outcast. This is not an excuse for their behavior. However they are unaware when it is occurring how extreme their behavior actually is. Seeing it later on video, when they aren't in the middle of the adrenaline hype, surprises them. We don't write them off because they do something stupid at 12, 13 and 14 years of age.

Also, am I the only one that thinks $550,000 is excessive. Maybe the grandmother should get half and the other half could be used to set up anti bullying classes for the kids and classes for the bus drivers and monitors to know how to handle and stop bullying of anyone on the bus. Maybe they could use some of the money to put cameras on all the buses. These could be used to justify disciplinary action/legal action for any further bullying.

I think this is nice, but this is imo going a bit overboard now. If people can raise this much money in such a short period of time, then why the hell can't the people all donate 5 dollars a piece to fix our current deficit.

We need to also focus on how to teach and fix these heathens behavior and attitudes toward other people.

jussayin-

THANK YOU! I thought I was alone. I think this poor lady should get a vacation, but I think this is going overboard. It seems like the more money that is raised the worse people are reacting to this incident.

I guess the Internet's Superheroes heard about this... The kids are already receiving death threats.

Never forget: Anonymous Delivers!

Miss Copper's Mom

While I find the behavior of the kids totally appalling, I'm wondering why as the monitor, she didn't stop the bus and with the bus driver kick the evil little brats off the bus. Which asks the question where was the bus driver???

Perhaps if more adults stood up to these kids, it would happen less often.

Really? I mean, really, you ask this? What do you think would happen if the monitor and bus driver had stopped the bus and kicked those pieces of snot spit out from their breeders' crotches out? They'd be fired and possibly, probably and most likely charged with "child endangerment." To force a worthless brat to walk one block as some sort of "punishment" would be considered "abuse" and "recklessness."

And adults standing up to these should've-been-abortions? Even parents standing up to them would be charged with "child abuse."

We've come a long way, baby. Gone are the days when I was in school and teachers, principals and bus drivers could smack a brat around to bring any type of misbehavior to an end. And if a brat was smacked around, he/she hoped his/her parents didn't find out because the brat would get it 100 times as bad at home. Now parents will sue. Their kids are simply "precious" and no one "touches them." It's a totally different, whacky world.

Nancy Mackelvia Facebook

My heart goes out to this grandmother. I agree that there need to be strong consequences for these kids actions.

HOWEVER, these are middle school kids in the middle of puberty. Bad choices by kids doesn't necessarily mean bad parents. There are volumes of research for why we shouldn't charge adolescents as adults. This would seem to apply here as well. Kids make bad decisions, they do stupid things. One kid starts and then the next kid has to show he's the alpha male and then you get situations like this. Also, kids this age are looking to belong. They are trying to figure out who they are. It is hard to stand up to the crowd and risk being an outcast. This is not an excuse for their behavior. However they are unaware when it is occurring how extreme their behavior actually is. Seeing it later on video, when they aren't in the middle of the adrenaline hype, surprises them. We don't write them off because they do something stupid at 12, 13 and 14 years of age.

Also, am I the only one that thinks $550,000 is excessive. Maybe the grandmother should get half and the other half could be used to set up anti bullying classes for the kids and classes for the bus drivers and monitors to know how to handle and stop bullying of anyone on the bus. Maybe they could use some of the money to put cameras on all the buses. These could be used to justify disciplinary action/legal action for any further bullying.

Oh, I get it. Those poor children. There's so much put upon them. They have "hormones" and we need to understand that, so let's just give them a workshop to clear things up. Yeah, right.

As for the grandmother, getting more than half-a-million dollars because she suffered at the hands of these hooligans, is "excessive." Let's put more of it towards "workshops." Yeah, right. When I was in junior high (as well as elementary before and high school after), any problems with misbehavior was settled with a hit, whack, slap and even the use of a belt or paddle. Stuff like this didn't happen back then. And if our parents found out we got a whoopin' in school, they gave returned it to us twice as bad rather than turning to a lawyer. We've tried the "workshop" and "presentation" garbage long enough and it doesn't work. Even a major motion picture documentary hasn't work. It's time to to bring back the hands, belts and paddles. And that goes not only for the brats, but the breeders (not parents) who brought them into the world. "No one hits my child!" Oh, yeah? We'll hit them, and then we'll hit you.

I hope she's able to enjoy the rest of her life on that half-a-million. She deserves it. Those crotch-snots who abused her deserve the most intense punishment possible. Maybe they'll grow up to be productive people. If not, there are prisons where they'll find out what other things can be done with their butts. Too bad the same can't be done with their parents (well, maybe it could).

Okay so its going to take me to get the whip cracked onthis one I guess. Let's see here.... elderly white woman boo hoos she was bullied and we see an outpouring of financial gain on her behalf not challenged or frowned upon from the righties. When a young man was shot dead in cold blooded murder and his parents received donations (Trayvon Martin case) I read volumes of naysaying about them gaining finacially over his death.

This woman was certainly harmed but at her age I am sure her skin is tougher than boot leather. She has no doubt heard more than those kids have in their adolescent vocabulary at this time. So now she is going to be made a millionaire for this. Is it okay for her to benefit from this unkind act and not the Martin family for an actual death?

The gauntlet has been laid down......... you may begin.

I am so shocked no one from the right has weaved Obama into this, or even Holder...so I am going to do it. I think these kids were immigrant children allowed into the country by the lax immigration policies the Obama administration instituted.

You see Obama started the whole immigration thing back in 08. Prior to 08 we didn't have a problem with border security..... nope. Heck now you can't swing a dead kitten for hitting a mexican running across the border with an AK on a mission to kill some border agents with our own weapons. These kids are related to the ones that killed that agent and its Obama and Holder fault for sure.......right...right?

Really we should blame Bill Gates and his ding dang internets for existing so they could post that video. Wait ..wait.....blame Al Gore because he started the internets....then blame Obama for not having the internets shut down.

Is there a way we can blame the gays? Surely some one from the right can make this a religious or moral issue and blame the gays for the breakdown of the family and our christian backbone.

Lemme have your most idiotic weaveathon to Obama being at the root..........lets get it going folks.

Kevin S

Okay so its going to take me to get the whip cracked onthis one I guess. Let's see here.... elderly white woman boo hoos she was bullied and we see an outpouring of financial gain on her behalf not challenged or frowned upon from the righties. When a young man was shot dead in cold blooded murder and his parents received donations (Trayvon Martin case) I read volumes of naysaying about them gaining finacially over his death.

This woman was certainly harmed but at her age I am sure her skin is tougher than boot leather. She has no doubt heard more than those kids have in their adolescent vocabulary at this time. So now she is going to be made a millionaire for this. Is it okay for her to benefit from this unkind act and not the Martin family for an actual death?

The gauntlet has been laid down......... you may begin.

I'll pick up the gauntlet and start whip cracking you, and I'm a flaming, ultra-leftist liberal. So let me start.

What the "f" or "h" are you talking about? Yes, the Martin family deserves massive financial support for the murderous thing that happened to their son. It won't bring him back, and it won't bring total justice (and I hope Zimmerman - who's Hispanic-American, mind you, not European-American - gets life imprisonment for what he did), but they are deserving of it. Lots of psychotic right-wingers are all upset about the Martin family getting lots of money, but so what? Let them get upset. Who cares? So long as the Martin family gets all that money and can at least live the rest of their lives in solid comfort.

So that brings us to your complaint: you don't like it that Mrs. Klein has so far received over a half-million dollars so she can live the rest of her life in solid comfort because of what she endured. She didn't die - so what? Would you feel better and more self-righteous if she did? As for your ageist remark about her being "leather," let someone tell you that people you love killed themselves because of you. Let's see how leathery you are.

The Martin family (which is black) has, and will continue, to receive lots of financial awards and benefits from the murder of their son (who was young). Because of his death, they'll never have to work another day in their life and will be able to get whatever they want. They deserve it, and so what if right-wingers don't like it. So will Mrs. Klein. Too bad a left-winger (and I'm a left-winger, and I've just excommunicated you from the club) doesn't like that, just because she's white (and old).

There, I've picked up the gauntlet and swiped it ceremoniously across both your cheeks. Care to respond?

Oh, by the way, just to make it clear, as a left-wing, flaming ultra-liberal, I do believe in corporal punishment for children. I believe, when they pull stunts like this, they should be beaten with belts or paddles until they scream and shriek in pain and are covered with welts and can't sit for a week. That was the common and most oft-used punishment when I was a child, and even us little left-wing, flaming ultra-liberals learned never to do stuff like those snotty turds did. That's why we grew up to remain left-wing, flaming ultra-liberals who think those who were wronged, whether it's the Martin family or Mrs. Klein deserve to be highly rewarded.

So there. Now I threw down my gauntlet. Care to pick it up? Be careful. Remember, I believe in whacking and hitting.

rw in mn na - get over yourself...her job is not to stop them from yelling insults at her, her job is to and ensure that they are following safety procedures and try, TRY to maintain civility among the students, stop fights, stop screaming. The @!$%# students were in their seats, they were not fighting with other students and they were not causing safety concerns. She could not have stopped them from running their foul little mouths, she cannot lay a hand on them and she can't even tell them to shut up, because parents in this country will sue for the slightest reason and will usually win. People like you , that have responded like this, were probably these kids when you were young, hell, you are probably this type of person now, and are a worthless member of society, just like Swagganaut, doyourhomework,America!, and Ron Shepard. all of you guys comments are ignorant, asinine and offer nothing productive to the situation.

Ron Shepard, here's an idea that is probably new to you....educate yourself before speaking on matters you are completely ignorant of. You have the slightest clue as to why that woman sued McDonalds, and obviously have no idea why she won. Well, since you will never attempt to educate yourself, let me do if for you.

She was a passenger in a parked car. She took the top off her lid and accidentally spilled it, causing serious burns, both because the coffee was too hot and too full. Are you aware that the burns completely mutilated and deformed her genitals? Yeah, didn't think so. You know you can find pictures of her injuries on the web, and they are horrific.

Now, to the reason she won the case.
McDonalds coffee was, at the time, their number one selling item, and they realized that they were not making a large enough profit on the coffee because people were getting too many refills. Their response to this situation was to have a meeting to discuss ways they could get their customers to stop drinking so much of their free refills. During this meeting the decided they would raise the sitting coffee temperature to 180–190 °F (82–88 °C), realizing that if the coffee was too hot to drink, the customer would have to wait a long time to be able to drink it, limiting their amount of time to consume the drink while on the premises and thus avoiding refills. Those temperatures are well beyond the range to cause severe burns of 3rd degree magnitude. McDonald's lawyers realized that this would give rise to customers being burned and raised concern to the higher ups...the higher ups said, yes we know, their will be customers burned, and we will get sued, but the amount of money we lose in lawsuits will not compare to amount of profit we will lose to free coffee refills, and that amount was figured out and charted.

The reason the woman was first awarded the large amount of money, was because it was the exact amount the McDonalds execs. calculated they would lose in profit from free refills. If you would like to see all the information about this case, as the reason your ignorant comment had no basis in this thread discussion, just search the web, HBO even covered this in a documentary that describes, in detail, everything I just stated.

edit - there will be customers burned, not their will be...

This reflects how decent, ethical, caring humans feel about bullies. Parents, please teach your children to be kind and ethical in their relationships with their fellow man.

I hope this grandma and bully victim enjoys her money and her vacation. I hope it will help her heal from child abuse and torment.

Arieus - why should we give $5 more than we already give to fix the country's deficit? We did not create it and we already give plenty. How about the libs in DC stopping the out of control spending and holding out their hands asking us to pony up more of what we earn?

BTW...I do think that they should close the donation site at this point.

SurroundedByFools; I agree with your thoughts about shutting down the donation site. I think it should have gone down before this. I appreciate her agony and distress but come on folks, this much money? I'd let somebody bully me for a while for that kind of cash. Take that money and donate it to a cause. Did anyone ever address who took the video and posted it?

I think he is apologizing for the family. This type of behavior transcends just the kid. I know I would be ashamed.

I dunno, if this has been me, I wouldn't have been allowed out of my room long enough to apologize. I'd still be trying to figure out how I was going to sit down on my tender bottom. Of course, spanking is not PC anymore. (And yes, I know the difference between spanking and abuse. There is a difference.)

Not enough damn it! I want blood. (sarcasm)

Now these little self-involved brats are using this as "hey everyone look at me" time. They haven't learned @!$%#. It is just a time for them to be famous for being infamous. (not sarcasm)

screw an apology. put them out on a main street with signs saying "i like to pick on helpless people, please tell me your thoughts on that." let them experience what she did, people much bigger and badder scaring the crap out of them. public ridicule is a great deterrent to things like this especially to a teenager and since spanking isn't an acceptable punishment to some. i personally would would spank my child but this is a pretty good alternative.

We all like to think our little darlings would never do something like this. Truth is, when they are with their peers, they are cabable of anything. That said, were it my child, I would have invited news crews to this woman's home or my home where my kid would have given a heartfelt apology to this poor woman's face. Then would have let the woman know that my child would spend his or her summer vacation doing whatever chores the victim could find.

I can hear the parents now... How could you be so stupid getting caught and then to tape it and put it on you tube.... Not any thing about being a bully to someone that could be their Grandmother or that that type of behavior is not acceptable to do to anyone. Lots of community service and public apologies...Sorry to hear there are threats to the families..that is as bad as what the kids did, you don't solve a problem by being a bully back. Too bad we live in such a violent society now...

About the father apologizing for his kid, I think it showed him saying "Yeah, my kid is an @zzhole and I'm going to make him pay". I would like some of the other parents respond to why they thought their kids acted that way. Everybodies head (parents too) is buried in some Ipad or something. I'd take away all internet access from the kids. Except school research with mom or dad literally right behind them. Take away a kids cellphone/texting and he is deaf to his peers.

I think they should have to be home schooled for a year. Maybe then the parents would have time to teach them manners, compassion, decency, and accountablility for one's actions. Also, all four sets of parents need serious parenting classes.

I still think each of the boys should have to stand on a BUSY corner in their town wearing a large sign that states: I bullied the bus monitor" every Saturday for 3 hours until September. Rain or shine! I certainly hope that the local paper prints the names of the parents.

I really don't understand how they could do this and not be worrying about repercussions from home. That was always my guide in school. What the hell is Dad going to do if I do this?

Even better than that, hatr_hurter, how about them holding signs that say "I commit elder abuse, tell me what you think of that" and have the people responding taping their reactions. Let's see by their facial expressions how sincerely remorseful they really are.

Even better than that, hatr_hurter, how about them holding signs that say "I commit elder abuse, tell me what you think of that" and have the people responding taping their reactions. Let's see by their facial expressions how sincerely remorseful they really are.

Even better than that, hatr_hurter, how about them holding signs that say "I commit elder abuse, tell me what you think of that" and have the people responding taping their reactions. Let's see by their facial expressions how sincerely remorseful they really are.

oops on the triple post....can't explain that

Me thinks its time for a life lesson to these youngsters. Parents, a good ol azz whuppin sounds in order to me. Time to man up. They need to learn immediately the consequences of their actions, then a little grounding to remind them about how much of a jerk they were. Hopefully their peers can administer a little taste of their stupidity as well. Two wrongs don't make a right, but some people only understand one thing. As far as the father doing the apologizing for his son - quit protecting the little hellion and make him pay for his own mistakes. Shame and embarrasment are great teachers. Give em some of that and I bet they won't do it again!

How disturbing to hear so much hatred/disrespect from the mouths of these kids. It just makes me sad that she had to endure such verbal abuse.

Haha JmB66 you sounded like one of those kids. "I can not believe I did that"

just joking around

I agree Deze. But, the part of this story that rips at my heartstrings is that one of the brats said that all of her family members killed themselves because they didn't want to be around her. All of this said without knowing that her son committed suicide 10 years ago. I hope these brats pay - big time!

I hope these freaks outed; along with their families who are ultimately responsible in nurturing decency and conscience in these kids. They deserve to be tormented for the rest of their miserable lifes. As tormented as they victimized this truly wonderful woman.

I doubt they will be 'punished' by the school - let alone expelled. We live in a gutless, ubber-feminized society loath on harsh punishment, regardless how deserving it may be as in this case.

'Apologies' are not enough - not near enough. Society clamors for consequences!!

These freaks have to be outed!!!

So one of the mothers asked if there is something her kid can do to make it up to her? Do you really have to ask? Load your freaking mower up in your car and tote your child's south end over to that lady's home every week and he can mow her grass! Don't ask, just do it! She shouldn't have to mow her grass for years! Let's see what kind of character you and your child are truly made of.

SInce we all agree this type of bullying and abuse is inexcusable and should not be rewarded I suggest you all go investigate they type of bullying that Romney was accused of when he was in school. AS bad or worse than this - so do we want a bully as President? Just asking......

Looks like this sweet grandmother will be able to retire soon and live without worries. I sure hope she gets to keep all the money and doen't get hit by excessive government taxes.

Hollykb

If you are going to bring politics into this then be fair and tell about Mr. Obama being a bully to a girl in grade school or have you conveniently forgotten that? I think it is sad that some people just have to try and slam one political party or the other no matter what the subject.

Keep the politics in your home Hollykb. This has nothing to do with nObama or Rumney. No I didn't misspell the names

To heck with all that, quick, somebody bully me, somebody else video it and I'll split the half a mill with you!

Seriously, I saw the story on Nightly News last night and it made me very angry. Who is raising those kids these days? It was sickening. I felt bad for the bus monitor.

I agree with the poster who suggested they have to carry a sign around for a week saying "I'm the guy who bullied an elderly woman and made her cry." Something like that. Then they can mow her lawn, paint her house, and do odd-jobs for her for the rest of the summer. Maybe THAT will teach them to be more respectful.

Ok, I'm ready to be bullied, who's got the camera?

Kids with no guidance from home! This "fund" set up for this woman is such a big laugh, when my wife was dying and needed medical attention we could not afford, we could get no one to help, and then people jump on this like it's really important for her to collect thousands. What a joke!!!

I don't get it. She was paid 15K a school year to make sure that a bunch of fourth graders did not bully anyone and she (an adult) gets bullied by the same fourth graders she was suppose to supervise. WOW not smart enough to assert her authority, record the abuse taking the recording to the princpal's office and or just take the little SOBs to the principal's office.

There is something missing about this story. Has this bullying never occurred before in the entire school year? And if never before, what suddenly triggered this time? And if it's happened before, why was it never reported before?

A whole school year passes and suddenly on this particular day, there's bullying ???

Something just doesn't add up.

Why are we rewarding a person who has not done her job properly. If it was your child on the bus being bullied and spoken to in such a way would she just sit back and let them bully and terrorize your child as she allowed them to bully her. Her job is to keep the kids under control, not be part of the problem. If she had not been so submissive and had spoken up in a proper way with some authority in her voice I am sure she could have prevented most of what was said from happening. Why not let them know they would be punished at school, or suspended from riding the bus or just that their parent would be infromed of their behavior. Both her and the bus driver just set back at let these kids control the bus.

I would hate for my kids to have to depend on her for protection. And it seems like this has happended many times before. I dont think she deserves nearly half a million dollars for not handling the situation properly. I do feel sorry for what was said to her especially about her child, but it should have never reached that point.

those little a-holes need what occurs in Singapore for offences like this; a good ass whippin with a cane pole.

Americans can't stand the thought of kids actually getting what they deserve Singapore style. Remember the canning incident in the mid 1990's? That kid survived and hopefully learned something. Today's parents in the US are simply way too forgiving of their little monsters.

Don't worry she will get the money. This wasn't collected by the Red Cross or the government.

Mark, it's not forgiving; it's afraid. We've gotten so soft that it's illegal to give our kids a good butt whippin'. Of course, some folks scream abuse, but a few solid whacks on the behind tend to be attention getters. Both of mine got their share, and I have two of the most polite adult children you ever met. Their children are complimented regularly for their manners, too. As a matter of fact, my grandson (10, who is autistic) stood up for one of his classmates last year when a bully started on him. My grandson told the bully that he wasn't being appropriate and that he should get mental help, because he needed it.

(Apparently, the bully had seen my g'son in a full autism meltdown, and he decided that was one button he didn't want to push. If you know anything about autism meltdowns, they are exceedingly unpleasant and sometimes violent.)

All came out okay in the end.

Globally, our failure as adults and parents is letting our children be the bosses. Many have turned into little tyrants, or have become so cunning that they manipulate situations. It's time to set some ground rules, and being a bully is not on the agenda.

These kids are the product of UNION TEACHERS!!!!!!

lee

Bullhockey.

These kids are the product of stupid parents!!!!!

Lee, that is the most idiotic things I've read in these comments. I agree, this is poor parenting and simply mean-hearted kids. I went to a private school and there were bullies there too.

The bullies were worse in private school.

hwilson,

I agree. I never saw anything happen at the public high school I graduated from that even came close to what I saw and experienced at the private boarding school I attended for freshman/sophmore years. Know what REALLY hurts? A senior who turns down his class ring and then slaps your skull as hard as he can. Great fun for them, but I can still see and feel the lumps and dents he made on my noggin to this day.

@Merlin - my husband talks about EXACTLY the same thing happening to him in a public school here in KY.

lee-936758

These kids are the product of UNION TEACHERS PARENTS!!!!!!

Fixed that for ya

HWilson: Unfortunately, there has never been a more true statement. And I don't think we're EVER going to see those cases coming out into the open as easily as they are in public schools right now.

The TEACHERS were the bullies in Catholic school.
LOL

I am thinking these little chickens don't bully other kids. They just picked on her because she was old and could not get away. These kids aren't real bullies, they are chicken s...s. These kids don't pick on someone their own age and size.

This is learned behavior and it comes from observing it all over the place; TV, our political discourse, on the road, from their parents, in stores, malls, movie theaters... we are an uncivil society where "me" is more important than "You" or "Us".

I think what these kids (and their families) are sorry for is getting caught - that's a world different from being sorry for the act. My mom taught me (and I have taught my kids) that there is three parts to an apology - Responsibility - you need to take ownership for the act, not blame someone else for your actions. Remorse - you need to be truly sorry for what you have done. and here's the part most people miss out on - not surprising because it's the "hard part"... Restitution - you need to attempt to make things right, a pay back of some sort. You need to make it right. A summer's worth of yard work for this lady may be a good place to start.

Really good point CoCo. You could be right on the money that they wouldn't dare pick on someone their age and size because they might actually get what they deserve. And BTW - they still might. Middle schoolers come in many shapes and sizes, as they are just starting the maturity process, so there's a good chance that they will get to meet the head rooster of their chicken coop.

I'm not trying to be mean.. but isn't her job to stop bullies? I don't know what's in the job description of a "bus monitor" but i'd imagine the only real purpose is to make sure kids behave.. Well she failed miserably at that.. now people are throwing money at her. I'm just saying.. if those kids were picking on your son/daughter.. she doesn't seem like the type to try and stop them, if she can't even stop them from picking on herself.

And believe it or not.. kids can be sorry, and just not because they are in trouble.. you ignorant people.. I've done mean things that i've regretted, and i've compensated by being nicer since then.. i think it's made me a better person...

This is a first for me to witness:

1) I'm actually enjoying the cyber-stoning circle aspect.

2) To this point, only 1 comment collapsed!!!!!

So nice to see everyone on the same page for once. : ))

Hope you all have a nice weekend,....(even those of you who hate me )..... just think about how those cowardly idiotsare going to be ostrasized in school,... all the kids will know who they are. As they are just entering the age of becoming interested in the opposite sex, none of the girls will be interested in them, providing an extended set of consquences heehee. If I recall correctly, back in the day, the issue ridden, obnoxious, attention-seeking, cowardly, bullies in jr. high,. like these four little pussies never had many friends of any kind.

Parents everywhere would do well to use this occasion as a teachable moment for their own children.

I wanted to add to my earlier comment. So scary that they threatened to stab her! Violence of this magnitude as a Parent of a 31 yr old Son. When he was that age I really would have been frightened of his mental stability. Did he have a knife on him? They must have been proud of how they belittled a WOMAN that it was recorded. How traumatic for the witnesses.

so djb, you don't think these kids need their ass whipped?

Well, I don't think they and their family deserve death threats. Do you?

Well now maybe their parents will instill some sense of respect in the little snots. They need to learn that actions have consequences and sometimes the consequences even outweigh the action.

The kids are bullies, if they bullied an adult, then they bully kids in their schools. Just think about what they do to other kids. They should be kicked off the bus for the rest of their school years. Let their parents that made them this way, drive them back and forth.

This incident only depicts the still small number of students not just riding a school bus, but attending all public schools who disrupt classrooms as well.

There needs to be a better control and consequence for those students who are either unable or unwilling to show respect for their schools, teachers and fellow students.

No tolerance may be an overreaction to the problem however parent/guardian involvement (without the "my little Johnny or Judy wouldn't/didn't do that attitude.) needs to take place.

Transportation problem. Then let the family seek private or personal means for a time, month, 3 months, a year depending on the infraction. The same would be dealt out in restrictions for other infractions within the school disruption of class time, bullying students, etc.

Time for ALL public educational systems to laying down rules and enforcing them. So let's raise the bar so to speak and get accomplished the true mission, EDUCATION!

I am in no way condoning bullying, but to be fair, when you get into a situation like those boys did, it is very easy to be caught up in it and say and do things you normally wouldn't. It doesn't excuse it, but I'd believe it if he was surprised at what he actually said.

I must have missed the story about the massage parlour!!!

Right, AG. Look at Zimmerman. The New Black Panthers put a bounty on his head and he hasn't even had his day in court.
Speaking of Zimmerman, where is our daily racist story MSNBC???????

But on the other hand AG99, do you think the families would care otherwise? Do they only feel concerned because they are being threatened? I rather like the idea that the entire family is involved now, and perhaps each and every one of them can feel a little bit like the victims (because I'm sure there are many) of the animals they have raised.

I don't think these families should be threatened then you are stooping below their level. If I had children in their area I would forbid them to associate in any way with them. The school can assist by elimiinating them from any sports or extra activities for one year. Best plan...home school for a year.

Well AG99, if you remember ancient history, Roman in particular, they generally killed off the entire familial bloodline when they wanted to get rid of a societal menace. I think that's the premise here. Just an explanation, not necessarily an agreement.

Hell, if these we kids of color everyone in this thread, especially Mark, would be dousing them in verbal BM comprised of every little nasty slur they ever heard and ever will hear about that particular group. But since these are poor, misguided white kids we'll make this about the New Black Panther Party (all seven of them) and how MSNBC doesn't post enough racist news to keep the mouth-breathers drooling out one side of their mouths (still looking at you Mark). These poor white kids were forced to bully that old woman because (as Ice Cube observed) rap music made them do it... damn jungle music forcing good kids to watusi!!

Hey, whatever cognitive dissonance keeps you sane, dude.

I commend you on your public service, but feel very empathetic toward your plight as a public school teacher. The kids today are spoiled, self-entitled little bastards or come from broken homes and none of them have respect for authority.

Maybe it's time we bring back corporal punishment in schools. I used to say that if a teacher ever struck my kid, I'd be dealing with it.......but if my kid was acting like this, then maybe he deserves it. I'd bet going back to school uniforms would solve some of their behavioral problems, too.

edub, Bravo. My feelings exactly.

Where were the other kids on the bus when this was happening? They didn't stand up for her so they are complicit. The comments about her deceased son are beyond any apology. Too bad that lady was to nice to just give them hell right then and there! I hope she has a fantastic vacation and a joyus retirement.

@edub-Although I agree about corporal punishment being back in school. the problem is not with the school district or lack of punishment for things such as this. The problem is the parents...my child would be too afraid to act this way because he knows that if I found out about it, I would wear his ass out and then take him over there to apologize to her face to face. I am not apologizing for my child. That is his job.

@runner-I, like edub, am grateful for your dedication to our kids. You can rest assured that if my child was in your district, he would not act this way to anyone (see above paragraph).

We have raised a bunch of spoon fed, spoiled rotten, uncaring children because as parents we are more worried about what people think of us (trying to be politically correct) than we are about the morality and compassion of our children. People can think what they choose to about me but I spanked my children and whether the bleeding hearts agree with me or not, my children know how to behave in public, they have respect for authority and they know how to treat others. Two grown children and one teenager later, I hope that what I have done with my children gets carried to my grandchildren. I can't make others discipline as I do but I can influence how people behave by how I behave. I do not fall in to the pack mentality and will not stand by and watch it happen either.

These kids need a good old-fashioned ass whipping and that would solve a lot of the problems we have today! And I dare law enforcement to step in and do something because I love my children enough to teach them a little respect.

What about the bus driver??? Why didn't he stop the bus and kick the little Batards off the bus?? Or at least tell them to sit down and shut up?

Exactly.

I think a large part of the reason that schools are impotent when it comes to disciplining kids like this is that they have lost the support of the parents when it comes to this sort of thing.

I was a bit of a troublemaker as a kid. I didn't bully other people, but I liked to play practical jokes that were sometimes a little destructive. When I got in trouble at school, I feared my parents' reaction to what I had done more than I feared the principal. Whatever I got in school, I knew I would get it five times worse when I got home.

But now too many parents have this crazy notion that only they may discipline their children. It doesn't matter that their kids spend almost a third of their lives in the control of other adults. I think that, except in cases where the school is obviously wrong, that parents should back the teachers and administrators no matter what.

And it goes even further than that. If a student has to serve an after-school detention for something they didn't do, I don't think parents should argue it. A principal's office isn't a court room. People must all the time face consequences for things they did not do or were not entirely at fault for. Staying for ninety minutes after school isn't going to kill anyone, and even if your kid wasn't at fault, it still isn't worth making a federal case about it. Yes, if your kid is about to be suspended or expelled for something he didn't do then you should stand up. But for little piddly things parents should just back the school. A home isn't a court room either. Nor is it a democracy.

Between myself and my three siblings, my parents only fought the school one time. And that was to get my brother's Saturday detention changed to an after-school detention. That was over twenty years ago, and to this day I don't think my brother did anything wrong, but my parents did the right thing by still backing the school in the matter.

Kids are a lot tougher than what people give them credit for. Saying "no" every once in a while isn't going to kill them.

I was in our school during the school day and walking down the hall listening to the filth that flowed from the mouths of these GIRLS and boys was absolutely shocking. There is no way they talk this way all day and do not use this language at home. Where is the parenting?

Yes, the boys did apologize, but now they are being bullied. Is that what we call justice? Come on, this is not what we want our kids to learn. Yes, bulling is horrible, but "Let he without sin cast the first stone." I really felt bad for that poor woman. After watching that video, and what respect I have for her not wanting to press charges on those bullies. All she wants if for them to be punished, something their parents should have done a long time ago. So why is the community forming a Lynch Mob? I feel They are now the bullies. Two wrongs make a right now?

How about a letter of apology every year on the date these little pricks chose to punish this woman for doing her job. Thank God she'll never have to set foot on a school bus again. Go spend the cash and have some fun. So sorry about losing your son. What restraint she showed by not beating the crap out of the little @!$%#s.

How about the kids don't get a phone (that took the video) or a computer (where they posted it) until they are, say 30?

Kent,

I really hope you don't have any kids, but if you do, what kind of lesson do you think they would learn from you giving them a beatdown? As for the apologies, I agree, total lip service.

If this had been myself or one of my brothers or sisters, which it would not have been as we were taught to respect everyone, especially our elders, we would not have been able to sit down for a few days and we probably would have been grounded until our graduation from high school! I see it more and more, lack of respect for anyone, especially adults. As for the apology, it would have been made face to face and whatever work that lady needed done for the next year around her home would have been done by us. My parents had 10 kids and they didn't tolerate us treating anyone like this. Glad the lady had a happy ending....she deserves it!

I think that the people criticizing your remarks don't understand that it isn't necessary for a parent like you ever to hit their children. What stops the kid from acting like this is the famous phrase, "My Dad would kill me!" The knowledge that you would never accept any excuse for that behavior puts the brakes on the behavior ever being considered.

Or, as Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter series explained, "If you wanted to punish me, you've have a bring a shovel because my parents would have already killed me."

A few years ago...before "bully ing" became the buzz word, I was called to sub for a science teacher at a middle school in a high end neighborhood. The students called me all the names they called the bus monitor...except for the "family you" part. It was a horrible experience I "get it." When the day was over and I had been bullied all I could take I reported it to the principal of the school, giving names, etc., NOTHING WAS DONE to the students. I told the school to never call me again and I refused assignments there.

I thought it was an unusual behavior...never did I equate it with bully behavior...Now I do. Those well fed, well dressed, pampered kids never knew what they did to me.

I can hear the parents now... How could you be so stupid getting caught and then to tape it and put it on you tube.... Not any thing about being a bully to someone that could be their Grandmother or that that type of behavior is not acceptable to do to anyone. Lots of community service and public apologies...Sorry to hear there are threats to the families..that is as bad as what the kids did, you don't solve a problem by being a bully back. Too bad we live in such a violent society now...

I, too, am somewhat disappointed by her choice to deny these children a real growth and learning opportunity, albeit a hard one, but they don't get to complain because they would be getting what they working so hard to get. I don't see why the school and it's district cannot pursue criminal charges. They are, ultimately, the ones responsible for everybody's safety and well being, including the bus monitor. They should, at the very least, be on permanent detention for the rest of their high school years and not be allowed to participate in ANY extracurricular activities.

I do have to agree with Falstaffsmind however. I think that father was entirely sincere.

my bad, double post, sorry everyone

I think she decided not to press charges because she wanted to get as far away from these chicken bullies as possible. I do not blame her for not wanting to go into court with these kids. Who knows what their parents might say in court or the judge. So often it turns to be the victim's fault. Some have posted that she was not able to do her job. That is NOT the point! The point is the behavior of these kids. PERIOD!

It's a development issue, at least in part - yes. Adolescents are at the point of brain formation where they have what I like to call a faulty break system. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Some kid does something unreal stupid, and when you ask them what they were thinking, they can't answer. Why? They weren't thinking at all, nothing was going on in their heads.

It's worse, much much worse, when you have a bunch of kids together, because then they aren't thinking IN PACKS and they feed on each other and cycle wildly out of control, far beyond what they would do on their own. Dogs do that, too. We aren't dogs - this is not an excuse - but it means that we as adults have to work keep this completely natural and absolutely unacceptable behavior under control. The kids can't or won't do it on their own. Imagine if one of them tried to stop the rest? Think that would have ended well?

There really should be a healthy adult to child ratio in unstructured environments, but we don't want to pay for that.

All we can hope to do is make sure that we've pushed the kids in the right direction in the first place so the fact that they are a bus with no brakes is irrelevant.

EDIT:

I am not apologizing for, condoning, or making excuses for the awful behavior of these children. The point I intended to get across is that there's clearly a few in the bunch that have NOT been pushed in the right direction.

I work for the public, and I see it all the time. We have kids coming in for court ordered community service, and there's almost always just one really awful kid, and several perfectly nice kids that are "friends" with the bad one.

I know exactly what you are talking about. In middle school, kids are incandescently insecure. So insecure that they will do stuff like this just to 'fit in'. And they think that the more outrageous and 'bad' the more they will impress their peers. As parents we spend so much time trying to make our children secure and well-rounded that it catches off guard. I know it caught me off guard when my daughter hit this stage. It's like the past 12 years of parenting didn't matter.

hwilson ~ Good post. It is scary what some adolescents will do - especially in packs. (Adults, too, unfortunately.)

The fact that a school bus needs a monitor sure tells me something about these students! I've never heard of school bus monitors except for special ed busses - and those were usually there to assist students with physical disabilities - not for gang control. Can you imagine a bus driver trying to steer a bus AND handle these monsters?

The monitor wasn't very effective, and I know people wonder why, but your are so limited as to what you are allowed to do, and very seldom get support from parents or administration, that your hands are pretty much tied. I quit teaching because of kids like this - even though their meaness wasn't directed at me. I couldn't handle how mean they were to each other and how disrespectful to the whole institution of education. And I LOVE teaching.

Judy, I am with you. I feel for you. I too love teaching but switched my degree due to the harsh nature of children in the classroom. I sometimes wonder if it would be helpful for parents to see a video of their naughty children in action..

So what! I'm tired of people making excuses for others actions. They are old enough to know right from wrong.

Actually they aren't.

No they might not be treated bad at home. They are junior high students and they are the worst behaved due to their age. I tried to drive school bus as a relief or fill in driver to supplement my retirement. The junior high kids were the most ill behaved snots you could imagine. The schools don't cabk up the drivers, the parents mostly defend the little hoodlums and after 6 months I said that for the amount of responsibility ( the driver is directly responsible for the 100's of students safety every day) and the abuse you recieve compared to the little that you get paid it just wasn't worht it. Mesa, AZ school district is always hiring and training drivers and can't keep the postions filled. Maybe if they supported the drivers better they wouldn't have to spent hundreds of thousand of dollars every year training new drivers who will quit in a few months. These little snots need to be prosecuted and punished and made an example of.

Severed Head,

I disagree wholeheartedly! They are old enough and do know right from wrong. As a small child I was taught that there were NO excuses after age 7- the age of accountability according to the Catholic Church. The Golden Rule is the guide. The problem nowadays is weak parents making excuses rather than enforce decency and good behavior. A good portion of those "parents" are simply raising adult children.

Maybe Obama hit them with a puppy and now they are damaged goods.

I'm with ya Dallas! Every time I see some disrespectful act (be it children or an "adult") I shake my head and think ... It's not them that needs to get slapped upside their head but their parents for raising such an ignorant and disrespectful "person." OK, now my ddisclaimer: It]s just my internal thoughts and I do not condone slapping someone upside their head.

I would have to agree. If parents where punished right along with their kids I think they would have more of a hand in raising them. Personally I would have NO problem spanking my child for the kind of behavior that was shown in that video. My kids are going to be taught to respect others at a young age and that lesson will be drilled into their heads until I am dead.

On the plus side. WOW half a million! It does a heart good to see that so many people are supporting this lady and showing so much empathy for what she had to go through. I didn't have the stomach to see the video but I know they taunted her on her son's suicide and that is just.....beyond words. It does my heart good to see that so many people still believe this kind of behavior is unacceptable and give money to her for support. While I think this nonsense of people harassing the kids family is just as unacceptable as their actions and it needs to stop, I'm glad she should be getting a freakin' sweet vacation for it.

I was thinking the same thing. Personally, I'd have slapped a mouth or two...guess it's a good thing I'm not a bus monitor....

You have made some very good points. But with the current laws, she could not touch them or she would be guilty of assault.

In this day and age - her hands are probably cuffed with a bunch of red tape. Look at the sue-happy nation we live in. Had she put a hand on any of these kids, their parents would have sued her and the district. Had she "fought" back in any way - she could have lost her job.

Parents that raise bullies are the same ones that are up at the school yelling at school officials and blaming them for their brat doing XYZ.

I understand why she didn't do a thing - if my livelihood depended on income - and not getting sued - I wouldn't have done anything either.

Unless her job is observe and report.

Plus, if she would have said anything or taken action, people would be ridiculing her for not being mature enough to handle it. Catch 22.

I totally agree...also I wonder what kind of training this monitor was given. My guess is this had been going on for a long time. She should have set some boundaries with these kids a long time before. For instance, if she would have said in a stern voice "Stop now...I don't like that and I will not tolerate that." If they did not stop I am sure she had the power to write those students up and let a principal or another person of authority handle it. I have worked in schools at every level (elementary, middle and high school) and I know how important it is to set boundaries and limits with kids.

My late husband was a cop for 35 years. He used to say that teens have no fear of the law as they know that their actions, no matter how bad, usually result in a slap on the wrist. No one can touch them because they're protected by our insane juvie laws. One of the reasons we see "swarming". They just don't care. By the way, if my hearing is still good it seemed to me the voice of one of the loudest taunters was a female. No mention in the article of a girl being involved. Could she be the one who hasn't been heard from?

"UN" edukated man,

It's an old woman being ganged up on by 4 $hitbird @ssholes and it's called being afraid. Bus monitors are not the bus police. They make sure the kids get on and off the bus safely. If 3 of my buddies and I came to your job and suddenly started $hit with you, I'm sure you'd appear dazed and confused to say the least.

I understand your point, but you have to remember that they´re there to monitor. They don´t have the backup from the schools, etc, to actually do anything. Yes, she´s elderly, but if a child was in actual danger, then she would have been responsible for bringing it to the attention of the driver. Other than that, she´s pretty impotent. Frankly, if I had been the driver, I would have pulled over, called the cops, and refused to move until those little Casey-Anthony-in-training thugs had been removed.

Bob fu,

Look, I understand that she felt intimidated and could be overwhelmed. Those kids were way out of control and she is elderly and hearing impaired. Still, she failed to even report the incident and instead (I'm paraphrasing) said in a later interview: "I just chalked it up to a bad end to the year."

If her job was just to make sure kids got on and off the bus safely, then I see your point. If her job had anything to do with monitoring or influencing on-bus behavior, she is unqualified. To answer your scenario about coming to my job with some buddies out of the blue and harassing me, I would initially be dazed and confused, but would end up taking some action, if even it was just to report you after you left. Now if I had a job that including being prepared to deal with unruly intruders (or bus passengers), I would not be so dazed and confused, but would attempt some course of action within the scope of my authority.

I was glad to see someone finally mention this point. Of course it's a horrible situation and the students should be punished. That being said, what the hell is the school district doing spending money on a bus monitor who is simply not qualified to handle middle school kids. There are plenty of ways to handle this situation besides smacking the kids. Hiring and training of appropriate monitors and drivers should be the first offense against this happening again.

those saying she was unqualified for the job are just being ridiculous. please tell me, what would you have done? i know what we would like, no LOVE to be able to do is smack the living sh*t out of each of these turds of society but she can't. you know damn well that even if she speaks harshly towards these brats, they would run home screaming like little girls and their parents would sue. there is such a fine line between discipline and abuse in schools, etc...but the fact that there is no, zero, zilch, nada ability to discipline little sh*theads like this because of rightful fear of lawsuit. what could she have done?

and yup, this starts at home with the parents. we clearly need more chlorine in the gene pool.

btw, nicely written BS apologies from the parents, ooops, i mean the kids...yeah, right.

Also, how qualified of a person are you really going to get when you are paying 15K a year? Think about it.

Wooohooo!! Way to call it like it is callingitlikeitis! I totally agree..
Seriously, I can not believe that people are critisizing that poor woman for being uncapable of doing her job.. Seriously!? She WAS doing her job, it just took a turn for the worst. She is supposed to prevent bulllies from attacking other children as one of her duties and she did. Unfortunately, she was the target. This is sad if society actually has the nerve to say crap like that. And then for people to say- "I will take a verbal abuse for some money." The woman didn't ask for that money. She didn't post the video and put it on the interent. She did what she could when she was being abused by those awful children. Imagine how you would feel if one of your children or someone dear to you committed suicide and some nasty little sh*t said they did it to get away from you? That is F'd up! Seriously. She seems so sweet- She didn't even say she wanted anything bad to happen to those nasty children. Tell me, is that a woman who deserved that? No. She seems like a kind hearted woman who probably took that job to be around children because she loved kids and this is what she got. We have allowed behavior to spiral out of control without limit and punishment. Kids are mean and nasty and they can not be punished or else the adults doing the punishing get into trouble. When she said what she said- that is probably all she was allowed to say. And as for the people critisizing the bus driver for not stopping.. Have you ridden on a big yellow school bus lately?? They are very noisey and you can't hear from the front to the back unless you yell very loudly. Besides, the bus driver has enought to worry about, trying to safely haul a bunch of kids from point A to point B. He needs to focus, not turn around and yell at the kids. That is why they have bus monitors. So many people are so quick to take focus off the bratty boys who were out of line and say- what about the bus driver, what about other kids, what about ect.. This isn't about any body else. It is about these boys that were out of control. The monitor was probably put on the bus because of kids like that. You mean to tell me that if a bunch of kids are bullying an adult one little loner kids is going to stick up to them, hell no! They are scared.. Especially since the person there to to protect them isn't allowed to protect themself. Any job dealing with children, is a difficult job these days. Bless her heart for trying.

She most assuredly DID NOT do her job when she didn't report earlier incidents, when she just sat there listening to it and letting them poke her and not demanding the bus driver return to the school or use her cell phone to call for help. If she wasn't provided with the authority to do any of those things, then why the hell is the school district wasting $15,000 a year on her or any other monitor? There is alot she could have done long before the situation became this out of control.

Her tolerance of the situation is another aspect of how no one takes responsibility for their personal behavior anymore and I'm sorry to believe this includes her. Victimhood is the new sexy. We're all victims...Well believe me, no 13 year old smarta## would poke me or call me names to my face. And she shouldn't have let it happen either.

Pam- oh really tough girl? please do tell us on this public post what you would have done to a little 13yr old minor if they did that to you...you do realize that if you even lifted a finger, you would go directly to jail, you would not pass GO and would not receive your $200. so please do explain to us just how tough you are and what you would have done. actually, you wouldn't even need to lift a finger but even the wrong choice of words (if deemed to be a threat) would be enough to land you in jail...so really, tell us....

you are obviously not too intelligent or you would notice the hypocrisy of your own words "how no one takes responsibility for their personal behavior" and you use this in reference to the victim not the abuser? wow, i am speechless at your logic.

Callingitlikeitis,

I want to defend Pam for a moment. I agree with you that the bus monitor (or any adult) cannot turn around and strike unruly or bullying children. I think Pam knows that too. What she is saying is this:

If you are placed in a position of authority such as bus monitor (or school teacher like myself), you as an adult have a responsibility to do something about this kind of behavior. Sure, a doddering, elderly hearing impaired woman is not going to physically intimidate those kids. Is it too much to ask of her to at least report their behavior or have the bus driver stop the vehicle and call the school administration? If you do nothing, your own behavior encourages and enables the abusers.

If adults in position of authority don't stand up to punk kids within their sphere of responsibility, stop paying them for a job they cannot do and find them another place to serve. It is inconceivable for me to imagine a school district that would retain me as a high school teacher if my classroom management skills were similar to those of this bus monitor. My classroom would fit the definition of anarchy.

Callingitlikeitis- no need to get ugly. If you read my comments you would see I very clearly said it was a horrible situation and the kids should be punished. Why does everyone bring up how you can't do anything without fear of a lawsuit? That's what leads to these situations - everyone's afraid to take charge of a situation, a.k.a. victimhood. I feel horrible that this woman was put on the bus with her physical frailties and lack of support/training, knowing the tendencies of middle-school kids when left unfettered. But on this public post I will say that there is plenty you can do to take charge of 40 13-14 year olds in a confined space to maintain order and deal appropriately with bad behavior. Just ask any middle school teacher!

Thank you Edukated Man for articulating better than I could.

Your optimism is admirable. Unfortunately, I think the only reason she received these (half-assed) apologies, was because of the public outrage.

I have a sneaking suspision that the only one of these little asshats that will think again, is the one whose Dad did the apologizing (which, I would wager is on behalf of the family out of shame).

I think they should be given community service for 500 hours working in a nursing home helping the elderly. Bringing them meals pushing their wheel chairs , helping feeding them. These kids need a reality check.

STHU, my daughters volunteered at nursing homes for years. My son also has a volunteering spirit. I routinely receive laudatory comments concerning all of my kids. Nor are they unique, there are a lot of really good kids out there today. Your belief that these young brats (who can change BTW and turn out just fine) are symbolic of an entire generation is just as ignorant as these kids behavior....

Chris,

Nice

Chris, stop deluding yourself. Just because they volunteer doesn't mean they're the little angels you seem to think they are. All junior high kids are monsters. Period. They're not at home--how do you know what they act like when they're around their little friends? I guarantee they're swearing, cursing, and acting just as mean and rude as the kids in this video. If you think they're not, you're kidding yourself, and when they get home from school they're not going to say, "Hey Mom, I called Billy an a**hole today."

Well Kristin if (All junior high kids are monsters.) why wasn't the rest of the kids taunting this woman?

They're not at home--how do you know what they act like when they're around their little friends? I guarantee they're swearing, cursing, and acting just as mean and rude as the kids in this video.

You just contradicted yourself. At first, you claim there is no way of knowing what kids are doing, then you go and guarantee they are as bad as the kids in the video when they are at school. In any case, I'd have to politely disagree with you. There are good kids out there. You just don't hear about them.

Kristen you must not have kids or maybe you never should have them if you believe they are all monsters. Most kids are good hearted people or how else would we have adults that are good hearted. Do you know of any that skipped adolescence? Did you? Are you a monster? Are your nieces and nephews? if so, look at the adults closest to them as the reason and the real monsters. No one is saying kids are all angelic, but devils, certainly not. There is not just two extremes that we live with but many miles of middle ground. There are kids that are extremely good and those that seem to be lost to the darl side, but none are trash to be cast away unless you first deal with the parents as the root cause.

I know many many really great kids through my kids bringing them home for sleep overs and I meet their parents to know what kind of home my kids will be sleeping in when they reciprocate.

You guys jumping on the bandwagon of hate are no doubt examples of adults that may have themselves been considered bad kids so you are unable to conceptualize of kids that where not like yourselves.

Bullying and ignorance isn't a new invention of today's youth. It is a result of lack of acceptable behavior modeling and consistent enforcement of what is "right". I am not at all young (darn it!) but can vividly recall being the target for daily verbal and sometimes physical abuse because I was not model thin but WAS one of those nerdy kids who raised the curves for tests, etc. These kids need to have a LOT of things taken from them (TV, video games, etc.) but I wouldn't discourage sports participation and would actually mandate it. It builds teamwork and strength of character as long as a superior coach is at the helm.

I'm not going to make any friends, though, by saying that half a mil for the taunted bus monitor is frighteningly excessive, both in gesture and monetary amount. Should she be given some monetary compensation from the school district and some kind of sincere apology from the perpetrators and their families? Absolutely. Should the media and Hollywood fork over dollars so she can go to Disneyland? Come on -- this is ridiculous. If we're going to help any bullying victims, let's look for those poor silent kids who suffer this in silence day after day after day. This woman, though unarguably victimized, endured this as part of her job. She should have, and could have, said something to the school authorities before it escalated. She could have said, "this is it --I'm finding another job". Many older people find jobs at establishments that embrace age or diversity. A school bus is rife for nastiness, and an older woman is an easy target for these kids who were unkind and ignorant, but unfortunately they (like most beings) find the weak and prey upon them.

Hollywood, spread the wealth to benefit the most. Give this nice lady a week's vacation but give the rest to where it can best serve the most. The excessiveness of some Hollywood gestures is getting rather embarrassing.

The kids are only sorry that they got caught.

WOW, so the families and these kids are being threatened and taunted too now, huh? They can dish it out but the can't take it themselves.

For the kids to have talked like this to another person, they had to have learned this from there parents.

Purely disgusting how these kids acted.

Kudos to SW airlines for donating this lady a vacation too!!!!

Also, the school should ban these kids from ever using the bus again.

"is this whole thing with the bullying ever gonna stop"

Nope. Although it's a horrible thing, it's been happening since the dawn of man. Parents need to step up and teach kids their place.

Mostly agreed. Bullying has been around foever, but awareness has just recently been moved to the front burner. I think the difference is kids now days don't have the stones to stick up for themselves due to detrimental coddling by their parents.

I'm only 32, but am astonished by the downhill slide we've taken over the past 10-15 years.

kris7 - are you kidding me? I'm over 55 and when I started at a new school in a new town in 1965 I was verbally bullied and harrassed so horribly that my parents had to go speak to the principal. I was throwing up before school and cried on my way home. Adults for the most part told you to suck it up and followed the 'boys will be boys' train of thought.

Everyone should take care of their own and quit this fake nostalgia for the old days. They never existed people!

Pam I agree. Just look at the example of Mitt Romney and his cohorts chasing down a boy, assaulting him physically, and cutting his hair. It was a much gentler time back then. Kids will be kids they are growing up and pushing boundries. Fortunately, these kids got caught and are learing a lesson about tolerance and humility. Better than letting them get away with it.

So Mitt Romeny is to blame? Oh that's right you liberals like to blame everyone and everything in your lives....................................No personal responsibility.

Hey dv... I'm a liberal and am ALL FOR/ABOUT personal responsibility.

Way to pigeonhole, man. Golf clap for you.

Have a good day.

When I was kid, my father would have apologized for me too... because he would have killed me if I ever mouthed off like that to another adult. Those kids should all be arrested and sentenced to do a nice summer's worth of community service. Preferably cleaning up crap in a dog park.

Glen Beck is a great man for many reasons, this ads to it.

Whio give a horse's patoot what Glenn Beck did? Glenn Beck is a hate/fear monger in his own right.

A sociopath collecting money for this cause? Must be trying to rehabilitate his image. Not gonna happen.

No Beck is a realist something your liberals can't handle. You just have to blame someone else for your issues. Oh I was abused, I have ADD, I have this or that. Really. Grow the F up!

This was a Reddit and 4chan started fund. Glen Beck had nothing to do with it til it was well over 100k. The "bad" part of the internet even did the right thing.

Gimme a break!! Has everyone on here forgotten that they were kids at one time? And was everybody perfect? If so, I wish we were all you. I was bullied in school and after school. Some of the nicest people I know were bullies at one time. Things like this happen when you get a group of kids together. They don't really mean anything by it, and when they apologize, most of the time they mean it even more than adults when they apologize. Kids are kids are kids and bullies have been around for a long time. Thing is, if you knew all about their lives, things probably aren't all roses for them either. And yeah, I'm a grandparent and yes, I've been taunted and made fun of, Lots. Do I hate the kids or their parents for it? No. Its just something kids do. I'd much rather take up for kids than I would those useless pedophiles that people seem inclined to defend.

Glenn Beck? Is he still around?

No private school would take these little a-holes. They are right where they belong in government schools.

Glen Beck is an uberdouche as well as anyone that follows his ideology and moronic program. Glen did not give this woman the money and doubtful he even contributed a dime..... He criticized the family of Trayvon Martin as opportunistic in raising money to pursue justice for Trayvon then starts a fund for this woman who only got her feelings hurt. She came up in an era where women could be treated far worse by there husbands and men in general and no doubt has heard worse. Yes she suffered, but to the tune of nearly half a million? No one killed her or anyone she loves.

This is the double standard of race. White lady gets her feelings hurt and should be financially rewarded and the bullies brought to justice. Young black man murdered and no one should get financially restored and no one should be brought to justice................. Jeebus Crise!!!

Glenn Beck had nothing to do with this! This already made the rounds on tumblr, reddit, 4chan, facebook, etc. before Beck ever caught wind of it. Typical right wing lunatic, trying to take credit for someone else's good work!

These children should be taught kindness. This lady did not deserve such treatment, nor would anyone! It's a matter of respect for one another. Goodness, if she went off on the children, as they did her, their parents would be calling the school board, news and their lawyers. Perhaps these children should be required to volunteer at a nursing home this summer. They would learn that the elderly have a great deal to offer. There is so much talk about diversity and political correctness, what about simple, common kindness.

Hey, kids, bully me. I could use a cool half million for doing nothing but a little sobbing (sort of like Glenn Beck himself, now that I think of it).

Or, hey, maybe I can kill a black teenager in a hoodie and rake in the donations that way.

We seem to have gotten way off topic. My question is, what would the bus monitor have done if those four boys had been bullying another student? Isn't there a protocol for this, other than trying to nicely distract them? What is the protocol if the distraction method does not work? If such behaviour is allowed by virtue of ineffective corrective measures, why would any sane parent put a child on a school bus? And why, oh why, do we good little capitalists always think money is the cure for everything. Throwing stones at the kids and money at the bus monitor provides no real solution.

You are absolutely right; The bus monitor was not doing here job properly and had no positive control. She should have taken the main culprit by the ear to the front of the bus and informed him and the driver that he has just been suspended from riding the bus for 3 days and thus his parents will have to drive him to school. The Monitor should have that Authority and use it. Also should hand the kid a note of suspension of bus riding privileges which has to be signed by his parents in order for him to be allowed back on the bus following the suspension. Why are all these people raising money to give an incompetent Bus Monitor a vacation? $1/2 million would be better used improving the school, a benefit for all the children!

May in fact be good kids that did an aweful thing. Peer pressure no doubt played a role as well as a desire to post something they thought to be cool on the internet. Blame Obama somehow......... they blame him for everything else............. lol.wait....no lol..... they really do that.