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Subscribe to RSSThe generous donations received by Karen Klein -- $700,000 in all – have allowed her to leave her job, and those who taunted her, far behind. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
The bullied bus monitor made famous by a viral video is calling it quits after receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations.
Karen Klein, a grandmother from suburban Rochester, N.Y., told the Associated Press on Friday that she is leaving her job. She has been a bus monitor for the Greece School District for three years.
Klein, 68, became a household name after a viral video showed four seventh-graders taunting and berating her with insults and profanity. The 10-minute video sparked worldwide outrage against the boys' behavior. An online fundraising effort on Klein's behalf raised more than $700,000 in donations.
She told the AP her retirement is not because of what happened on the last day of school in June, but because it's time to move on.
The NOW w/ Alex Wagner panelists talk about how Karen Klein, a 68-year old school bus monitor who was bullied relentlessly from a group of seventh grade kids.
Klein reportedly made only $15,506 a year, according to the Indiegogo campaign page, "Lets Give Karen – The bus monitor – H Klein A Vacation!." At the time of the campaign, Southwest Airlines also offered to fly Klein and nine other people to Disneyland for free.
The school district in Greece, N.Y., where the incident happened, has suspended the four Athena Middle School students for a year. Two of the students and the father of a third have apologized to Klein via statements to local police.
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Leave a Comment:
I can't believe she got all that money. Didn't anybody else but me question why she wasn't doing the job she was hired to do.....MONITOR the bus. If I were the school or a parent in that district I would have immediately fired her. She knew what she was getting into when she took that job and she should have been able to stop those kids before it escalated into what happened on the video. She lacked the competence to be a bus monitor, which doesn't say much about her and the fact that she had been doing it for 3 years.
Mellon, you are a dick. LOL. Have any of you that are so critical of her job performance ever tried to discipline somebody else's kid that wasn't raised with respect towards adults? It is damn-near impossible. Something tells me they will learn it over the next year, though.
It's amazing how some people are jealous of her getting over 700k. They think she should have been fired. Kids like those were capable of doing anything to her if she would have "got after them". She may have gotten punched, kicked or spit on, just to name a few. She handled herself right. It doesn't take anything for anyone to be investigated and charged with "child endangerment or abuse" today. It's not like it was 30 or 40 years ago. Too bad. We wouldn't have these kinds of issues so often if kids today could get disciplined like they should. Mellon....ur an a$$.
I'm thrilled she got that much money.
Steven, I have been a part-time school bus driver for about ten years. We have no monitors. I have been for example: One student told me their aunt was going to meet me at the bus stop and put a bullet in my brain. Yet, that is not the worst example. What did I do? Told security what was said and they had her in handcuffs in a matter of five minutes. Therefore, I agee she did not know how to handle her job. However, I don't begrudge people helping her out. She was having trouble coping, so at least now she should feel loved.
Melon, There were people responsible for hiring Ms. Klein, they knew her age and obviously knew if she was the assertive/aggressive type from the interview. It may make you feel better to know that one posted that she was let go after this incident - not surprised after all the bad publicity the school got.
People with good hearts made donations to her for their own personal reasons. When I was growing up, the driver wouldn't permit any such behavior and nobody acted out or God help us. Obviously the bus driver couldn't handle the children either and that is why a monitor was needed---it's a growing problem.
Maybe the school will hire a BIG HULK type guy but they will need to reconsider the pay to put up with that sort of behavior as I wouldn't do it. In today's world, law suits would have been flying if she did stand up to them as many parents think their children can do no wrong.
Ms. Klein stayed silent although the ugliness continued - after all, they were only words. Good always finds its way through and I'm very happy for Ms. Klein and hopes she enjoys her life to the fullest now!
Thank you Jodeen - well put! :) Kudos to all those who saw in Mrs. Klein their own mothers, grandmothers, sisters, etc. and donated. God blesses those who bless others. I would be livid if some snotty kids bullied my family. She handled it all with class.
Surprised? Who wants to deal with Mommy and Daddy's little angels (BRATS) every day on the bus?
Those kids thought she was an easy target. Surprise!! Karma can be a bitch...
WOW!!! I cannot believe some of these comments on here. What if that was your mom or gramma or sister and so forth??? Some of you do not have a caring bone in your body at all. This lady was brought to tears by those brats. Their punishment is no way harsh enough for what they called this woman. I totally agree with "guesswho22". (btw, i don't think she is the "post monitor" either) Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I just hope that this was a lesson to be learned for some and if not, I guess that you were not brought up with any morals. Kudos to the man who started this whole thing and brought bullying to a whole new level. I hope that she enjoys her money and what she does with it is her business not ours!!!!
This woman stated on T.V. in an interview that she did not cry.
RIGHT! (take no s**t!!!!)
takeno
So write me how much she has donated to her charities.
We will be feeding those brats as adults.......in prison!!!
all the money she received i would retired too.
There is a loss of perspective here. The woman worked as a bus monitor for 3 years, took some abuse which was wrong and unfortunate - but not for THREE YEARS. As a result of public hysteria and stupidity she hits the lottery jackpot of about $700K. So she retires. I am all for grandma's being able to retire, but this is ridiculous!
The money was not used for an intervention program to teach kids better discipline in school and on bus, something with a worthwhile and potentially lasting effect. Instead, this grandma makes off like a bandit and retires on a fund she never expected or hoped to have [unless her pension was ripped off by Madoff or Keating]. If social media is to be of any real use, it should be collecting money to advance some real social purpose, not just handing a windfall payday to someone who just happens to have a video go viral.
You are 100% correct. Let her keep some of the money and donate the rest to an anti bullying
program.
I was just wondering if maybe she might have been a bully herself .She doesn't seem to be suffering or tramatized in any form.Just busy trying to figure out how she is going to spend her money .
I love how these kids had all the balls in the world when it came to bullying her to her face while their scumbag friends videotaped it, but when it comes to apologizing, they do it through statements to the police. The little pieces of garbage didn't get nearly the punishment they deserved.
Anyone who takes abuse from little punks like she did should quit, she should have done it long ago.
Sounds like there may be one brat that still doesn't get the message. It would be nice if we could get his ID. This is the type of thing that should follow these kids.
GOOD FOR HER!!!!! Now.....how much is the government going to bullie her out of for taxes!
so many jealous people on here sheesh
I think she's a whore for taking this money
I think you're a jackass for even making the comment but let me guess, Obama hasn't given you your share yet.
Why don't you just shut the hell up TC46!!!
you're an ass.
TC46
"I think she's a whore for taking this money"
TC, you know what it is? I think it's your jealousy fucn with you. Get over it!
I dont think it is absurd at all people donated that much money to her! It's awesome that so many people who haven't even met her care so much. I think it's great. What I do think is absurd is that NOW news clip sticking up for the bullies wtf! I'm sorry I'm glad they got called out virtually maybe next time they'll watch what they're saying to a 68 year old woman and maybe they know now being a dick to people just isn't the cool thing to do since apparently their parents forgot that little piece of advice. Before someone bites my head off and says oh it's not the parents BS! I saw the you tube video of the kids' dad making every excuse in the book for why what the little punk did was acceptable! I'm glad to see her retire so she never has to deal with that kind of @!$%# again.
should be intersting what happens to this kids in the coming years after all they been made famous for doing something totally stupid.
JS in SD get over yourself. Good things happen to good people. Apparently, you may not be one of those people since you on here complaining about the good deed other people did for this lady. You didn't donate a dime so don't worry about if its absurd or not. It is obvious that those that donated don't feel the same as you.
Agreed
JS in SD posts negative/ugly crap all the time.....the topic doesn't seem to matter.......He/She/It is obviously a miserable person.....has nothing nice to say......ever!
Amercian have big hearts and hate to see someone wronged. Enjoy your retirement Karen Klein!! The kids that bullied her need to be kicked off the bus for a year.
What a crock of @!$%#!! She is not calling it quits because it is time to move on, it is because a bunch of idiots sent in money to this woman who should never have been a bus monitor as she could not handle the job.
Another free loader who is p*ssed because Obama hasn't given them their share. It doesn't matter what other people do with their, they earned it. Try earning your own money before worrying about what others do with theirs.
JS in SD
"I think it is completely absurd that people donated this amount of money to this woman. What these brats did was not acceptable, but that still does not warrant this kind of money being given to her."
JS, get a life. Is it that hard to be just happy for the old lady? party pooper.
Wow maybe I should go get bullied and tell people about, rake in a few hundered thousand G's and then retire too..WTF people way to pay for the rest of her life
I'm not sure if anyone brought this up, but what in heaven's name was the bus driver doing? My husband drove a bus with grades K-12. He had no problems because in the beginning of the school year, he told the kids the rules, his expectations, and consequences if they caused a problem. The key was following through with the consequences, which he did. I do agree that if the woman couldn't control the kids, she shouldn't have been an aide on the bus. Too often the aides are just warm bodies that are supposed to monitor the kids, but for the most, are ineffective.
Pam.....I assume the bus driver was driving the bus in the mean time the so called bus monitor was carrying on one long argument with the kids. He should have stopped the bus and put the woman off and continued to school with the kids.
Pam I live in a small town but I guarantee that same talk would not work here. We have problems every year with those on school buses and it only gets worse. Some have been charged but if the problem isn't fixed at home it will not get fixed on a school bus. Did I mention that we had 8 middle schoolers last year that were kicked out of school for having guns on the bus. Kids these days have no respect fro themselves so they will not have respect for anyone else.
We need to go after the parents of kids like this to get to the root of the problem.
I thought the video was funny.....the bus is no place for an old hag....good going kids. The only bad outcome is the whore got rich.
I repeat... you are an ass. And you just keep proving it over and over.
What if that had been your mom or dad? What is the matter with you? No one deserves to be treated like that.
TC46--How long did it take you to get that stupid and have such a black heart!!!!!!
TC46, why don't you crawl back into that hole you call an ass? Or is it too tight for you? Here is some vaseline, I hope that helps you out.
JD--in the old says she could have told the bus driver to stop and made the kids walk and when the parents would have been told how their kids were acting they would have said good job to the school-------In todays world--if she would have touched them,made them get off the bus or yelled at them--The parents nowadays would have sued their schools,the bus monitor and any one else involved not ever acknowledging their brat ass kids sociopathic behavior--Good job that she can retire and people had good enough hearts to help her out--She doesn't need to be around those psycho kids who have no respect for their olders and who are just self entitled punks
I can only hope that she has/will donate a substantial amount to the Aurora Shooting Victims Fund.
Just one question....did these kids bully the police or Mrs.Klein? If it was Mrs.Klein, then why were the apologies sent via the police department? If these kids had been mine, the kids, my husband and I would have been at her front door offering our apologies....however insufficient they would have been considering the horror she was put through. My kids would have also been doing any chores she needed done for the rest of their lives. Kids learn by example....
I see from some of the comments that the woman is still being bullied by some commentators. She did not ask for the money and I hope she enjoys every cent of it. Those that gave did so from their hearts and I assume the detractors here did not give. She can now enjoy her grandchildren and not think of those little brats or any of the online bullies.