ONTD Political

Bus monitor Karen Klein's tormentors suspended for year.

1:25 pm - 06/30/2012
Four US students who gained infamy after a video of their verbal abuse towards a bus monitor went viral have been suspended from school for a year.

Footage of the 12- and 13-year-olds taunting Karen Klein has been viewed some 8 million times.

The school system in the New York state town of Greece says the students must also complete 50 hours of community service with senior citizens.

Mrs Klein, 68, said she did not want the boys to face criminal charges.

She told the Associated Press last week that others should not harass or threaten the students.

"That's not the way to go about things," she said. "They're just kids."

Suicide jibe

An internet campaign to send her on holiday has now raised nearly $670,000 (£427,000).

The online fund was set up by a Toronto man on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo after he saw the video on YouTube.

The clip, Making The Bus Monitor Cry, shows Mrs Klein appearing to break down in tears as she is subjected to a litany of insults.

The barbs include profanities, physical ridicule, taunts and her being told to shut up.

Some ask what her address is, telling her they want to steal from her and perform sexual acts.

One boy tells her she does not have a family as "they all killed themselves because they didn't want to be near you".

Mrs Klein's son killed himself 10 years ago.

In addition to the suspension, the students will not be allowed on a district school bus for a year.

They will be transferred to an alternative education programme, as the school district is required to educate them, and will be able to reapply to their original school at the end of the year.

The boys and their families have admitted wrongdoing and agreed to the suspensions without a hearing.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18656095

OP: Good. I say be even harsher, send them to boot camp for a year and have them clean toilet floors with toothbrushes.
meran_flash 1st-Jul-2012 12:13 am (UTC)
I don't understand why everyone's assuming that kids who would act like this on the bus won't behave exactly the same way on school grounds.
ceilidh 1st-Jul-2012 12:18 am (UTC)
OH, I'm sure they will. I taught long enough to know that while 90% of kids act decently towards other people, and are sometimes thoughtless or careless, there is a small percentage of kids that are just plain MEAN, which I blame the parents for, because kids aren't born mean and cruel. They learn that behavior from someone.

I should clarify I think this should be in addition to their suspension from school.
roseofjuly 1st-Jul-2012 11:20 pm (UTC)
Especially since at every school I've ever been - and I've been to 9 schools in 3 different states - the bus is treated as an extension of school property for the purposes of discipline. Acting up on the bus is treated the same way as acting up on school grounds.
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