While few people excuse a bus driver’s admitted slapping of a 7-year-old student last month, many experts say a changing society is producing children who are harder to manage — particularly on school buses.
The Bothell incident, while rare, underscores the often-stressful environment on school buses nationwide, and how it affects each person inside. It’s a daily rite that’s frequently frenetic and mostly overlooked.
"Everyone, while they don’t condone the action, they understand the action, because they’ve all been pushed to the edge one time or another," said Brian Higginbotham, Durham’s general manager and the former driver’s boss. "Anybody who works with students can identify."
School bus drivers in Snohomish County drove nearly 9 million miles on their regular routes last year. They’ll take nearly 50,000 students to and from school 180 days this school year — all with their backs turned on as many as 80 kids at a time.
Drivers get nearly a month of training before getting behind the wheel. The training includes learning how to handle the nearly 12-ton vehicles and the youngsters in the seats.
"Most people wouldn’t even accept a position where they have to manage any group of people with their back to them, whether it be adults or children," said Anna Esquibel, regional transportation coordinator for the Northwest Education Service District. "They already have a very challenging job … The student-management part is something people don’t realize is on top of that.
"It’s a stressful job," Esquibel added. "It’s a noble job, too."
Snohomish County prosecutors haven’t decided yet whether to charge the local driver who slapped a Woodside Elementary School student during the morning ride to school last month.
The driver, whose name won’t be released unless charges are filed, voluntarily quit her job. She otherwise would have been fired by Durham School Services, which contracts bus service to the Everett School District.
The local case is not the only allegation of a bus driver hitting a student recently. Near Olympia, a driver was accused in November and later cleared of striking a 4-year-old.
In a given year, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction’s office is asked to investigate whether to suspend or revoke the driving authorizations of 12 to 20 of the state’s 10,300 bus drivers. In nearly all the cases, it is because of a drunken driving case off the job or a failed drug test, said Kim Kimbler, who works in the office’s transportation division.
In her 20 years with the department, she had never received a report of a bus driver assaulting a child.
It is possible such incidents have occurred, state officials said. Bus drivers’ authorizations are granted by school districts. If they quit or are fired, the state is not asked to take action, said Allan Jones, the state’s director for pupil transportation.
Even so, Jones said word travels fast, and he has not heard any allegations of bus drivers hitting children until this year.
Erica Engstrom drives buses for the Snohomish School District and said drivers need to keep emotions under control.
"Unfortunately, one bus driver makes a bad move, and it makes all of us look bad," she said. "But I drive 60 kids, 5 to 12 years old, and I grit my teeth and stress the whole time through. I’ve been doing this eight years, and you never become an expert."
Jones was school bus driver in Seattle.
"If you don’t like kids, you are not going to make it in that job," Jones said. "But there are students who are a challenge to try to manage on a bus, and they will work at trying to get under your skin."
Jones said there is no one-size-fits-all approach to managing students on a bus.
"If there are any short tricks, they would be marketed," he said. "You need to treat the kids with respect. They have to know when you say something that you mean it. They need to understand why you are making the rules that you do."
Higginbotham said in surveys of parents, students and employees, the company is constantly rated lowest in student management — mostly because there’s no consensus on how to keep order on a bus.
"It’s funny, we get some parents who call and say the driver is too strict and demands more of the children than they should have," he said. "Others call and say the bus is just too out of control."
Higginbotham said drivers, as compared with teachers in a classroom, are alone on the roads. They typically deal with twice as many students, with buses capable of holding 81, but usually limited to about 65.
"Things have escalated a few times, where a bus is totally out of control and the driver has to call 911 and get law enforcement to come out," Higginbotham said.
"We’ve had it where the bus is out of control and all students start opening the emergency exit doors and bailing out, and throwing objects at the driver."
Joan Duffell is a spokeswoman for the Seattle-based Committee for Children, a nonprofit agency that researches violent child behavior. Duffell said children are most likely to act out in places where adults aren’t watching, be it a secluded part of the playground or on a school bus.
"A bus driver’s main job is to drive," Duffell said. "It’s not going to be safe for any of the kids if they’re not doing that.
"And we know that the bus is a hard place for many kids. It can be a place where kids get excluded, where children are really mean to each other. If nobody is watching or intervening it can get dangerous."
People generally understand that driving a school bus requires technical driving skills, but they don’t realize the challenges of managing a bus full of students, Esquibel said. The agency provides training to school districts in five counties, including Snohomish and Island counties.
"When it comes to training, student management is the one that drivers request the most," she said. "They realize the need for new techniques and new ways for dealing with kids."
In recent years, the education service district has offered several perspectives on student management, ranging from rules for bus drivers to providing role models for students.
They have discussed behaviors to expect with different ages of students and using a team approach between school and home for children who need help. They even have learned about reading body language to anticipate and diffuse situations before they escalate.
All school buses in the Everett School District can carry video cameras, but only a few have cameras in them at a given time.
More school districts are installing cameras on buses. Stanwood-Camano School District last year adopted a policy to begin using video cameras "for the purpose of reducing discipline problems."
Despite more training and cameras, many experts agree disruptive behavior on school buses is the result of a changing society.
"For the most part, still, the kids on the bus are good kids," said Higginbotham, who has been involved in school transportation for 22 years. "But we certainly have a higher degree of children who misbehave on school buses."
Duffell agreed.
"It’s hard to be a teacher today, to be a principal, to be a bus driver," she said. "The kids are under stress, the people working with kids are under stress, so it’s hard for everybody."
Reporter Victor Balta: 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
