When I was a little girl, I rode a school bus to school. It was fun. I felt almost like a grown-up because I was in another vehicle and not with my parents. I liked the big seats and the big windows I could look out of. I especially liked being with all my friends together in the same vehicle. I wasn't part of the popular group so I didn't get to sit with the "cool kids." But I wanted to. They were, after all, cool and seemed to have all the fun.

But what I didn't enjoy about riding the school bus were those few kids, and there were usually only one or two, who tormented the other kids (luckily I was never targeted...probably because I was so quiet they hardly knew I was there). I felt bad for the targeted kids and angry with the bus driver for not doing anything to stop it. I could never understand why he just ignored kids being hit or shoved, even when the bullies were standing up in the aisle.

Since those days I have noticed an ever-increasing surge of parents driving their kids to school in lieu of letting them ride the school bus. Part of this I know stems from the fear of letting their kids out of their sight lest a child predator abduct them. And part of it is in lieu of letting their kids walk to school. But part of it is also "the unknown." As parents, we don't really know what is going on when our kids are on school buses.

Last year, a couple of girls, 7 and 10 years old, reported that they were repeatedly sexually abused on their school bus by a group of boys and the driver did nothing about it.

In an effort to keep the number of complaints down, the NY City Education Department "hid" 225 complaints about abuse. Also last year, when my husband and I lived in Oregon, we were driving behind a school bus and saw elementary-aged children up and out of their seats hitting and shoving other little kids. The bus driver seemed oblivious, either that or she didn't want to get involved.

My kids are only 3 right now, but I am already trying to figure out if I will allow them to ride the bus to elementary school. Everytime they see a school bus, they get excited and say "Mommy, I want to ride the school bus." I always say "When you go to the big school you can ride the school bus." But secretly I'm not sure they will ever know the experience of riding a school bus to school.

Have school buses become as dangerous as schools now? It seems to be yet another place where children can get attacked (not teased...attacked) by their peers with nothing being done about it.

I'm hoping that by the time my kids are in elementary school the culture has miraculously changed and, while hitting and shoving and teasing will always remain, they won't have to worry about being sexually assaulted or ganged up on in the confines of a bus while the bus drivers turns a deaf ear to their pleas.

Cross posted on Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

Cheryl Wenzel also writes at:
Becoming a Mother

50-something Moms Blog
Betty Confidential
Type-A Mom
Gemini Crickets Twin Moms Blog