Bullying

It's been an awful weekend. It all started on Friday...

For a long time Nathan has had increasing anxiety about getting on the bus in the morning. I thought he just really enjoyed watching TV in the morning and didn't want to go to school. I always thought it was a little odd since I know he loves school and used to like the bus but he's 4 and prone to frequent changes of his mind. He got a new bus and driver in either late January or early February, I can't remember which.

I have been talking to him more and more about why he doesn't like to go to school and getting on the bus. Well, Friday morning he finally told me - he's being bullyed on the bus and it isn't just verbal, it's physical. It took every ounce I had not to cry while he was telling me that this other little jerk (who is also 4, so his behavior is more a reflection of his home life than anything else) hits/kicks/yells at him on the bus. So when the bus got there I went out and put Nathan in, then let the door close (it's a minivan, not a real bus and they both sit in car seats). Then I talked to his driver.

I told her that I wasn't sure if she was a aware but that Jerk (what I will call him from now on) has been bullying Nathan and it's both verbal and physical. Do you know what she said.... "Yeah, I know, it's really bad" then she told me "I try to talk to Jerk so that he will leave Nathan alone but it doesn't work" ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? She has known about the bullying and has done NOTHING about it, she even still let them sit side by side on the bus. She didn't tell her supervisor, she didn't tell me, she did NOTHING.

Now, for a while Nathan has had unexplained bruises on his legs. He always has a bruise that I never knew where it was coming from. I just assumed that he was getting them from physical therapy and the therapists just weren't telling me when he falls (unlikely but it could happen). Now I know that he's getting them from Jerk kicking him on the bus.

So I pulled Nathan off the bus, screamed at Jerk for his behavior and went back inside. I called the bus company and you know what their response was... they hung up on me. They told me, once they had spoken with the driver, that the driver said nothing was happening and there were no problems. I told them that wasn't true and she admitted it to me, then I was hung up on. We repeated this until I had been hung up on three times.

So now I have no choice, I have no way to safely get Nathan to school, I had to pull him out of his preschool program. I called the school district and the special ed coordinator there was upset but there really isn't much she can do, or is willing to do. She called the county and they said that because this isn't an ongoing problem they don't need to do anything except put the two boys into seperate seats from now on. My real problem is that the driver knew it was more than just verbal and did NOTHING about it...

For now Nathan is simply not going to school. I have a meeting at the school on Monday, we'll see what happens.