An Open Letter to Joel's School Bus Driver

Dear Incompetent Driver,

I know you just started being a regular route driver at the beginning of September, but given that it's January already, I would have hoped you would have learned some of the do's and don'ts of driving a bus. Since you obviously haven't figured it out yet, allow me to point some things out to you.

Don't let the kids get out of their seats when the bus stops to pick up a new kid. If they want to tattle on another kid, tell them to just put up their hand and you'll come see them when you can.

Don't let the kids get off the bus when you stop to pick up a new kid. I don't know if you realize it, but you are responsible for every little body on that bus. How would you explain to a parent that their child was hit by a car or attacked by a dog somewhere over on Sherman or Lacroix when the child is picked up on Barton and not supposed to get off the bus until Bradbury?

Don't let the kids sit in the driver's seat and open and close the door when you get off the bus to load a wheelchair onto the ramp. Again, how would you explain to the parents and your supervisor how the bus came to drive itself down the street and crash into a tree while you were left standing on the sidewalk?

Don't let the other kids lock Joel's wheelchair into his designated spot. Just a guess here, but I'm going to say they have no idea what they are doing and they don't really know where all the clips and harnesses are supposed to go.

Don't let the other kids steal Joel's mitts and toss them around. I don't know if you've noticed, but Joel can't defend himself. If the kids were sitting in their sits like they are supposed to be, this wouldn't happen. Also, I'm really interested in knowing how Joel's mitt ended up under the gas pedal. Where exactly were you when this happened?

Don't let the girls on the bus kiss Joel on the mouth. Again, he can't do much in the way of preventing this sort of thing from happening. There are a lot of colds and flus that are passed from kid to kid and we try to do what we can to prevent him from catching these viruses. Joel has a low tolerance to germs. If you are going to be the one cradling him while he's seizing from a high fever, be my guest...let the kids kiss him. If not, I'm going to say it one more time, make the kids stay in their seats!!!

Don't continue to point out to me that the bump at the end of the driveway should be chipped away so that you don't have to park the bus in the middle of the street. You know what? I did scrape it down the first time you pointed it out to me. You know what else? If I continue to scrape it to the point where you'll be happy, I will end up scraping away the entire section of street in front of our house. So, no, I will not scrape the bump down any more. You're the one driving the bus...you find a suitable place to park it so the bump doesn't interfere with the wheelchair ramp. You're here twice a day...you should have found one by now.

Lastly, if you are the one who is running ten minutes late, do not honk the horn two seconds after you've pulled up in front of our house. If I would have had an air horn, I would have blasted it in your face this morning.


Signed,

That Parent