First Pink Slip
April 16, 2009 by Eliza Ferree
Filed under Parenting
Earlier today my son came home with his very first pink slip and no I’m not meaning for a car. This is the BAD boy type and for the bus. Many may know what I’m talking about but for those that don’t I’ll speed you up, you get this and it is a warning, next you are kicked off the bus. So, I can’t have him kicked off, not with having only one car and the husband working in the city and not being close enough for them to walk to school. Needless to say I was upset, mad, shocked, disappointed.
IMG: Sxc.hu
Now he and the rest of the kids on the street, including his sister claims he NEVER did anything wrong. But that’s not what the paper says. Who would you believe? All week the kids have been upset that the bus driver stopped because someone was taller than their seat so she believed they were standing. They insist that she’s shorter than half of them, I have not met her yet. I will be meeting with her tomorrow.
The note, in both his and her defense is one where you mark the box so there really isn’t much of a choice you are either:
- distracting driver
- fighting/scuffling, etc
- bad mouth, language, etc
Then on the opposite side it needs to be filled in:
- tampering with the bus
- restricted materials/guns/knives, etc
- disrespect and refuses to cooperate
He got the first one on the top and the bottom one, so I guess in a way it isn’t AS bad as it could be but still upsetting. Her note to me was SoccerBoy believes sitting on his backpack and knees is acceptable. This is unacceptable behavior.
Okay in defense of my son, I know for a fact he isn’t on a backpack…he refuses to take one to school. So either he’s sitting completely on his knees or everyone is right and she is shorter and can’t see over his head. What would you do if you were me? Accept it and move on or talk with the driver?
Talk to the driver. I’ve seen myself where teachers and drivers get the wrong kid. Our school buses have security tapes that can be watched. We had an incident on a bus, and my daughter was originally accused of being part of it. But after the principal reviewed the tape, 17 OTHER kids were suspended.
You might approach it with her as “I think you might have the wrong kid here, can we talk about what you saw?” You might mention that he doesn’t carry a backpack. If you don’t get satisfaction from the driver, find out who is on the next step up the ladder, since there are economic consequences to bus suspension.
it’s a rock and a hard place situation. You don’t want your child to be falsely accused, but you also don’t want to be labeled as “that mom” and have the bus driver mad at you. That won’t help anything.
I had a bus driver accuse my sister and I of starting an Easter egg fight on the bus. Only problem…we weren’t on the bus that day. That was the point at which my dad realized it wasn’t us… It was the driver. After my dad had a talk with the principal, we stopped getting pulled for stuff we didn’t do.
Husband spoke with the driver today, apparently she wrote the wrong thing on the pink slip and says it wasn’t that he was on his knees but switched seats during the ride home. Yes, she did write that he was getting in trouble for being too tall in the seat by sitting on his backpack or knees. I knew it wasn’t the backpack. We’ve since discussed bus rules, which he already knew. This is his first time in trouble so I’m guessing it was (hopefully) a one time thing.