Students who abused bus monitor suspended for 1 year
posted at 12:24 pm on June 30, 2012 by Howard Portnoy
A busload of seriously misguided middle school students who heartlessly tormented a 68-year-old bus monitor, unleashing a torrent of verbal abuse, will pay for their actions.
CBS New York reports that the Greece School District in upstate New York has suspended each of the students who took part in the attack for a period of one year. The miscreants will also complete 50 hours of community service working with senior citizens and participate in a formal program in bullying prevention.
Karen Klein, the target of the gratuitous abuse, has become something of a “poster child” for elderly abuse since the attack. Although she has stated that won’t press charges against her abusers, she admits that the experience has changed her life. She won’t be returning to work as a school bus monitor—not that she has to. As this video report reveals, she has become a lot more financially solvent, receiving some $663,000 in donations from more than 30,000 people representing 50 states and 82 countries.
She also received an apology last week from the father of one of the bullies, which she claimed was “a start.” The parent, Robert Helm, released a statement of his own in which he said:
There’s no excuse and we’re going to get to the bottom of that, but it really broke my heart and I shed a lot of tears thinking about that whole thing. I just want you to know that my family, all of us, are deeply saddened by this whole thing and we’re going to get it right.
The incident, which occurred last week, was captured in a cell phone video by one of the students and posted to YouTube. The video in 10 minutes in length, though it is unclear how long the taunting lasted.
As for the cash she has received, Klein told reporters that she plans on donating a portion of the money to charity, adding, “They say I’m such a great person, and they love me, but they don’t even know me.”
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Ok. I feel that what these kids did was wrong, but this lady now has 2/3 of a million and that guy’s apology was rock solid. If she can’t find it in her heart to forgive and move on after all the money and sympathy she’s received and after the kids have been punished, then she seems a bit selfish and stubborn in my opinion and it’s probably time for everyone to start feeling sorry for someone else.
Corporal Tunnel on June 30, 2012 at 4:26 PM
selfish and stubborn? you sound a bit insensitive!
Pragmatic on June 30, 2012 at 7:41 PM
Perhaps you don’t think 600K + and an honest-to-goodness apology are good enough? We’re past the injury stage here. One word: HUMILITY.
Corporal Tunnel on July 2, 2012 at 3:45 PM