Florida schoolbus racism scandal

[Skunk]

Florida schoolbus racism scandal

A school bus service in Florida has refused to carry Iraqi and Afghani refugee students for a second time in a week.

Some 27 students aged between 10 and 14 were abandoned outside Jacksonville last Wednesday, over eight miles away from home.

A substitute Duval County school bus driver – “Mrs Boston” – singled out hijab-wearing girls and “foreign-looking” boys, ordering them to get out.

Ali al-Hamad said his children, along with as many others from Fort Caroline Middle School, were kicked off their bus because they were Muslim.

"We feel so sorry" that the situation happened, said Zahra Diya al-Din, a 14-year-old student who was on the school bus.

"Why did [the bus driver] put us down on the bus? We weren't doing anything."

Some of the students were even fasting, but nevertheless had to walk the whole distance home under the Florida sun.

Avoiding responsbility

Concerned parents contacted the school, which informed them that nothing could be done other than to make sure the driver was not given responsibility for these particular students again.

But students were stunned two days later when a school bus with a different driver stopped briefly at 08:30 to pick up two white students and left all the others at a busy intersection.

Angry parents contacted the school to be told that a second bus would pick the children up, which eventually turned up at 10:00.

Many have decided to keep their children at home until a trustworthy service can be provided.

School investigation

School system officials said they are working with the bus company to determine what happened.

"We are working cooperatively with First Student [the bus contractor] to determine what happened," Superintendent John Fryer said.

"We are committed to employing contractors who share our mission of providing safe and reliable services to students."

One teacher picked up some of the students in her car and took them to their homes, Fryer said.

Bus company comment

According to First Student, a small group of students was removed from the bus before its departure because of disciplinary problems.

A spokesman for the Council of American Islamic Relations told Aljazeera.net on Monday that although such behaviour is shocking, it is unsurprising.

But Ahmad Bedier said a lot of misinformation and bigotry were rife in Jacksonville.

Jacksonville bigotry

“Jerry Vines, for example, a former preacher for the Southern Baptist Covention described the Prophet Muhammad as a peadophile possessed by the devil.

“His comments were not condemned by many leading members of the community – which suggests his comments were condoned.”

Bedier said there were many other examples, and described a pastor’s poster that declared "Jesus condemned murder, Muhammad approved murder".

“Nevertheless, it still amazes me that a bus driver can just abandon the trust given to her by dozens of parents and act in such an uncaring way.”

That driver did not need to re-assigned, he needed to be fired. I can't believe that the state did not threaten to withdraw its contract if he remained - you do not want a racist working with any kids.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

You're right, Skunk - threatening to withdraw the contract is the only real option the school has. Since the bus service is provided by an outside contracter, the school system has no authority to demand the first driver be fired. However, they certainly could threaten to cancel the entire contract since the same thing happened with the next driver.

I drove a school bus myself (as a substitute driver) for a short while and I never had any kind of "disciplinary problems" on the bus. I also rode the bus as a student for a couple of years. In all my experience, I never saw an incident occur on the bus that was bad enough to justify setting kids out on the side of the road. At the very most, the driver would threaten to turn around and return back to the school to have the ones causing problems disciplined, but even so, that happened maybe twice in the entire time I rode or drove school buses.

There is simply no excuse for this behavior from the contract service. Jacksonville is a large city and I would imagine that First Student has several contracts with the city schools. If the entire school system threatened to cancel their contracts, that would send a serious message and maybe force First Student to get their act together and either fire (or at least discipline) the offending drivers.

It's been my experience that a company's loyalty to it's employees disappears quickly when the employees represent a significant threat to their revenue.

[Donut]

I've been to Jacksonville - it didn't strike me as a particulary safe place to be.

Cerek, has the bus driver not broken the law by discriminating against these children because of their race?

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by Donut: I've been to Jacksonville - it didn't strike me as a particulary safe place to be. Cerek, has the bus driver not broken the law by discriminating against these children because of their race?

I don't know if there is a specific law regarding discrimination on school buses. This isn't public transportation, it is a private contractor. As such, I assume they do have a right to not transport any students that are causing a disturbance on the bus...since that would be endangering the other students. However, it is pretty obvious that the bus company is discriminating against Muslim (or even "Muslim looking") children and that the excuse of them being put off the bus for "disciplinary problems" is nothing more than a transparant attempt at CYA.

There may not be any legal charges they can file against the contractor, but a good lawyer should be able to rip them a new anal aperture with a hefty lawsuit. All they have to do is interview the other children that were on the bus at the time the first students were put off. And - even if those kids were acting up - that doesn't justify the replacement driver allowing just the white kids onto the bus two days later. You can't deny children the right to ride the bus just because they might cause a disturbance or because some other kids caused a disturbance a few days earlier.

I'd say, when all is said and done, First Student is will be facing a major lawsuit (which they would be wise to settle out of court if it occurs) and the two offending drivers will be looking for work elsewhere when it happens. I could be wrong - of course - but I sincerely hope not.

I haven't had a chance to check for other sources on the story to see if there is more information than was contained in the article Skunk provided. Still, I can't imagine finding anything that would really justify the actions of the bus contracter. If the Muslim students HAD caused a disturbance significant enough to be thrown off the bus 8 miles from home, I think it would have been all over the national news.

[Skunk]

It seems that this particular county is known for its 'problem School bus drivers':
"Duval County's school bus service hired dozens of drivers this year that other Florida school districts would have rejected as safety risks, a Times-Union analysis of personnel records shows.

The analysis found that people with bad driving records, suspended driver's licenses and unsettling arrest histories were able to get jobs transporting children mostly because Duval County set low hiring standards. A few others, the ones who had invalid licenses, were hired because school and bus company employees didn't enforce standards that are spelled out in state law.

Full article can be found here.


[ 11-03-2003, 10:12 AM: Message edited by: Skunk ]

[Azred]

This kind of crap just leaves a bad taste in my mouth! [img]graemlins/madhell.gif[/img] I know that even though this is America situations like this will continue to happen--people are people, after all--but I certainly don't like it. People like this bus driver are also our enemeies, because their actions threaten to destroy this country from the inside.

I would not threaten to dissolve the bus contractor's contract, I would cancel it immediately. What is this school system's problem that they cannot offer their own buses, anyway? [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img]

[ 11-03-2003, 11:01 PM: Message edited by: Azred ]

[Timber Loftis]

Serves 'em right. They should go home, face east, pray to Allah, and get out of our country.

*Snide insensitive and uneducated remark provided merely to represent the sentiment of some people I raised the issue with. While I don't endorse it, somebody needed to provide the POV.*

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by Azred: This kind of crap just leaves a bad taste in my mouth! [img]graemlins/madhell.gif[/img] I know that even though this is America situations like this will continue to happen--people are people, after all--but I certainly don't like it. People like this bus driver are also our enemeies, because their actions threaten to destroy this country from the inside. I would not threaten to dissolve the bus contractor's contract, I would cancel it immediately. What is this school system's problem that they cannot offer their own buses, anyway? [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img]

I don't know for certain why they use a contract service, but the most logical reason would be that is much cheaper to contract buses than to own. If they owned the buses, then the school system would also be responsible for all maintainance needed to keep them on the road. That means extra tax dollars for gas, tires, parts, repairs, and mechanics to keep the individual buses running. All of this would be in addition to the cost to purchase each bus in the first place.

I'm certain it is far cheaper to simply pay a contract fee to First Student (or some other contractor) and let them worry about all the maintainance and upkeep of the vehicles.

[Chewbacca]

Originally posted by Donut: I've been to Jacksonville - it didn't strike me as a particulary safe place to be. Cerek, has the bus driver not broken the law by discriminating against these children because of their race?

Yes, civil rights laws forbid discrimintion based on nationality, race, and creed amongst other qualifiers. It doesn't matter if it is a private contractor or public school employee. Otherwise we would still have segregated 'whites' and 'colored' only establishments and schools all over the southern U.S. If the bus service is run by a private contract company they are liable as well as the individual driver.

[Azred]

Originally posted by Cerek the Barbaric: quote: Originally posted by Azred: What is this school system's problem that they cannot offer their own buses, anyway? [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img]

I don't know for certain why they use a contract service, but the most logical reason would be that is much cheaper to contract buses than to own. If they owned the buses, then the school system would also be responsible for all maintainance needed to keep them on the road. That means extra tax dollars for gas, tires, parts, repairs, and mechanics to keep the individual buses running. All of this would be in addition to the cost to purchase each bus in the first place.

I'm certain it is far cheaper to simply pay a contract fee to First Student (or some other contractor) and let them worry about all the maintainance and upkeep of the vehicles.[/QUOTE]True, it might be cheaper in the short run; however, I have never known a school district to sub-contract bus service, except for special road trips. Besides, doesn't the bus service act as the legal representative for the school district? If so, then they are expected to follow all the rules regarding non-discrimination and access as the school system itself.

It still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. One does not abandon children (or teenagers) miles from home; if there is a pattern of unacceptably disruptive behavior then bus privileges should be suspended, but not on the spur of the moment.