Monitor No More

From Yahoo:
"Bullied bus monitor thankful for support, pleads for threats to stop"

All bullied bus monitor Karen Klein wanted was an apology. Now she's getting that … and then some. Police say the four boys who tormented the 68-year-old on a school bus in upstate New York earlier this week have taken responsibility for their actions. The students are also saying they're sorry.

The video of the seventh-graders cursing, taunting and physically threatening a crying Klein has become a rallying point against bullying. It has also prompted an overwhelming outpouring of support for the longtime school bus worker. An online campaign to fund a vacation for Klein had grown to more than $500,000 by Friday afternoon, far surpassing the initial $5,000 goal. Max Sidorov, the Toronto man who started the fund two days ago, said he did so partly because he was bullied himself as a child.

^ If you just read this article then you feel bad for the woman, but if you see the video and see that she did nothing then you don't. This is a 68 year old woman whose sole job is to ride the school bus and make sure no one gets bullied and that there are no fights and yet when the middle school students start "bullying" her she does nothing. It is her responsibility to do something (write their names so they can be reported, etc) instead she looks out the window and does nothing. Now she is made out to be some kind of hero, a symbol against bullying. She is not a symbol of anything other than a person who was hired to do a job and when it came time to do it she did nothing. Instead of getting praise she should get a pink slip or at least put in a position where she doesn't deal with any children. What if the kids were bullying another kid? I'm sure she wouldn't have done a thing. She only got money from people because they were bullied and no other reason. I had bus monitors when I lived in Wiesbaden and Darmstadt and they ACTUALLY did their job and stopped fights and bullying and yet they weren't paid (each parent had to do a shift.) How can we teach children that bullying is wrong and that if they see or experience it that they need to do something when this woman (a so-called authority figure) stayed silent and did nothing? She should have put her "big girl pants" on and done her job. Instead she did nothing and like true fashion she is rewarded (I guess that's the new American Way.") See something bad happened, do nothing and you will be rewarded. It should be the other way around. See something, do something and then be praised for your actions. ^  

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/bullied-bus-monitor-thankful-pleas-threats-stop-130501672.html