When I start thinking about how disrespectful and silly kids can be at school, and when I get to the almost nth degree of crazy, I think the Lord whispers in my ear at some of the things we pulled when we were in school.  

I remember planning things to get a rise out of my classmates and make people laugh with little regard for what the teacher felt like.  

So it goes, even though I don’t believe in karma, payback, whatever you want to call it.

You may have heard of the bus driver who went a little nuts in Ohio. Her name is Jackie Miller. She’s 68 and has been a bus driver for quite some time.  

Her passengers are junior high students. That fact right there earns her a medal and possibly combat pay.  

I will talk about those kids later.

Mrs. Miller has asthma and allergies and had just recovered from an attack about a month before her tirade. That attack was brought on by a student spraying perfume on the bus. Miller is allergic to perfume.

Bus drivers not only have to drive the bus and make sure he or she keeps the bus on the road and safe, they also have to control the kids and keep an eye on any shenanigans.

Crazy! There should be bus aides on every bus and I’m sorry if school districts can’t afford that. Find money. Talk to the government.  It needs to be a priority.

Back to the bus driver.  Just a month after recovering from the asthma attack brought on by the spraying of perfume, a student chose to do it again – most likely on purpose.

This time, Mrs. Miller had had enough.

She pulled the bus over to the side of the road, got out of her seat and went on quite a tirade, using expletives. She told kids she was going to start kicking butts. Only she didn’t say “butts.”

You may guess, some students grabbed their phones and filmed the whole thing, which has gone viral.

I guarantee many of you will be shocked when you see the video, but many of you will also be on the side of the bus driver. I know I was. I don’t condone her language usage, but I totally understand her frustration and anger.

Mrs. Miller immediately resigned from bus driving, which she had done for over a decade. When interviewed, she said she would miss some of the students and deeply regretted talking the way she did.

But if it were to happen again, she wouldn’t change a thing. She would not take back a word of what she said.

I don’t blame her a bit.  As she said in her tirade, “enough is enough!”

I’m sure those students and many of their parents thought the viral video would have overwhelming negative repercussions and outrage from the public.

It didn’t. 

Apparently, the general public feels the same way.  A “GoFundMe” campaign has raised over $100,000 for Miller’s retirement and a vacation.  I hope it raises more for here, actually. I  hope she has plenty to support her for the rest of her life.

Community members have come to her defense and so have people all over the country. You see, people are fed up with the way things are.

Teachers and staff alike hear things like “I can get that teacher fired.” After a witch hunt campaign a couple of years ago, a school official was let go (for really no documented reason) and students were heard discussing how they had orchestrated that dismissal as well. 

Students are flippant about the power they suppose they have, and think it’s funny.  I think there are a number of them who feel victorious when an adult loses their cool.

As always, I blame poor parenting for this. Poor parenting, passed down from generation to generation.  Lack of manners, lack of couth, lack of any semblance of professionalism.  It’s trashy.

Kids think they can pull their phones out and document things. Parents, before they face that their kid did something wrong, want to know what the teacher or staff member said and also want to know how the other kids involved were punished.  

The upper echelon, especially the sports star families of the community, throw a fit if their infallible little darlings are called to the office for anything. You see, those folks are used to having their patooties kissed on a regular basis.

No one is willing to take ownership or face the facts that their kids will lie.  They don’t want to face the reality that their kids are capable of such things. I mean, it may point back to poor parenting and that would be almost impossible to fess up to.

Nobody wants to admit that they may be in the wrong.

Look, no one ever said kids were unlikable or bad seeds because of their behavior. Even Mrs. Miller said she saw the good in all kids, even the biggest poop disturbers.  

I tend to agree. Over the years, some of the biggest stinkers have been the most endearing.

But sometimes you’ve just had enough.

Not long ago, a group of older kids were being highly disrespectful to a teacher. After their level-headed coach heard about it, the kids were told to apologize to the teacher.  They approached the teacher (cowardly and in a large group) with one spokesperson coming in to ask said teacher to step out in the hallway. Other teachers in the room witnessed that student turning around and smirking to pals as he walked out into the hallway.  

After a weak apology from a few of the students, with others stifling laughter, the teacher who had witnessed the smirking spoke up, calling out the disrespectful behavior and telling them they were acting like jerks, also instructing the other teacher not to accept the apology.

The group of students went promptly to the office and tattled on the teachers for not accepting their insincere, forced-by-the-coach  apology

You see, adults aren’t supposed to say such harsh things, even when faced with such ugly, awful behavior from children. Furthermore, some students feel that with the right support and maybe a video or two, they have the power to get a teacher or staff member fired for “saying something mean.”  

I kid you not. The shift has focused. The adults are questioned and blamed first, almost always. This is what is happening, folks.

Kids need to know that adults get hacked off when their behavior is bad. Now, I also believe adults need to follow up and talk about it later, telling kids that they were angry or whatever.  

It’s important to communicate.

Kids need to know adults can get mad at them and forgive them also.

My beliefs are a dying breed, though.

You may guess that school officials are really  forced to question how the teachers handle the situations. You see, they are also under the gun when it comes to how kids are reprimanded, and these days, they have to find out all the details. Often, the first priority is not the behavior of the children, but the behavior of the adult, and this is just something school officials are getting used to doing.

My grandparents would have said those kids should have been taken out behind the woodshed.

As a society, something has got to change – especially in our little entitled communities in which children are raised to feel they are equal to adults.

Irrational, unprofessional and immature behavior is paramount – and I’m not even talking about the kids.

Adults, do a better job. Discipline your children correctly and set boundaries. Let them cry once in a while. Tell your kids “no” once in a while, and grow a thicker skin. Admit that you mess up sometimes, as do your kids. 

None of us are perfect. Check out a book on manners and read it. Be open to advice from people, even other parents. You don’t have to accept the advice, but it won’t hurt to listen with a non-defensive attitude.

Teachers, do a better job. Document everything you do and say, and always get a witness before you talk to a kid. Keep your cool as much as possible. Cover your patootie, because you can’t depend on anyone to have your back these days.

School officials, do a better job. Let parents and community members know you are hired to take care of your school, and all kids will be treated the same and the punishment will be the same.  

School boards, back them up!

Administrators,  I realize you may be blackballed for going against the “good ‘ol boy” network (which also includes women), but if you are, at least you did the right thing.  

Maybe you can move on to a more mature, classy and professional school district where things are done correctly and you are treated the right way.

Let’s make some changes, folks.