Bus Drivers are Educators Too

From Phoenix, Oregon, comes a story about a school district's effort to get bus drivers involved in cutting down on inter-ethnic bullying on the ride to school.

According to the Mail Tribune newspaper, the district brought drivers together to learn about bullying and think about how they can help stop it.

A former bilingual teacher gave them a taste of what life is like for the 15 percent of their students who don't speak English--she spoke to them rapidly in Spanish, asking questions, demanding answers. Only one driver understood what she said. But the rest understood her point.

The teacher told about her own hard days as a child with limited English, on the receiving end of ethnic slurs. She said a friendly driver can make a big difference. Her favorite driver posted a happy birthday card on the bus window as each child's special day came along.

That turned out to be difficult advice for these drivers to follow. They aren't told the children's names, never mind their birthdays! And they don't know which students have trouble speaking English, so if a student doesn't answer a question posed in English, they have to figure out whether that's because the student didn't understand or just wants to ignore them.

Can you imagine a school district not telling teachers their children's names?

One driver spoke up about how frustrating it is that drivers aren't thought of as taking part in the children's education.

Happy ending: An administrator said afterwards that because of feedback at the workshop, drivers will be getting those names--soon.

--Alain Jehlen