My son's school bus just crashed - UPDATE

[Barbwire]

We are having a terrible storm today and my son was late getting home from school. I was freaking out until the bus garage called and said the bus was stuck, and they would be bringing him home shortly.

Well, as it turns out, my son's bus slid down a hill and slammed into a tree. several kids were hurt, but thankfully, my son is OK. All of this information I got from my son, NOT the school.

He's really shaken up and says he doesn't want to go to school anymore because he doesn't want to ride the bus. He begged my husband not to go to work tomorrow because he is afraid he will crash.

I feel so bad for my boy and the other kids, but I am furious with the school for not telling us the truth. :(

[Pinto Paso]

Barb that's scarey - I'm glad he is OK. I was terrified of car accidents as a kid. I've been in a couple and the fear lasts a long time.

[Terri]

Barb that is very scary. I am so glad he is okay. :hug

[Helene]

The school should have kept you informed....I am glad your son is ok.

[PasoVicki]

Gosh, Barb, that is scary. Your son is nine, isn't he? I'm so glad he's okay physically . . . even though it may take him a few days to get over the emotional toll.

It's terrible that the school didn't tell you what really happened. At the very least, they should have given you full details, to help your child cope. And they REALLY should provide some counseling to the children who were on the bus.

[CarolU]

That is scary...I agree with Pinto, it will be a while before he forgets about it. He may even have nightmares for a few nights.

Always makes me wonder why they don't have seatbelts.

[Barbwire]

I just hope the school does give full disclosure. My son is 9, and he said he saw kids with a lot of blood. I don't know what to make of that, as his definition of "a lot" may not be the same as mine. He told me his friend'e eye was "bashed in" and another kid's arm was crushed against a broken bus window.

I'd like to talk to him more about it, but I dont' want to stress him out, right now he's playing video games and seems fine.

Oh, and the bus does have seatbelts. Just the other day my son mentioned that the "cool" bus drivers didn't make them wear them, and I told him he should wear his ALL the time, regardless. He did not have his belt on today and he said a lot of kids "flew up in the air" when the bus hit the tree.

[CarolU]

I saw one of those videos of the inside of a bus that rolled....damned bad! Kids flying everywhere!

Especially on a bad weather day...no excuse not to belt those kids in. Grrrrr, I'd be spitting nails!

I will say it doesn't take much of a head or face wound to bleed a lot. I remember treating kids with towels drenched in blood, only to find a little avulsion that didn't even require a stitch. Amazing what the blood supply to the head and face is like.

I hope the other kids are all okay.

[PasoVicki]

A lot of school districts have resisted putting seat belts on their buses -- claiming that the kids are safer without them . . . usually inanely reasoning that it would take too long to evacuate the buses in case of emergency if the kids were belted in. :roll:
I'd bet they really just don't want to go to the expense of retrofitting buses with seat belts or the hassle of making kids wear them. Thank goodness your son had access to one and used it!!
Don't be afraid to talk to him about the accident. He probably SHOULD talk about it . . . talking about it is the first step in emotional healing.

[Barbwire]

No, Vicki, he didn't have it on, even though I had told him to wear it at all times just days ago.

[Pasomom]

Wow, Barb, I'm so glad your son was not injuried physically. It may very well take him some time to deal with it emotionally. I agree, they need to offer counceling to the kids involved.

[dana]

I really hope that things can be resolved with your son, Barb. seems to be awful young to be going thru something like this. set a good example. pin him down a "little" more tomorrow and see if you can get him to talk. Here is sincerely wishing he doesn't have nightmares tonight. :(

[lisa l aka marci]

I just hope the school does give full disclosure. My son is 9, and he said he saw kids with a lot of blood. I don't know what to make of that, as his definition of "a lot" may not be the same as mine. He told me his friend'e eye was "bashed in" and another kid's arm was crushed against a broken bus window.

I'd like to talk to him more about it, but I dont' want to stress him out, right now he's playing video games and seems fine.

Oh, and the bus does have seatbelts. Just the other day my son mentioned that the "cool" bus drivers didn't make them wear them, and I told him he should wear his ALL the time, regardless. He did not have his belt on today and he said a lot of kids "flew up in the air" when the bus hit the tree.
Umm Barb - from an Emergency Responder point of veiw - your son SHOULD HAVE been taken to the ER or at least checked out on the scene by EMS. Did Garret say if an ambulance came to the bus scene?

I thought schools had a responsibility to inform parents if/when an accident occured - and there sure as HECK should have been police on the scene!

If it was my daughter on that bus, I would be jumping up and down wanting to know 1. Why I was not notified shortly after this occured (I realize they can't call all parents right away). 2. - Why medical attention was not offered to my child.

[ErinC]

wow, that sucks so sorry!

my kids got into an accident last year, and the school called ASAP.
they have an animated system that calls all the numbers plugged into it, at once. the kids were seen, and debriefed,
I was so scared till I talked to them in person, they were on the way to school!

[Barbwire]

Lisa, I guess I forgot to mention in my initial post that there were rescue teams there, ambulances, and state troopers. My son said someone checked him out before he was put on a small bus to be taken home.

[Terry Wallace]

WHEW!!! Thankl God for "small miracles"! Glad to hear all is well with your son Barb! :D

[lisa l aka marci]

Lisa, I guess I forgot to mention in my initial post that there were rescue teams there, ambulances, and state troopers. My son said someone checked him out before he was put on a small bus to be taken home.

That is good to hear - but you STILL should have been notified ASAP about the accident!

Ok - now, who gave the authorization for treatment, and to have the kids released? Is the school bus driver authorized to make medical decisions, or is it implied consent as far as treatment is concerned........it has been a while since I was an EMT and am not totally up to date on those procedures......

edited to add.....I'm not trying to cause any trouble, but these are some answers I would want to know in advance.......being a parent myself now!

[Barbwire]

Well, I am not sure, but I found it odd that my son's friend's parents called here to see if Garrett was home yet, as they had not heard from the school, and their son was not home. Keep in mind, this is the kid with the "bashed eye". At the time, since we didnt' know about the accident, we just told the parent that the bus was stuck.

I have no idea why they didn't notify the parents of the injured children, ASAP instead of calling the uninjured kid's parents first and LYING to them about what had happened.

[Jane Hurl]

Crud! You must be an emotional wreck, Barb. Have a glass of wine now and talk this whole thing over with Garrett in the morning!

[jodiTowne]

Poor Garret (sp?)! And you! That is an awful thing to go through at his age.

I can imagine how upset you must be. I am already worrying about my kids safety when they start school and they aren't even 4 yet!

Hopefully he doesn't think about it too much after the initial shock wears off.

[pasofantasy]

I'm sure glad, that it seems, that your son is fine physically. I don't know how it can not have an emotional impact, since accidents even affect adults. I don't know if I'd push him to talk about it. He already did some. I know, that there are times, that I can talk about things and times, that I just can't take it. Maybe the school will work with them on Monday.

[Abejita]

Glad he is ok..and YES they should have informed you ..much less lied about it(saying it was stuck) BUT I wonder if they didnt tell the parents the truth at first so there were not frantic parents rushing out to get their kids and possibly causing more accidents in the storm? Hard to say but it does seem to have been handled badly.

[Barbwire]

I just got off the phone with my son's friend's father. As it turns out, he called the bus garage at 4:30 pm to see why the kids were so late, and the dispatcher told him that everything was fine, and that the bus was just late because of the snow. Someone in the room overheard the conversation, and when the dispatcher hung up, the person called the kid's dad back and told him in a whisper, "Go to Olney's Road." then hung up. So, he got in the car and when he got to the road that is when he saw the bus accident. He said he found out that the cops had been called in at 4:15. The kids (teenagers) on the bus said the driver was going too fast and the bus was fishtailing before the crash even occured. To top it off, the bus was on an unauthorized road, and was not even supposed to be there. Also, I learned that the tree the bus was against was the only thing keeping it from rolling over and going down a steep bank.

Also, all of the kids were treated and released from the hospital, thank god.

You can bet that heads are gonna roll for this one, oh yeah, heads are gonna roll.

[Abejita]

when a teenager says you were going to fast..You were going to fast!!!

[tinomino]

that's rediculous (sp?)!!!! I would be so pissed. I would be calling a lawer on monday. The school and/or the bus company was way out of line. They should NOT have lied about the situation. I can't imagine as a 9 year old what that would be like. I can tell you it was scary when I was 19 and got into my first accident. And I was already trained as an EMT so I knew what to do. Poor Garret. I hope he's ok Barb.

[Edurne]

so glad that Garrett and his school friends are fine. What a scare.

[Heidi]

What a mess! I'm glad Garrett is okay, and I hope his friend "bash-eye" is okay, too.
Heidi

[lisa l aka marci]

Hay Barb - possibly a little more fuel to the fire - I am watching a rerun of the 10 o'clock news.....did the accident happen in/near Petersburg, not too far off Rt 2??? If so, it is being reported as a ROLL OVER school bus accident!

BTW - I've been in a kickin' butt mood all week if you'd like a little help! I've been managing to pee-off people from other countries too! But that's another thread! :D

[Laura S]

Oh my god, that is so scary! I'm glad your son is OK. Sounds like the school was trying to cover up the accident. I hope they (police) are doing a full investigation. I would worry about the busdriver being under the influence, etc

[Barbwire]

Lisa, yes, the bus did crash near Rte. 2 in Petersburg, but it did NOT flip over. I guess the news wasn't too accurate, what channel did you see it on? I went to bed early last night and missed it.

[Moniece Dickerson]

THANKGOODNESS your son and the rest of the children are physically ok!!!!!!!I don't doubt for one minute that you and the other parents will raise cain and bring down the roof and i'd do the very same thing if I was a parent and had a child that even just attended that school muchless rode the bus!!!!!Go getem Barb,go getem!!!Your friend,Moniece

[Laura S]

Yes, raise some cain! And call your school board members and let them know what is going on. Remember, they work for you. At least in our area (not sure how it is elsewhere), they are elected officials that represent our town in the school district.

On an even scarier note, there was a story on CNN this morning saying that there has been a warning about possible terrorist cells trying to get jobs as busdrivers at school districts.
Here is a link to that story-
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17650445/

[Barbwire]

I know about that story, it came on, just as my son was entering the room. I turned off the TV, the poor kid's got enough stress about riding the bus without hearing that. :shock:

On a good note, he slept though the night with no bad dreams, he seems fine today, no stiffness from the crash. We talked a bit more, and he is still afraid of riding the bus to school on Monday. I don't know if we should have him ride it, or drive him in for a few days until he's calmed down.

[Monty]

Glad to hear your son is ok - LEO's here can put kids under protective custody when parents aren't around - I am assuming that is what they did - then they can allow transport and treatment.
I would suggest you and other parents ask the school board for a special meeting or go to the next one and bring up the notification situation - they should also make sure a rep from the bus company is there !
I will make bets - if the driver wasn't on the correct route - he has been fired all ready -
It sounds like there was no real communication or someone in charge of calling the parents - injured ones first! And I agree - they probably didn't want parents going to the scene and causing congestion at the site or getting in accidents .
Rather than calling a lawyer - get all the facts calmly and set about making sure there is a protocol established and followed !

[moonrize]

Oh Barb, I'm glad that Garret is okay. I think I would have to throw a major fit with the school, the school board, transport, everybody I could throw one with. There was absolutely NO EXCUSE for them to lie to you about the status of your child. These are the people you supposedly entrust with your child's care all day and they should not LIE. I'd call the local paper and TV station to tell them that the parents were lied to as well. If they're lieing over a bus accident, then what else can you expect them to lie about?

[lisa l aka marci]

Lisa, yes, the bus did crash near Rte. 2 in Petersburg, but it did NOT flip over. I guess the news wasn't too accurate, what channel did you see it on? I went to bed early last night and missed it.

Fox 23 out of Albany - http://www.fox23news.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=56767@video.fox23news.com&navCatId=6 - to video of the news cast - very sketchy.....

[lisa l aka marci]

It sounds like there was no real communication or someone in charge of calling the parents - injured ones first! And I agree - they probably didn't want parents going to the scene and causing congestion at the site or getting in accidents .


I can attest to that.......when I was a police dispatcher, we had a very serious accident (fatal) on one of the highways.....even before the PD got there, parents were showing up because a 'passer by/good samatarin' was taking down phone numbers and calling parents.....BEFORE making sure emergency services were on tehir way!

[Minouri]

Barb,

So sorry to hear that your family had to go through this. Glad that your son was not one of the injured.

I hope they do find out where the communication was lost. There is definately something odd about the whole story....Their choices don't even seem to make sense. I wonder which part of the story we haven't heard yet that would explain some of it. Poor planning? Someone hiding somthing?

Our school buses are only 1/2 equipted with seat belts and when I've enquired I was told that the cushioned seat in front was designed to protect you. I asked if it would protect me from the celing if we rolled over...and all I got was a dirty look from the bus driver. Course, they don't have much control over the situation either. Someone high up has to spend the money to get seatbelts on all of the buses and I suppose no one thinks it's urgent enough yet.

[PASOFAN]

That is scary, so glad he is ok!! Guardian angels were with him I bet.. There have been a few major bus accidents here in MN this winter too with the bad roads, or bad drivers, just scary!

[motorgypsy]

Glad your son's fine! I'd be scalping any "cool" bus driver that let my kid ride without his seat belt on.

I would think that parents would not be notified until EMS and law enforcement had extracted everyone from the bus since that number of parents could easily prevent them from getting to the scene if it's a small road.

Surely the bus driver is no longer employed.

South Carolina used to allow high school students to drive school buses and even though the buses had governors on them they drove like maniacs in many cases. Finally they made a law that the driver had to be 21 years old and the accident rate went waaaay down.

[Barbwire]

Garrett got on the bus with nary a look back this morning. I'm thrilled. There is a school board meeting tomorrow night, can't wait to see what goes down at that.

The school did not send home anything with the kids today, seems like they don't want to talk about it.

[Heidi]

The school did not send home anything with the kids today, seems like they don't want to talk about it.
Nah, I bet they don't want to leave a paper trail. :D

[Barbwire]

EEEEEEEEK! I'm being hounded by the news media to talk about the crash. A news crew from Channel 13 will be here in 2 hours to interview me on camera. I will barely have time to clean my house, take a shower, and make a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TrueStepPaso]

:lmao ...."Bong Hits 4 Jesus".....ya slay me, Barb!!!

Hopefully you look similiar to this -->http://www.messengerfreak.com/emoticons/girls_only/flower_1.gif, as you're being interviewed....with that banner right behind you.

http://www.messengerfreak.com/emoticons/funny/Mutley345.gif

[Barbwire]

Just in case any of you didn't get my little joke and think I am advocating drug use and Christianity...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11767029/

[Kerry W]

Sooooo....how did it go? What colors did you use for the banner? :shock:

[Barbwire]

I decided to go with a "Hookah Hits 4 Allah" banner instead, and it was red and black. :lol:

The news crew consisted of a really nice lady reporter, and a camera man. The interview went really well. The reporter asked me if I had been interviewed before or done any acting because I was so relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera. Hollywood, here I come!

Later, a friend came over, and I ended up yakking with him so much I forgot to watch myself on TV!!!!!!!!! I was so mad, but my mom taped it. I was in a later version of the news, but they only showed a short bit of the interview. I didn't look as bad as I thought I would.

The funny part is, I went to a board meeting last night at the school, and the superintendent of schools just glared at me the whole time. She must have seen my 5:00 show!

The school blames poor radio communication for misinforming the parents, they kind of skimmed over the fact that school should have been let out early that day because of the snow storm. :roll:

[TrueStepPaso]

The reporter asked me if I had been interviewed before or done any acting because I was so relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera.



Ummm....didn't he notice your "Hookah Hits 4 Allah" banner in the background? :lol:

[appyday]

. The reporter asked me if I had been interviewed before or done any acting because I was so relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera. Hollywood, here I come!



Porno movies do NOT count.. :-?

[paintedhorizon]

So, where's the link to the video! LOL

[Barbwire]

There is no online video. :(

[Beth Worden]

I think it's all BS. I think it was male reporter, male cameraperson, and she showed them some "skin"! So they flattered her.

[Barbwire]

NOT!

See? Kumi Tucker, Garrett and me.


http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o7/graftonbabs/Kumibb.jpg

[Beth Worden]

THAT could be anybody. And THAT's not your real son!!! Stop the lying. And that is not even you. HA!

edited to add - Kumi??? that is a real name??? Did her parents really hate her, I mean reeeaaaly.

[Barbwire]

I will admit to having my shirt unzipped a LOT more, but my mommy made me zip it up for the interview. :(

[TrueStepPaso]

And by "LOT", folks....she meant she was topless.

[paintedhorizon]

Kumi? :lol:

[appyday]

Your son looks like he got into your stash... :shock:

[paintedhorizon]

:shock: :sick Your son looks like he got into your stash... :shock: