School Bus Banter
Climb aboard for a ride you’ve never taken before. School Bus Banter pulls back the yellow curtain on the real world of school bus driving — the early mornings, the chaos, the heart, and the hilariously unexpected moments that only happen when you’re responsible for dozens of tiny humans before 8 a.m.
Hosted by two veteran drivers who’ve seen it all (and probably cleaned it up), this show mixes on-the-road stories, behind-the-scenes insights, safety know-how, and the kind of humor you only earn by surviving years of middle-school field trips. Whether you drive a bus, used to ride one, or just enjoy stories that bounce between outrageous and relatable, you’re in the right seat.
Start the engine. Close the door. Let’s roll.
School Bus Banter
When Safety Checks Fail: Lessons From Two School Bus Headlines
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A sleeping seven-year-old, a silent bus lot, and hours of fear nobody should ever face—then a separate headline where a bus driver loses her job over holiday candy bags that sometimes included brief religious messages. We take you behind the wheel and into the gray areas where policy, safety, and humanity collide.
We start with the missed-sleeper case and break down the layers that should have stopped it: post-drop child checks, aisle walks, alarm acknowledgment systems, and fast parent notifications. We talk real routines, not theory—when to stand up, how to scan for kids who slide off seats, and why consistency beats any single gadget. Then we zoom out to district responsibility, contractor accountability, and how attendance alerts and camera audits can turn isolated mistakes into teachable moments without eroding trust.
From there, we wade into the candy controversy. A driver says gifts were optional and tailored, leadership allegedly changed guidance, and termination followed. We don’t dodge the hard parts: religious neutrality in public schools, allergies and opt-in gifting, and what proportionate discipline looks like when rules shift midyear. You’ll hear where we agree, where we push back on each other, and the practical policies we’d put in place tomorrow—clear gifting rules, progressive discipline, documented training, and transparent communication with families.
If you drive, dispatch, supervise, or parent a rider, this candid breakdown offers concrete steps to prevent sleepers, set fair boundaries, and keep kids safe without losing common sense. Subscribe, share with a fellow driver, and leave a review with your best post-drop check routine or your district’s smartest safety policy—we’ll feature the most useful ones next week.
“These are our stories from the driver’s seat—our opinions only, not our employer’s or school district’s. Student safety and privacy always come first, so no names, faces, routes, or ‘you know that kid’ details ever make it on the podcast.
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Welcome back, listeners. This is Joe from School Bus Banter, and we have just a little bit more to say today. I think. Hi, Jerry.
SPEAKER_06:Hi.
SPEAKER_03:So with this podcast, listeners, I ran, I think I just I talked so much during our other banter podcast that we decided to come back for just like a short 15-20 minute section to talk about like school buses that are in the news. And I want to respect your time. And and we could have added this on, I think, the other one episodes, but we kept running long because I just talk and talk and talk.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, we're finding out that uh especially the last episode, uh, Joe really loves to talk. And I was editing and I'm like, Jesus Christ. There's actually a point where uh I audibly go, like that when you kept going. And I was like, that was a dick move. I edited that out because I didn't want anyone to hear that. I was like, Jesus. Sorry, I should stop swearing. Uh, but no, uh, yeah, what what Joe said is like we're passionate about talking about it and we want to respect your time. Um, anything over an hour, even an hour, is pushing it. Like it, you know, it's tough. Especially you have a job that you don't aren't able to listen to podcasts all the time. If you're doing a commute 10 minutes a day, that an hour episode takes a long time to listen to. So, yeah, we're passionate about the news and we want to talk about, give our opinions, and uh hopefully it's a learning opportunity for you know, even me and Joe just to be like, Oh, I never thought about that way, and for you.
SPEAKER_03:So, yeah, correct. It's it's um there's so much to say about I think because like you said, we both started this because we just we love our jobs, we're passionate about it. And if you are in the same line of work and you want to make this, you know, just your long-term commitment to your job, then there's some things in here that might help, or maybe not, and you can just listen to um Jerry swear all the time. That'll be fine.
SPEAKER_06:If you're not into bus driving for the right reasons, just get out now. There's plenty of other jobs you can make the money that we make, and uh then don't ruin any kids' lives. I'll probably cut that out. I'll probably cut that out. Uh okay, before before I probably won't. I always say I cut shit out and I leave it. Um, before we jump into the news, uh I want to shout out to a fellow bus driver here in uh Westerville, Ohio. Uh he said uh he or she says, I love this podcast. And then FYI, the Facebook link doesn't work. So I feel like the link works fine. I feel like wherever you're listening to this, sometimes if I hyperlink it behind words, it doesn't work. So I did add the actual full length into the description of the video so you can try that. If it doesn't work, copy and paste it. I don't know. I I wish I could help you more, but I uh I literally it worked fine for me and for Joe.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, well, and you know, I'm not gonna be able to help you on that part. Well, we know I'm just here to talk.
SPEAKER_06:But I appreciate the comment. Uh I absolutely love that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, thank you.
SPEAKER_06:Tell a friend, tell other bus drivers, we're here to support you, and hopefully at some point, it's this is so new. So, I mean, by a year from now, next year, we could be like getting 10 downloads an episode instead of nine. So, I'm no, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_03:Well, it's it's helping us, right? So we're gonna just keep coming back and doing it, whether people find it or not, because I feel it is a good outlet. And um, if we need to tell tell somebody something that happened, this is just perfect. Whether it's just you listening or my mom, right? It's good, it's good stuff.
SPEAKER_06:Quick business before we jump in. Of course, schoolbusbanter at gmail.com and the Facebook group we just talked about, link is in the description. So we're gonna talk about two articles today, and we're gonna play the videos, and I will actually share the links in the description of the videos if if if you want to watch them, but obviously they're audio, you know, you'll hear the audio, so you'll be able to keep up. But video one is a seven-year-old left on the bus for hours. Joe, I was thinking we would just play the video and then talk about it. Does that sound good? Yeah, yep. Okay, here we go.
SPEAKER_04:A Buffalo family is outraged after a frightening mistake involving their young grandson. They say he fell asleep on his school bus and was left there for hours all by himself. As our Trina Cannterson reports, the school bus driver has been placed on leave.
SPEAKER_01:It started as a typical morning for Josiah Griffin. He got on his school bus heading to PS 82. The seven-year-old then accidentally fell asleep on the bus. But what happened next is something that his family never could have imagined. He was brought all the way back to the bus lot, left on the school bus alone for hours until someone found him banging on the windows. On Tuesday, Letitia Griffin watched her seven-year-old grandson Josiah get on the school bus, but then he never made it to school.
SPEAKER_02:Um he was left on the bus. Um, he had fallen asleep and taken back to the terminal.
SPEAKER_01:Turns out Josiah was found by a bus terminal worker banging on the bus windows three hours after he was supposed to be in class.
SPEAKER_02:No one reached out to contact us to let us know what had transpired until about one o'clock in the afternoon on Tuesday, and then found out that he was actually dropped off at school at about 12:30 that afternoon.
SPEAKER_01:Griffin immediately called the principal of PS 82.
SPEAKER_02:She apologized and said that it was not their responsibility to reach out to me even when he arrived, that it was completely on first student to handle it.
SPEAKER_01:In a statement, Buffalo Public Schools said, quote, both the bus driver and bus aide involved in this unacceptable incident ignored multiple procedures in place to prevent this from happening. Griffin says her grandson, who is special needs, has not been to school since, out of fear.
SPEAKER_02:He keeps asking, are they gonna still leave me? Are they gonna leave me on the bus? So right now that's still kind of heartbreaking to deal with every morning to hear him asking me that.
SPEAKER_01:The district says the bus driver has since been placed on paid leave. Griffin has filed a police report in Buffalo, Trina Katterson News 4. All right, so unbelievable.
SPEAKER_06:There's a lot to uh unpack there. I'm hoping you got all the details because there was like she was blaming like the district and the busing thing. So what's your what what's your first thought on that?
SPEAKER_03:All right, let's let's back this up to back up, yeah. Sorry. Yeah, um, a few things. First, oh my god, there's so much there's uh my brain is going ahead of my mouth. Um it's so critical that a bus driver, okay, you have a routine already, right? You go down the same roads, you pick up the same kids, unless you're a sub. But let's just say, let's not let's do like a regular driver for now. Um your routine has to include a part of what happens after you drop off your your last student. And in the morning, you after you drop off your kids, you don't leave the school until you check. In the afternoon, when you're dropping off kids at home, you don't leave the neighborhood until you check. And when I was training one of our now seasoned drivers, they were riding along with me. I scared her into um, scared her, but I lit into her and I said, and right now we just dropped off our last kid. There is no reason for you to move any further unless you're on a main street and where we live, we have lots of city blocks that you can turn down, lots of church parking lots you can turn down, lots of school entrances you can turn into and check for that little students. You don't have to turn off your bus, you don't have to hit your buzzer, but you do have to get out of your seat and check. And I don't remember how I said it, but she remembers to this day how I said it because it's still it reminds her, you know, how how passionate I was, I guess, about that routine. Get it in your brain that you can't go any further than I'm just rambling now.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, you are. Um, yeah, no, I I know what you're saying. I mean, first for me, we need to figure out if, and it didn't say it in the news article, if uh they have a system in place. So uh the district that we work for, the buses have a system. Um, and I don't do it like you do.
SPEAKER_03:You can get around that system by not shutting off your bus.
SPEAKER_06:Well, that's the problem. Yeah, no, you can't get around that system because if you get back to the school, to the garage, you're gonna turn your bus off. There's no way to get around it. So you I actually don't check my bus till I get back to the garage.
SPEAKER_03:From your last drop in your neighborhood, you go all the way to the garage.
SPEAKER_06:No, first mind you, I'm one mile from the garage from my last stop.
SPEAKER_03:That's a long time.
SPEAKER_06:Oh no. I drop off at 4.03. I'm at the garage at 4.07. So it's not that long. So I don't, I don't check. If I was further away from the I'm further away. Yeah, you're further away. Um, I would. But my point is you shouldn't be just walking back there. Shut your bus off and hit your button. And so then when you get back to the garage, you don't even have to worry about it. You know what I mean? I mean, it's it's six one, half a dozen of the other. You're doing you're doing well, why walk back there twice? I guess my point is.
SPEAKER_03:I guess yeah, I like I like double checking in case they were on the floor. No, no, um that's just fair. I mean it's not I do have a I do have a lot of sleepy kids, and um I guess because I've been on my route for so long, I know how many kids are gonna get off at that stop, but it still puts it in the what if area era, like what if I missed a kid. So I drop, I'm still in a neighborhood, I'm tucked in, I'm off a main street, and I I let one kid off and I move over and I put my yellows on, my hazards on, and I don't shut off my bus at this point, but I do check because I look for mittens and hats and water bottles and whatnot. But I guess it's just it has to be made into routine. And also I was reading that, you know, as as a as a seasoned bus driver's, do they just get into like maybe well I know that all the kids got off and I'm just gonna head back?
SPEAKER_06:Well, that's the point. You you have the alert system, there's no way you're walking away from that bus without hitting that button. And if you do, and you get in your car and leave, it's gonna honk, and then somebody from inside admin is gonna come out. We don't leave kids on buses.
SPEAKER_03:No, but I am going to tell you that when hello years and years ago, when I pulled into the my bus spot and my co-worker pulled in towards me, so we're nose to nose underneath the canopy. When this driver shut their bus off, a kid popped up from the back seat.
SPEAKER_06:Okay, yeah, I I'm not saying it hasn't happened, but but I'm saying that kid didn't get left on that bus.
SPEAKER_03:No, it did not get left on that bus, but it made it all the way back to the bus garage.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, they didn't, you know, they didn't check. They didn't check before. Um so let's get back into the article though. We're kind of, you know, I I like our opinion on that, but let's break down the article. So apparently uh the kid got left for three hours, and then no one communicated that they just grabbed the kid and and went and took him to school. What I don't understand is why, like at least in um I have kids that are in the district, if they're not there within like 10 or 15 minutes, I get a uh I get a notification. You get an alert, get an alert that so-and-so is unexcused, not there and unexcused. Basically, like we don't know where they are. Now it wasn't a wasn't a phone call, but I feel like at that age, at seven, being in kindergarten for that student should have been like, hey, Johnny didn't make it to school today. Where is he?
SPEAKER_03:So that bus wasn't equipped with we don't know.
SPEAKER_06:It didn't say it in the article with the student chat. Clearly, it wasn't. Wow. And the company that that was driving is called First Student. It's a huge busing company in the country. Yeah, and obviously it was special needs, and apparently there must have been an aid on there, too. So two people left. Well, two things. How is it two people failed? And how is it first student doesn't have an alarm system, or was it faulty or something?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that would be my first question is what's the what is their procedure for checking students.
SPEAKER_06:I'm surprised the news article didn't break that down a little bit. You know what I mean? Like it feel like that was important information.
SPEAKER_03:I'm stuck on the the fact that they got all the way, yeah, they got all the way back to the bus garage without knowing there's a student on there. But I mean it's happening, right? This isn't the only article that we've had on this.
SPEAKER_06:Right. I feel like it happens less and less. But my question to you is do you know your district's policy on what you're supposed to do?
SPEAKER_03:I know our no, I know the the procedure that I'm supposed to take. Oh, you do know that as far as as far as me as a bus driver, I'm supposed to check after the last drop. You move over and you either turn your bus off and go back and hit your buzzer, or you at least get out of your seat physically and go back and check for students. I know that that's as a bus driver, but I don't know what our policy is if a student rides all the way back to the bus garage.
SPEAKER_06:The procedure that you do is that in our employee handbook?
SPEAKER_03:I can't even answer that.
SPEAKER_06:See, a lot of these things I can't even answer that. I feel like we need to know that. And I always say to our union uh president, I'm like, Well, if I wasn't trained on it, I'm gonna say I wasn't trained on it, and then the lawyer's gonna be like, Well, he wasn't trained on it, he didn't sign off, you didn't sign off, so we don't really have a case here.
SPEAKER_03:I I do know there's a handbook somewhere.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, we should probably uh investigate that a little bit. I I'm just being devil's advocate. I didn't know if you I I would have been shocked if you did know, because I don't know. Uh, but that's and that's a bad on both of us.
SPEAKER_03:But like I think we have the contract and a handbook printed up in our lounge, but nobody nobody's ever even looked at it.
SPEAKER_06:That's a problem. And then it kind of falls that's our homework. Yeah, it is, and it kind of falls back on the whole, not the district, but our department as a whole, that we probably should have some regular, like at the beginning of the year, like, hey, just a reminder, dot dot dot dot dot dot, and then sign off on it just for like a CYA for everybody, right? For everybody involved. So I mean, I'm glad the kid wasn't hurt, but like this seems like an epic fail. And again, I don't we can't really talk if they didn't, if they had an alarm system, it just doesn't happen. So they must not, right?
SPEAKER_03:Right, yeah. Again, our you know, and um Jerry will have a disclaimer at the front of this. These are just our opinions. Yeah, we we literally have some homework that we gotta do ourselves to be aware of our policies, but um, regardless of that, it's um it happened. I don't know if the bus drivers were late, we're in a hurry. Um, it happened and it's it it sh it shouldn't have just due to the procedures that you know our district has in place with with our child safety button.
SPEAKER_06:And you're so you're so uh you're so right on the the routine because like for me in the morning uh I clear at the school. Like I clear, I mean that that's pretty obvious, right? Because you're dropping off if there's a kid in there. I mean, I mean, but in the afternoon I don't, but I do the same thing every day. It's the exact same thing. In fact, I even every once in a while, so I go into park. Let's see, no, that would be no, that would be in the afternoon, because in the morning I'm dropping kids off, so I'm already in park. But like in the afternoon, or yeah, when I ended my day, I go into park, I put in bark, I put the parking brake on, I turn my lights off, I pop my steering wheel up, I open the door, and then I turn the key. Like that's yeah, you know, do do do do do do. And sometimes I do it out of order, and then I I go like this. I miss something. You did, yeah. And so then I after all that I hop out, I walk to the back, look, look, look, look, look, look. Typically don't pick anything up because I want to get my button first, and then on the way back, I you know, pick up any trash or any gloves or whatnot that I see.
SPEAKER_03:It's funny that you say um in the morning you do the same thing. You're at the school, it's easy to, you know, the last kids off, and you just get up and you go, because if there's any mittens or snow pants or boots, you know, for this time of year, you want to get it into the lost and found. But you and I must have the same because we are down to the minute where you and I like pass each other on the street. You know, I'm in front, or that one rare day where you got in front of me, but um, we're on the same street pulling back into the high school for our next run.
SPEAKER_06:It's so funny. Uh you say that two things. One, I don't bring any snow pants inside. If you left them on the bus, sorry about your luck, you'll get it in the afternoon. I'm not walking into school. I know we're so different, are we? Number two, I don't have well, first of all, number two, I don't have time to do that. Number number three, I pee every day at the school. So when I see you or don't see you, it depends on if it's a number one or number two, and it depends on how late, how late I got to the school. TMI, dear. TMI. I know, but yeah, routine is like such a huge thing with bus driving. Uh it's it's it's hard to get out of that routine, and you feel weird when you when you're I really want to know like what other drivers do.
SPEAKER_03:Do they do what you do and just head back to the bus garage and and shut their bus off there? Or do you stop right after your last stop in the afternoon? This is a really good learning, I think, curve, just to see what yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_06:I I think with the amount of stops I have and they're very small, like I can remember who I dropped off. There's a couple of them at the beginning where I unload a lot of kids. I might be like, hmm, I didn't see that kid get off. And I'll actually wait a little bit, like at the stop and kind of like double check my mirrors, look in the back. And if I really, I'll go, yo, so and so. Because every once in a while their kid doesn't get off at a stop. And you know, I just I don't know, I just know the kid so much. I'm not saying I'm a like a freaking great driver or anything, I'm just saying it's such a routine and so the same every day. When one kid doesn't get off, I second guess myself a little bit and I'm looking around and just kind of looking out because you know, you you know, you want to you don't want to hit a kid either.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:All right, I think we've gassed this out. Next one, I know all these backup and all these puns gassed it out, has to do with driving backup. Uh video two, this is actually uh the food is such a big deal, but there was a driver that was fired for giving out candy. And so we'll watch that and uh then chat about it.
SPEAKER_00:A former Madawan bus driver is suing the school district, alleging that she was wrongfully terminated after passing out holiday candy bags to students on her bus.
SPEAKER_05:News age Josh Sanchez has more on what the lawsuit claims. In the lawsuit filed in December, Sarah Robinson claims that her civil rights were violated after she was fired from her bus driving job for giving out candy to students that sometimes contain religious messaging. The 12-page complaint says that the Badouan Consolidated Schools bus driver Sarah Robinson was fired last April following a few occasions where she gave out candy bags to students ahead of holidays, like Halloween and Christmas. While Robinson did not speak with News 8 on camera, she said she was representing herself in the suit. In the document, she said some of the candy bags contained brief Christian messages, while others did not. She said that students were not pressured to take the gift bags and were told they could decline. Quote, participation was always voluntary, and students could choose to take an alternative bag containing no religious message or a Jewish-themed bag for her Jewish student. The suit says that in November 2024, her supervisor said she could continue passing out the bags as long as it was optional. In January last year, the district superintendent reversed the guidance the lawsuit claims. A key part of the suit centers around a week long investigation process in which the suit said Robinson was questioned repeatedly and was treated as if any wrongdoing was intentional. The suit claims that bus camera footage was not reviewed, impresses that the gift bags were voluntary and that parents were present at the time. Among the 10 counts alleged Against the district, superintendent, and assistant superintendent. The lawsuit claims that Robinson faced religious discrimination, was penalized for exercising her religion, and denied due process.
SPEAKER_03:This one pisses me off.
SPEAKER_06:Oh man, I have so many, so many questions.
SPEAKER_03:I'm so pissed.
SPEAKER_06:Okay, you're fired up. You want to go?
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I'm yeah. No.
SPEAKER_06:Or do you want me to go first?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, go ahead so I can get my thoughts.
SPEAKER_06:I just kind of feel like fuck. I don't know what to say. Like, I'm I'm I so what so she was fired for presenting religious options, correct?
SPEAKER_03:Is that what she was fired on a decision that was just overturned? Like at first they said it was okay. Right. And then what they they took it further until they found a judge that said it's not okay. And so then she was fired for yes, for for giving out religious candy with religious messages. But what about all of the other options that she said she did? Number one, you don't have to take the candy if you don't want to. Number two, she made candy her other religions that she had on her bus. How thoughtful. Number three, the parents were on board, she had their consent, and then it was just it was just overturned. Like everything she did was right. The district agreed, and then just because it was overturned, she's fired.
SPEAKER_06:Well, I mean, I guess is she get there was pressure from somewhere else and they revisited it. Um, here's here's my opinion. I think the bus driver's lying. There's no way I don't think no. Hear me out. Hear me out.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, no, I am, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:First of all, there's no way a parent was present every time they presented the candy, or or she did not get permission for each parent. Not happening.
SPEAKER_03:No, I don't think she said each parent, but several.
SPEAKER_06:She said no, it I mean we can watch it again, but I'm pretty sure it said that she got permission or she was uh a parent was present for everything. Okay. She didn't have a disclaimer. She didn't, I mean, I can't say that this is just my opinion because I know how bus drivers are. She didn't say you don't have to take this, and oh, there's Jewish and Christian and non-religion here. Let me know which one you want. I don't believe she did that. Really? I believe this is lawyer speak, and she can she's saying this because they don't have video. You know why? Because it was too late, and the videos have already been recorded over. Like, I'm my guess is they didn't keep the the video. That's why they have no video on it. I I just don't think she did all that.
SPEAKER_03:Wow. That's a different perspective than what I thought you were gonna go.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, of course. I mean, that's this is great. We have opinions. I'm not saying she should have been fired, I think it's stupid. I mean, if you're presenting it like it's not like she has something on her I'm I'm uh so I'm not religious. Uh I actually have a problem with religion. I mean, I grew up religious, but I uh it's it's really hard for me now. But I still don't care, you know, as a parent. Um, I don't think the bus driver should be fired. I mean, it's not like she's like got it on the front of her bus every day and proclaiming all these things and talking about it like on the radio and shit like that. I don't think she's like trying to enter religion into these kids' lives.
SPEAKER_03:And who turned her in? Was it one of the parents that got the candy and saw that on there? And and and said usually is, isn't it?
SPEAKER_06:Well, and then that same parent probably pressured after they didn't do anything. You know, you know the climate, what the climate is right now, you know, whether either side they probably pressured the district to be like, hey, this is BS. Like you you need to you need to change this.
SPEAKER_03:Make it right, yeah. So as a driver that gives out candy all the time, um, this was my first year. No, I don't say, but it's it's a year of of allergies. All right, I have a lot of kids with allergies. Now, we are not given this information unless the parents tell us, unless the parents tell our boss and then our boss tells us. So I know from parents that I have peanut allergies and whatnot. So instead of giving peanut-free candy to the you know, allergy kids and regular kid, I make everything on my bus peanut free. Is that gonna piss off some parents because their kids are always getting peanut-free candy? I hope not. You know, I would hope I did not understand because I get peanut-free candy. I just make it, who knows if I have a peanut allergy? I don't know, but it's just it's easy enough for me to just make make it so the whole bus get, and there's tons of peanut-free candy out there that is good, that's fun, easy to get, not expensive, and I just make it so everybody gets the same. Maybe that was her her wrongdoing was she should have just given out candy with no messages. I mean, does this go along with this the part of saying Merry Christmas, happy holidays? I don't I don't know. We're gonna get in trouble for every single thing that we do.
SPEAKER_06:I don't think she should have been fired, but I also think she shouldn't have put the message in there. Like you see, see, I'm on both sides of this the the decision here. Like, you shouldn't have put the message in there, and you shouldn't have like this is more this isn't about the candy, this is about the message. Like they talk about they I think it's clickbaity when you say we're fired for giving out candy, that's what they're looking for is clicks. It's not about, it's about the message they put in there, and I don't think she should have put the message in there, but again, I also think the supervisor would be like, or the school board should say, Hey, you need to discipline this person and say, Hey, you need you got a couple days off. I'm gonna write you up. You're suspended, yeah. You know you're not supposed to do this, but you're a great bus driver.
SPEAKER_03:And because of the fact that she was in the right, and then they flipped it, they flipped the decision. Yeah, that's shady. So then she was fired. So that part is what I'm pissed about. That part is is for me, is like, okay, look, I did this. You already said yes, it's okay to do, and then somebody says no, and then you're fired. That that part to me, that's that's what pissed me off.
SPEAKER_06:You know what I think it is, is I think they didn't do anything like, hey, you're not supposed to do this and and and and suspend them. I think if they would have done that, whatever the pressure they were getting from the outside probably wouldn't have done anything. They would probably be like okay. The the driver was punished, they were updated on the policy again, reiterated, and and we're good with that. And maybe not, maybe they were looking for their you know the money or whatever, but um, it didn't say that the parent or the the person, it just said it just got reversed. Yeah, I think the school board's like, shit, we should have done something, and so now that they're getting the pressure, they're like, Well, now we gotta fire her. But I think I think she's gonna get her job back.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that was wrong. Yeah, yeah, that was that was a hard one.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, we talk about, you know, at the beginning we're learning lessons, and you know, I'm I'm sure no one that's in charge is gonna listen to this, but like this is this is the point. Like, you shouldn't allowed it, you know, wherever you are, maybe super religious, and and and most people won't, but we got to keep the church and state separate. That's the whole point of it. Again, do I think she should have been fired? No. Would I have said anything if I walked on somebody's bus and they had a fucking Bible verse up there? I would absolutely not. I might say something to my friends and bitch about it, but I'm not gonna report them. Like, shut the fuck up and just drive your bus. Like, if it I'm you know, I mean, it's just like yeah, I mean, again, that again, that's that is church and state, but I'm not gonna report somebody about that. I'm just gonna be like, oh god, because that's just my opinion on their religion. It has nothing to do with how they care for those kids. I don't freaking care. Like, I just don't care.
SPEAKER_03:But it it's it's important for me to create a free thinking bus where I my opinions and my everybody is allowed to, you know, be nice and respect because you know, we got we got a lot going on with different races, different uh religions, even you know, different is every it's it's I want to create that safe atmosphere where we were curious, make them curious about it too, but definitely not get fired over something that is just so again, I'm rambling.
SPEAKER_06:No, you're good. No, it's good. It it's again, we're we're on the same page. I don't know. Actually, I don't know if we're on the same page. We both agree she shouldn't be fired, but do you agree that she shouldn't have put those messages in the candy bags?
SPEAKER_03:Just because of how um my view on religion and the clientele that I have in the area that we live in, she should not have put any messages with the candy. Just pass out the candy.
SPEAKER_06:You're do you're saying it different though, because I'm saying not because of my opinion of religion, I'm saying it's against the rules of church and state. Like that's yeah, yeah, like the it's not a policy per se. Although our we did get mentioned that we should not have anything on our bus that I can't remember the exact verbiage at the beginning of the year. Um advertisement about whatever it is, like whether it's whatever, you know, right, left, yeah, black, white, yes, chicken, egg, I don't know, like any of that up there. Um, so to me, I feel like she shouldn't have done that because that's just I want to keep that separate. I'm I'm cool with all of it. Like I said, I'm I'm free thinking like you are. Like I'm cool with all I don't care. I'm just like, this is my own, this is my life. I this is what I do. If you do that, that's great. Are you if you don't hurt anybody and you're not fucking with anybody, then I'm happy. Go go ahead and do it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and but she yeah, but she wasn't hurting anybody, she made it a choice, but she broke the rules though. Yeah. Well, is there a rule?
SPEAKER_06:Was there yeah, but there's a general like church and state, you know. That's why people say when it says uh what does it say on the dollar bill? Does it say God bless or something like that on the dollar bill? Isn't there something on the money that says I don't carry cash? Yeah, I don't either. But but my point is like that's always a constant battle of like keeping that separate because where do you draw the line? You know, some schools they like. I say some schools they let you have Bible study at their school.
SPEAKER_03:I was just gonna say that. Okay, my kids half like no, not half, but a quarter of my kids don't ride home on Tuesdays because they stay at school and have Bible study.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. So where where do you draw the line there? Again, I don't think she should have put the messages in there, but I really don't care either. Right. Like it wouldn't offend me at all. I'd be like, oh, that's cool, and I'd throw it away.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Actually, I actually got a message for a gift this year about that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Religious. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Well, I carry a coin that a student got me, and it's a one of the Bible, I'm gonna say characters, but that's not the word I want. Um it's just supposed to protect and overlook, and it's on my keychain because I put it on in front of the student and I never took it off. Yeah, it's a saying, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I I did it for the kids. I'll do anything for the kids. So if she wanted me to put on the keychain, I'm gonna put it on the keychain. Yeah, I'm not taking it off now because now it's a like it's a spooky thing. Yeah, yeah, now something happens.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, you ain't you ain't dead yet, so you're gonna keep it on there.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I'm gonna keep it on there.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, I will let you know, Joe, that if you die or something happens, I'm gonna find your ass. I'm gonna take that thing and I'm gonna throw it in the trash.
SPEAKER_03:There you go.
SPEAKER_06:I'll pull right off your dead body, and I'm like, okay, we're getting rid of this first before we uh have a funeral. It ain't it's done.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, you do that. You do that.
SPEAKER_06:All right. Anything else? I know that was uh a lot of uh just a lot. I feel I'm exhausted after that like 35 minutes.
SPEAKER_03:I know because it just feels like I'm just bottom line for me on that on that last topic there with the candy was they changed their mind, and that's what pissed me off. They changed their mind. She was fine, and now then they changed their mind and she's fired. So that's what got me.
SPEAKER_06:Here's the thing let's let's try to be responsible and kind of try to keep an ear open for these articles. And you know, it's it's tough. That's what I hate about the news. They they present it, and then you never hear follow-up, you know, because that's not getting the clicks unless it's click worthy, you know what I mean? On the other show that I do, it's the same thing, you know. We very rarely get follow-ups on news articles. We did just recently because it was it was pretty epic of a of a change in the case. But like I hope to find out a little bit more about this this candy one because it's it's a current lawsuit. So yep. All right, well, I hope you enjoyed that. Um thanks for listening. Yeah, thanks for listening. Oh shit, what's our uh same boss, same kids, different stories. Bye.
SPEAKER_03:Bye.