What Really Happened On Those Buses? Safety Lessons From An Emergency Door Fall And A Driver Fired For Brake Checking

We close out the season by talking about end-of-year goodbyes, thank-you gifts for our fourth graders, and the small choices that help kids feel valued on the ride home. Then we react to two viral school bus news videos and pull out the safety lessons drivers can actually use tomorrow morning.

• timing thank-you cards and treats so every rider gets them
• handling the awkward reality that some students will be on a different bus next year
• reacting to the video of a student falling out of the rear emergency door
• How emergency exit handles work and why training matters
• the brake-checking video and why “punishment driving” is never acceptable
• Why yelling fails without a relationship and consistent support
• needing admin and systems that back drivers up
• choosing to be the kind of driver kids remember positively

“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.

Email us at schoolbusbanter@gmail.com

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Transcript

Welcome Back And Season Finale

SPEAKER_10 0:09

Hey, welcome back. You're listening to School Bus Banter News Edition Episode 20.

SPEAKER_08 0:18

That was it was like no, it was good. It was like it sounded hey. Hey welcome to episode 20.

SPEAKER_10 0:26

Yeah, I well, see ah, your yeah, your voice. You I'll just sit back and listen.

SPEAKER_08 0:31

No, you're good. We're good. So what's going on? Uh this is what, yeah, episode 20. I know 20. We went over like we were gushing like last episode. This is our last. Well, this is technically our last episode, so for the season. I have a question for you, and I thought I'd bring it up on the show just for a little is it appropriate? Yeah. A little, a little banter before we jump into news, which we have some bitching stories. Bitching. Um, so I ended up getting what you had. I stole your idea. I got the bottle caps for my fourth graders.

SPEAKER_10 1:04

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_08 1:04

And I

Thank You Gifts For Fourth Graders

SPEAKER_08 1:05

wrote my thank you cards this morning. And it's funny. I this is typical, typical Jerry. He looks on Amazon. Oh, that's great. I thought it had an envelope with it and everything. Oh no, it's like a freaking postcard. So that's fine. I know. Well, I always worry like they're not gonna read it, right? So I wrote everything on the back, and then you had given me, thank you, uh, those 3D printed things, uh, the little keychains, and I got everything to go. But when do I give these fourth graders this? Because I worry if I wait to the last day, like in the afternoon, that a lot of kids are gonna be might be parent pickups.

SPEAKER_10 1:41

Yeah. So last Friday. That's when I did mine. Well, mine are already mine are already out.

SPEAKER_08 1:48

Well, I didn't work last Friday, so I'm down to Wednesday, Thursday.

SPEAKER_10 1:54

Yeah, do it as soon as possible so you have time to get it to everybody. So, like all of my fourth grades rode home, fourth graders rode home last week, except for one, and I saw her today, so I gave it today. So I'm done.

SPEAKER_08 2:06

So start tomorrow.

SPEAKER_10 2:07

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_08 2:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_10 2:08

Yeah, or Friday. Yeah. That's Friday.

SPEAKER_08 2:12

Well, most of my kids do ride home, so my fourth graders, but uh yeah, yeah, you never know.

SPEAKER_10 2:18

They got, you know, they get picked up early, or you know, something could happen. But um, yep, I did that. And my the boys were like, you know, I I had that one where um he wanted provolone cheese. So it's all candy, so they'll have candy, and then you know, they're like, Why does provolone cheese? I'm like, only him and I know that story. The student asked uh what you know what he could have in his bag, and I'm like,

Saying Goodbye Without Making It Weird

SPEAKER_10 2:45

Well, what do you want in your bag? And he's like provolone cheese. So there we go. And you know, so I gave him in front of my other kids, my my K through three, then, but I told them, you know, everybody gets treats at the end. This is the fourth graders, they're leaving us. They all understood, they all watched this, you know. They're like, I said, Does anybody think this isn't fair? No, no, I'm like, okay, it's fair. No, I know. And then there was some tears because oh, you know, they're they're great. My fourth graders, I love them. It's it's awesome.

SPEAKER_08 3:12

Well, unfortunately, I don't think I don't think a lot of my fourth graders realize that they're gonna be on a different bus next year. I I don't think their parents have told them. I mean, why would they, right? It's the end like why are we dealing with false shit and at the end? And so I don't know if I should say something to them or they'll get the hint, maybe, or maybe when they show the card to their parents, they're like, Oh yeah, sorry, and they're probably like, I never got to say goodbye. And then maybe, I don't know. Should I tell them?

SPEAKER_10 3:43

I mean, they know. I mean, their teachers are preparing for them, they've been over to the the fifth grade building and you know, seen it. So I I I think they're okay gonna I I assume my mind know. I mean, obviously, because I gave them their bags, but yeah, it's it's it's sad, but if you know what driver they're going to and and you think they'll be fine, then yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_08 4:05

So all right. Well, thank you for that tip. I will start Friday uh doing that for you. So uh all right, gonna jump in some news. First up, there's a video, and again, I will post these in the show notes so you can watch them. And you if you're any bit on social media and you know, and search anything bus like one time, it's gonna always show up in your algorithm. So you may have seen this, but there's a video of a student falling out of the bus, and we're gonna watch

Student Falls Out Bus Door

SPEAKER_08 4:32

that and kind of uh decide whose fault it is. But it it is interesting that the uh who like I think the attorney on this one was talking about it. I don't know, so I'm gonna shut up and we'll display it.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Tonight, only on 10, a 10 on your side investigation into how a Norfolk public school student fell out of the back of a moving bus.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Yes, I started investigating this on April 16th on a bus bringing home students from the Academy for Discovery at Lakewood around 3 28 p.m. Something went terribly wrong. Andy Fox is here with what he has found.

SPEAKER_11 5:08

Yeah, Regina, you first covered this story for us. Thankfully, she did not have life-threatening injuries, and Norfolk Public Schools reports she recovered well and went back to school not long after the incident. We also reached out to a nationally recognized certified forensic video analyst who counters what Norfolk Public Schools says happened. We showed Ed Baker this video we got through a FOIA request from Norfolk Public Schools. He notes the video is altered due to redactions and blurring of faces, makes it a little bit more difficult. Before that, we interviewed Rick Fraley, who is the chief of operations Norfolk City Schools, on how he summarizes what happened on bus to 19.

SPEAKER_07 5:52

So it's kind of horseplay. And she leans back on him, and you see him go towards the window. So it's kind of horseplay. And then she leans back a little harder, and then you see her left arm use the emergency exit handle for additional leverage to put back to push back on him. Then the young man chooses to push back on her, and his inertia was so intense that she literally flew out the back door.

SPEAKER_05 6:22

I don't see that. So one of the things that may have taken place here is he's positioned himself to make the turn, but he's trying to keep his bus in his lane of travel, so he's gotta turn it sharper and quicker during the turn, which may be the uh the causation of the chirping skipping sound.

SPEAKER_11 6:42

Yes, it's all in the right hand turn tonight at six. Ed Baker does what he does.

SPEAKER_08 6:48

Okay, first of all, that guy's a kind of a dick tool, the uh the reporter guy. He's way too excited. Um, and why are we doing this special report on it? Like, where is this that there's no news? And I don't know, it just seems interesting.

SPEAKER_10 7:03

There has to be another camera angle, right? Is that the only camera angle we have? That would be my first question.

SPEAKER_08 7:09

I wonder if that's all that the district provided him, um, them. And you're right, it is kind of a straight shot to the back. It it it seems kind of weird that they would only have one camera, but maybe it's a uh a little underprivileged district and that they don't have a lot of cameras. But you know, if you look at that bar, it almost seems like you know, ours have a guard around it. It didn't seem like it did, but it was so hard to see if it's very hard to see. Yeah, and and and that's what they're saying that they redacted it, but to try to maybe cover kids' you know identities or whatever.

SPEAKER_10 7:45

I I saw pushing back and forth exactly how the principal I'm gonna assume, or the admin person um explained it horseplay in the back, and then they went to use the handle and it opened. After I watched or I knew we were gonna watch this video, I looked at I sat in the back of my bus and my the handle like pulls up, right? It pulls up, so you would have to hang on to it and then pull up. Yeah, it would be all all not impossible to fall out, but hard.

SPEAKER_08 8:17

Well, just the where yeah, where she was the le I mean it it was hard to see, but like I would think she would be on, so oh, this is hard because how the way you're looking at it, but if you're looking on the back, you would think if you're looking towards the back, she would have to be on the right and grab it because it would it would pull up, but she was on the left, so I was kind of confused. I mean, obviously it opened, I mean it doesn't just open by itself, regardless.

SPEAKER_10 8:41

It did, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 8:42

I think it's probably a little bit of both. I think it's probably him whipping that corner, whatever. It didn't look completely out of pocket, and right, you know, all you need to do is you know, you don't have to lift that bar all the way up, you only have to lift it up to so it releases the latch. So with that's true, maybe with her doing that and then the turn, it just kind of opened up. But as you heard, you know, she was fine and and stuff, but I don't know. The admin guy seemed a little nervous talking on on camera, but who knows how often he's done that.

SPEAKER_10 9:15

I you know, I I just hope it's investigated fully, and you know, that's if the bus driver's not at fault, it's not at fault just because that happened.

SPEAKER_08 9:24

Yeah, you wonder why someone, you know, why did you bring in this video person that you know it just seems weird? Like it didn't talk about having an attorney to like kind of blame the the driver, but like I guess I don't know why you're create. I mean, it's news, right? You're gonna create drama where they can create drama.

SPEAKER_10 9:41

Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_08 9:42

Um, but yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean it's a good conversation to have about, you know, if you got kids that are doing that kind of stuff. Like, I don't even tell my kids, hey, don't touch this. In fact, it's funny when you do your evacuations, you're like, okay, go. And

Teaching Emergency Exits The Right Way

SPEAKER_08 10:00

they're like, just I'm like, yo, you gotta pick the bar up and open the door. Like what you know, pretend that bus is on fire.

SPEAKER_10 10:08

Yeah. You know, and I drive that um special needs c uh class through to throughout the afternoon, and I do have one that beelines it right for those handles to open them up. So if they don't have a hold on on that student, they're over there like right at the window opening it and the buzzer's going off and everything. So good lesson learned. I mean, teach your kids how to use it in the emergency, but then if you hear that buzzer going off, you're gonna assume it's an emergency and yeah, and it's gonna write them up if not.

SPEAKER_08 10:42

Yeah, and it's loud too. It's it's super, super loud, at least in my bus. The bus I'm possibly losing. I am.

SPEAKER_10 10:52

I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_08 10:53

I know that's another thing that like went into my brain today, too, because I haven't driven since Thursday morning. So then the I've I've had a day, folks. I've had a day. All right. Uh next one New York school bus driver fired after video shows break checking with students on board. Like, this is class. You're stupid. You're on camera. What are you doing? Did you expect any other result? So um, I

Driver Fired For Brake Checking

SPEAKER_08 11:20

don't think the union per was gonna be able to save his job, but we'll watch this and then uh call him an idiot.

SPEAKER_06 11:28

Alleged bad behavior by a bus driver caught on camera. Parents in New York's Boquet Valley Central School District say video shows a driver repeatedly slamming on the brakes, jostling kids in their seats as a form of punishment. Alec Lecham joins us live to share this exclusive video. Alec, you spoke with parents who had serious concerns about what's in that video.

SPEAKER_12 12:10

But they say they believe that changed after an instant caught on the bus's own camera.

SPEAKER_09 12:19

My daughter called me um extremely unhappy, uh, said that the bus driver was brake checking the bus.

SPEAKER_12 12:27

Channel 3 News obtained video from inside and outside the Oakland Valley Central School District bus from a day in early March. The Marno say the video matches what their children described. Interior dash cam video shows what appears to be a brake check here. Speed data from the cameras shows the bus dropping by nearly 10 miles per hour. You can see kids jolt forward in their seeds. Exterior video of that same moment shows the road ahead appears clear. No cars in front of the bus. Nothing that would cause the driver to hit the brakes. And then as the boy gets up and moves into the aisle, the video shows the driver hit the brakes again. And in that exchange, he appears to suggest the braking was because the kids were listening. As parents, you both hear this from your children that this happens. What are the immediate reactions that are going through both of you?

SPEAKER_09 13:52

Angry, frustrating to feel like my kids aren't safe there.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

There's no need for anyone to drive a vehicle of that size to break check for any reason.

SPEAKER_12 14:00

So you reach out to the school district to figure out what is going on. What did they say to you both? I mean, what was the communication like?

SPEAKER_02 14:06

I reached out to the superintendent. He confirmed that there was some inappropriate yelling and there was some braking, but it was deemed appropriate breaking.

SPEAKER_12 14:15

Matt Martnot says after the incident, he waited weeks for answers. And in late April, he went to a school board meeting to raise his concerns publicly. Five days later, the board voted unanimously to fire the bus driver Jeremy Ward. The district has not said why, and we do not know the specific reason for his termination. I followed up with the Martnos to get their reaction in a phone interview. I feel like when it was raised to the principals and they reviewed the footage, it it should have been dealt with then.

SPEAKER_03 14:43

It should have been just a okay, yeah, there was there's something that occurred and we will deal with this. And that didn't happen.

SPEAKER_08 14:51

So one of the big things that frustrates me for the for those parents is that he had to go to the school board before I mean I'm before he before that driver got fired. I'm all on board for protection of the driver. I am, but when you have that evidence, I mean what it how do you defend that?

Why Yelling Fails On The Bus

SPEAKER_10 15:10

He was hot like the entire looks like the entire ride. That wasn't just a moment. That seemed like the that whole ride was gonna be like that. That bus driver was hot. You know, if you're getting on your bus with that, and that's why I'm so glad we were doing this podcast, is is to hopefully you know, the tricks and and ideas and stuff that we come up with on our uh bus banch or other podcasts is is to help like those moments not get that elevated. Yeah, and he was yelling at kids to sit down. I didn't see anybody standing up. If you're picking the battles of of stuff being in the aisles, and you know, you're gonna have to train them. It's you can't just go in yelling with guns ablazing, you know, they don't respond to that.

SPEAKER_08 15:55

Yeah, that the the way he yelled that that first part, it was very uncomfortable. Like, I was like, Oh, very uncomfortable. Like, you can yell like that if you have a good relations, like well, not like that, but it was very mean. But like, you can get after your kids if you have a good relationship, and they you can get after them and they respond, you know what I mean. Um, but if he's going into that every day screaming like that, they they don't give a shit about you. You're just the mean old grumpy bus driver. And and I'm not defending kids acting up, and I'm not defending him either. He he needed to be fired, hence my initial con comment about they should have fired him long ago. The parents shouldn't have had to gone to the school board because yeah, my guess is that wasn't his first issue with admin. I I would almost guess.

SPEAKER_10 16:43

It's a tool, I think. Bus drivers think that it's you know gonna work by shouting and yelling, but it's it's proven very ineffective, and those kids are only just gonna probably come back, you know, twice harder as far as um attitude and behavior.

SPEAKER_08 17:02

I do understand the frustration when you now again, we're not talking about this moment. We've kind of scrolled off to a little bit, but I do understand the frustration of having a child that just won't listen no matter what. Like it's just to me, it's so odd, it's so easy, or like it should be easy for them to understand. I don't want you walking throughout the bus, I don't want you, whatever it is, like you know, just a simple command, and they don't do it, and we just yeah, as a you know, I'm a dad, I I've had that too. You you just get frustrated when the kids don't like what are you doing? Like, it's not that freaking hard. But again, we don't remember when we were kids, and sometimes that stuff is hard. But yeah, I agree with you 100%. Yelling at them repeatedly literally won't do anything. But I get the frustration. I can yeah, I've been in his shoes, but that being said, you can't break check. I mean, did you think what did you think was gonna happen? Like, of course, and obviously that kid, the little kid that had the neck pain, sister was on, had a phone, was texting mom. This is happening. I mean, this is 2026, kids have phones, all got phones, they all got phones, they're gonna record. I mean, if something goes down and they're gonna text their parents, and so you gotta be aware of that.

SPEAKER_10 18:12

Yeah, it's it is a it's it is a frustration that's so real, and and you've tried you try everything, you literally try, and that's where you've gotta have somebody in the office that's gotta back you up. You gotta get you gotta get either trained or you gotta get to the parents, you got something, something, and and if you don't have that on the other end, that's another frustration that yeah.

SPEAKER_08 18:35

I mean, I told my daughter she wants to be a teacher, and I'm like, listen, if you have a great admin at your school, then you're gonna be successful. If you don't, get out. Don't yeah, yeah. I mean,

Needing Admin Support To Succeed

SPEAKER_08 18:45

you know, you can spend a couple years there trying to see if it figuring it out, but like you're you don't have to be dedicated to one school district or one even one building if you feel like hey, I've heard so and so is a great admin at you know, we have go where you're supported, yeah. Go where you're supported because and that's the same with bus driving.

SPEAKER_10 19:03

I mean, yeah, I love it here. I think it would kill me if if you know we didn't have things in place and union and stuff like that. But I I I'm not married to, I mean, I guess some would say I'm married to it, but you know if just I would go to a district that you know has got that supporting cast for you.

SPEAKER_08 19:24

Yeah, because it's so important, especially okay, yeah, your kids are great now, but for whatever reason, you might get a wild hair for they move into the district, you know. You think, okay, I got these young kids, I can train them, but all of a sudden you get a you know, a sixth grader that moves into the district and is just you know unmanageable at the time. And then the catfish. Yeah, and then you're like, oh, my admin, okay, yeah, they're not great. And now what am I gonna do? If you have a good admin, then it doesn't matter if you get a get a wild kid, you're like, okay, we're gonna work with them.

SPEAKER_10 19:53

So right, yeah, that's funny. Yeah, that was tough. Tough to watch.

SPEAKER_08 19:57

So the moral of the story is one, don't lift the emergency handle in the back, and two, don't break check when your kids are being dicks.

The Kind Of Driver Kids Remember

SPEAKER_10 20:06

Yeah, that's hard to do.

SPEAKER_08 20:08

That's hard to do. Did you just say it's hard not to break check?

SPEAKER_10 20:12

Yeah, no, I mean I don't drive that way, so I wouldn't even know.

SPEAKER_08 20:16

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_10 20:18

I I think, like you said, that relationship with your student is so is so important. And I was reminded of it today. I got a nice note from I think a fifth grade, no, six seventh grader, and it was just it was just amazing. Like I cried a little because I'm like, wow, the quiet, she's so quiet on my bus too, all year, so quiet. And little did I know, she just was like absorbing things and taking it in, and she's like, You say hi to me every morning, and you know, she has cute outfits, and I'm like, Well, yeah, you know, I mean, it's not hard.

SPEAKER_08 20:52

Well, it's it's not it's not that it's not hard, but like I don't understand. I know we're getting off a tangent, but I don't understand drivers that go into this and not want to like impact kids in a positive way, right? Yeah, like I I just don't get it. Like it the money's not great, and the benefits, okay, they're they're okay, they're go they're not bad, but I mean you can get way more money somewhere else with better benefits. You gotta be, you know, we're here because we like to drive, and and and I do feel some pride being a bus driver, and and I wanna impact these kids. I want them to be like, oh, you know, my bus driver was great, and it, you know, or a kid that said, it's not great at home, but you know, Mr. Jerry always said good morning to me every day, and that meant a lot.

SPEAKER_10 21:37

I'll I'll even take, oh, um, Miss Joe's okay. Like at least, you know, they're gonna remember me and say, Oh, my bus driver wasn't that bad. That's why I'll take it.

SPEAKER_08 21:46

Yeah, yeah, you'll take it. And you never know how much you impact, or you never know how much you impact in a in a negative way.

SPEAKER_10 21:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 21:52

Because I guarantee the kids that had a terrible bus driver at their 50th uh high school reunion, they're gonna be talking. Talking about that piece. I mean, he'd be dead, but they're gonna they're gonna be talking about it how terrible that person was.

SPEAKER_10 22:05

So yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_08 22:07

Think about that when you start your bus tomorrow morning. Do you want to be the driver that they remember that was great or that they loathe you and they I'm they're glad that you're dead.

SPEAKER_10 22:16

Break check and you have neck problems now.

SPEAKER_08 22:20

Anyways, well, thank you guys for a great season one. Actually, as we record this, we hit our thousandth download. Uh, I'm pretty happy with that. Uh, it

Season Wrap And Listener Thanks

SPEAKER_08 22:30

means a lot that people are listening, but please share it. Please leave a review. I know I don't say that enough, but please share it with uh a friend that might get enjoyment out of it. Um, I know it's specifically for bus drivers. I know it's it's very niche down, but there's what did we say? Did we didn't we do a stat one time? Wasn't there like 250,000 drivers or something? Like it was pretty high.

SPEAKER_10 22:54

Yeah, it's a good number.

SPEAKER_08 22:56

I mean, that's a lot of people all of us going through the same thing, yes. And it and yeah, okay, you might be in uh Illinois or California or Nevada or whatever. Yeah, generally we're all kind of dealing with the same stuff in in in varying degrees.

SPEAKER_10 23:11

And those of you that have air conditioned buses today, you suck, but you're it wasn't thankful that you do.

SPEAKER_08 23:18

It's it wasn't that bad. It's hot. You are sensitive to the heat. We've we've established that.

SPEAKER_10 23:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 23:24

So all right, anything else you want to say? And we're you know, we're we're gonna try to pop in maybe in July with some things, but as far as I know, I'm shutting this bitch down for the summer.

SPEAKER_10 23:34

I'm sad, yeah. It's it's been a um lightning speed year. So thanks everybody for listening. And um, Jerry, I'm sure I'll see you in probably five minutes. But yeah, um, for everybody else that that uh that found us this year, thank you. And yeah, let's pop in the summer and and say hi, see how things are going.

SPEAKER_08 23:54

As always, same bus, same kids, different stories.

SPEAKER_10 23:58

And remember, for the love of all things, just say ten four.

SPEAKER_08 24:04

Ten four. Signing out. Bye.