By: rutherfordcntymom on 2/25/08
OMG! If this story reads true, then the bus driver should also be held criminally liable, not to mention that the students that witnessed it need some serious instruction on what is right and wrong!

By: lupusman on 2/25/08
Where was the bus driver when this was going on? If the driver was not able to hear the girl'c cries for help or see what was going on in her mirror, then he/she needs to be replaced. I guess the airlines have sky marshalls - so we will need bus marshalls on all buses? And geers to all the other kids who saw what was happening and just watched!

By: randalce on 2/25/08
i agree with rutherfordcntymom. the bus driver had to know something was happening and should have stopped the bus. the driver should be held accountable and not get away with turning a blind eye.
as for the students, shame on you too! i would say each of you could be held accountable for not helping. someone could have at least gone to the bus driver.
not saying a word to an authority says volumes about what is being taught at home and in our schools.

By: cbeagle1 on 2/25/08
How many crimes have to be committed on school buses before someone gets a clue and realizes that a driver cannot maintain discipline AND drive the bus?!? Every single school bus needs an adult attendant! James Evans is a fool for saying this kind of thing is rare. You can find a story about assaults on school buses everyday somewhere in this country, and it has been that way for years! I hope they throw the book at the boy and the driver and every city and county official who failed to protect this young girl.

By: DanC on 2/25/08
I agree with cbeagle! I would assume the bus engine is loud, the kids are very noisy, and the driver has to drive a large vehicle in traffic which takes a lot of concentration. Hire stay-at-home Moms to ride the buses. This would cost very little relative to the order and safety it would provide. I still remember the bullies on the bus when I was a kid. These days it must be worse than in the 60's.

By: diddlede on 2/25/08
This young man needs to be taken off the streets before he does this again. He does not need to be allowed to go even to adult classes and receive his GED. He has done something horribly wrong and should be purnished.

As for the bus driver, my observation of school bus driver is they are always looking in the rearview mirror and you know that he/she knew something wrong was going on and should have stopped the bus to check it out. Maybe, this bus driver needs to not be allowed to drive students anymore.

By: freedomwriter on 2/25/08
From what I hear, this young man was a trouble maker at school before this ever happened. It is possible that the other kids were afraid of him and even possibably the bus driver.

Is this an excuse for no one coming to this young girl's aide. Absolutely Not! He should not have even been allowd to be on the bus if he was being considered for Danial Mckee the following week anyway.

By: lcaffey on 2/25/08
I would almost bet that you could get parents to volunteer to ride the bus free of charge to insure the safety of the children.

By: Admiral on 2/25/08
Heads are gonna Roll!

By: angrystudent on 2/25/08
I am a student at Riverdale and I ride a school bus also. I see too many things happen on a school bus that should have been dealt with from small stuff like throwing and cursing to bigger issues like minor harrasment and fighting... My driver has a camera on his bus, but very rarely i see it on.

This student that has raped the 14-year old girl is new to me as of a couple of minutes ago and I agree the Driver should be dealt with and also the students who whitnessed the act. HOW DO YOU NOT DO OR SAY SOMETHING SEEING THAT HORRIBLE ACT HAPPENING BEFORE YOUR EYES!!!! I stated above the things I see on a bus but most of which is seen by the driver and is said to have been taken care of....... But nothing has been done.

Drivers NEED to take more action in to the misbehavior on the school busses, and buses need someone else to watch the kids.

I have said alot but could say alot more about this issue and would like the driver, the senior, and everyone else who saw to be punished.

By: soon2b6 on 2/25/08
School Teachers should ride the busses and keep the peace, they still would get home before 5pm. Obviously, from everyones perspective including the driver, screaming, yelling,fighting, and crying is a normal way of life on school buses. We need additional adult help!

By: naturelover on 2/25/08
Bus driver and students are to blame! How can James Evens defend this driver? He needs to open his eyes! All these "second and third" chances students get just beg for this kind of irresponsibility. No accountability is given to the students. If they fail, there is grade recovery. If they are suspended, then they still get make up work. What are we really teaching these young people? There have to be consequences. If this means graduation rates drop, then so be it! Let the students learn that they are getting a free education and that is a privilege!!! Come on education system; stop training our youth that there are no consequences!!!! No means no! When a male OR female says those word, get your hands off!!!

By: rhs3320 on 2/25/08
This is ridiculous. I've had to ride the bus to school plenty of times and considering I'm a student at riverdale, I should know things like this aren't exactly "rare" on an afternoon ride home. I
see everything from profanity and vulgar language being screamed across the bus (in front of elementary school kids too I might add) to complete disrespectful actions to another person on the bus, including fighting, assaulting, sexually harrassing, etc. To be honest, I'm really not the least bit suprised that this happened to this girl, although I do hope that this kid gets the punishment he deserves for what he did. But most of all, I'm disappointed that my own CLASSMATES and fellow students did not help her out when she was obviously making an effort to get someones attention. Instead, they were too selfish and centered on what was happening instead of actually being kind and helping someone who really needed it. I guess we can conclude that this senior has obviously been in trouble previously... so why exactly is he allowed to ride the bus?! I may not be an adult yet, but sometimes i swear adults don't always make the wisest of decisions, especially when it comes to the education system. Maybe next time I'll reconsider riding the bus to school.

By: tarawr_rhs on 2/25/08

I attend RHS as well and I am just in shock. I'm ashamed of being apart of a school where students do not speak up against crimes such as this! The driver should have done something, but I think The students who witnessed this and did absolutely nothing shouldn't be let off the hook and are more accountable for this than the driver. Did they think it was funny or a joke so they sat and watched? I've seen bullying at school and have seen harassment on buses, yet no one does anything.

Hopefully after this people will actually try to teach students that if you see any type of act like this to SPEAK UP about it, instead of letting it continue and letting the victim suffer through it alone because it's not about being the "snitch" for speaking up about it, it's about not being the coward and actually trying to help out.

So much for the RHS moto of being a "safe" environment.

By: rhs3320 on 2/25/08
i also agree that it isnt a safe enviroment at all... if parents saw what goes on during school hours, there would be hell for Rutherford County Schools to pay.

By: 5014 on 2/25/08
I’m going to take a different stance on this one than most. I feel that the bus driver should DRIVE THE BUS!! I see what people post about talking on cell phones and driving, texting while driving and on and on. SO what? Now it’s ok to be looking in the mirror all the time? I think I want the bus driver’s attention on the road. And doing what his/her title states. Bus driver…driving the bus.

Lest us also take the time to remember the 18 yr old who did the attacking. Why hang the bus driver? Why not hold the person that did it responsible? This girl was not raped b/c of the bus driver, This girl was raped b/c there was an “alleged” rapist on the bus.

By: rickfromtheboro on 2/25/08
Wake up people! The bus driver knew exactly what was going on! You can't sit there and tell me he didn't know anything wasn't happening! Each bus driver goes through some sort of vigirous training before they get a license to drive the public to school. Get real!!!

This guy is a schmuck for not doing something about protecting that poor defenseless little girl. What part of NO!! did he not understand!

And yes, the school district (and all school districts) should have a chaperon on every school bus from here on end.

Look at the school bus driver that was featured on FOX news where the student was so out of control she (the bus driver) didn't know how to handle her situation and just lost it.

All you SUV driving parents need to take a break from Star Bucks and get on board with your kids and ride the bus to see exactly what is going on in their world. This your wake ups call before it's to late. Or in this case Latte!

Stay tuned, more to come.

By: tragic on 2/25/08
This is an outrage. I urge you, students, to take a stand against this horrifying incident. The authorities and adults are not protecting you. You deserve to be safe. Anyone who rides the bus knows this is not an isolated incident. It may not be reported often, but we know that it happens. Please rally. Demand safety. Go to the principals office. Form a rally at school. Make signs. Go to the school board. Go to the mayor. Go to the county commissioner. Go downtown to the DNJ. The Post. The police. These are people who get paid to protect you. Let them know that you deserve and demand adequate protection. please do not let this get brushed aside. Prevention of this terrible crime does exist. This is an opportunity for you to make a difference and fight for your rights. Stand up for this student and stand up for yourselves. School busses and bus drivers have been like this since I was in High School. Aren't you horrified that this is happening in our "progressive" town? What if this victim were your little sister? your child? Sexual assault victims are never the same as they were before the assualt. It is a law that you have to go to school. You should have the right to be safe. Please make a stand.

By: smith83 on 2/25/08
The bus driver should drive the bus, ergo, his title of "bus driver". HOWEVER, If he was aware of anything going on, he should have taken action.

When you have a bus load of self-indulgent, entitled brats, what is supposed to be done?

If you call out the kids to anything wrong, you have an army of parents stand up and point their fingers at everyone else screaming, "not my kid!".

So, because parents aren't taking the raising of their kids to heart, nothing will be done. Unfortunately, news stories such as this will continue as parents just don't care enough about their kids to discipline them. Kids know what is right and what is wrong, but there are is no punishment for what they are doing that is wrong.

I keep saying, blame the parents. They obviously didn't love or care about their children enough to teach them morals.

By: tragic on 2/25/08
Why is an 18 year old man allowed to ride the school bus with children?

By: mm123 on 2/25/08
I'm sure there will be plenty of meetings concerning how to prevent this sort of thing from happening again. It's sad something like this had to happen to get the school system's attention about bad the behavior on school buses.

When I read the headline, I thought maybe it happened at night on a trip to a ballgame or on a parked bus. It has been over 30 years since I have ridden a school bus, and I'm trying to imagine how anyone could have gotten away with that in the daytime. I know things happened with consenting students on trips to ballgames at night in my day, but I went to a K-12 school and couldn't imagine this happening during the day.

My daughter was zoned for Riverdale, but we got the exemption and went to Blackman. When I picked her up from school, I always wondered why so many parents picked up high school children from school. Now I see why.

Now the traffic will most likely get much worse at the schools, because many parents will probably be afraid to let their children ride the buses. It will be interesting to see the results from this.

My thoughts are with this girl, and I hope she can recover from this and continue on with her education. Surely the school system with offer professional counseling for her. Although I miss many aspects of having younger children, this incident makes me so glad they are grown now.

By: 5014 on 2/26/08
I say we Blame T.V., and the Internet, and Porn, and the bus driver, and video games, and the mall, and the teachers, and Block Buster, and the principal, and cell phones, and the superintendent, and the school board, and the sheriff, and the city police, and the other kids on the bus, and society.

I don't think we are missing anyone, are we?

By: Boo on 2/26/08
5014- You left out "Parents that don't teach their children respect for others."

By: jz77 on 2/26/08
My husband works as an aide on the school bus for the city school system why can't the county have a program like this as well

By: Ponycar on 2/26/08
You couldn't pay me enough money to be a school bus driver and be held accountable for babysitting these high school kids too. Would you want to be one?

Had my son been a student on that bus, he would have had my blessing in coming down on the top of this kids head with the biggest school book that he had with intent of knocking him out cold.

I'm glad this kid is 18. He should be charged as an adult amd put in adult prison. Let's see how bad he is there.

By: Teacher2 on 2/26/08
To soon2b6 who said: "School Teachers should ride the busses and keep the peace, they still would get home before 5pm.", I say you have no idea how hard teachers work. I'm sure you've never taught school or you wouldn't have made such an ignorant comment.

I would never allow my children to ride a school bus as violence and harassment have been common on school buses for a very long time. The bus driver should only be there to safely get kids to and from their destination, not deal with these yard apes that parents have taught 0 values to. School buses need paid monitors armed with mace or pepper spray.

By: GrumpaEd on 2/26/08
One student above stated that the camera on her bus is turned off. Had the camera on this bus been turned off we would know nothing of this incident. Had the bus driver after reviewing the tape not turned it over to authorities we would know nothing of this incident.

It is time the Superintendant, his staff, the school board and administrators, including principals, to earn their keep. Rather than asking teachers to ride the busses, have them ride the bus - and still get home before 5PM!

By: 5014 on 2/26/08
I think Teachers should ride the bus, it’s a great idea!!

After they get through being a suicide prevention counselor, hall monitor, janitor, cop, probation officer, fundraiser, attendance officer, computer tech, morality police, pregnancy counselor, inclusion specialist, M-team’s, parent contacts, notes home, book pass out person, club sponsor......


They can ride the bus. I just hope that some where in there they get to teach.

By: rak on 2/26/08
My opinion is I have known this boy since he was a baby, and he has been around my son who is 4 and my nieces who are also in there teens and he has never done anything like what this girl is accusing him of. I feel you people in tennesse are only getting one side of the story and not the other side. And have brandon convicted before it even goes to trial.

By: deelew on 2/26/08
First of all, I think the bus driver needs to be focused on driving the bus. He cannot drive a bus and monitor 60+ kids at the same time. It is ridiculous to expect him to do so. It is VERY loud on a loaded bus. He acted appropriately when he found out. How many of us know what is going on in the backseat of our cars w/ 3 kids arguing, being silly or whatever and still drive?
Second of all - shame on students for not intervening more. I agree that they may have been scared of him.
He is allowed to ride the bus at 18 b/c many Seniors turn 18 before the end of the school year.
Teachers riding the bus??? That would make about an 11 hour workday for them. At my child;s school the teacher would have to be ready to roll w/ the busses at 6 am and not get off until about 4:30. Teachers don't get paid enough yet - where to find more money for asking them to work about 3 more hours?
Last - to "rak" - did you even read the article?? They have this boy ON TAPE and he admitted to the attack. Are you kidding me? You should know that you never REALLY know a person.

By: justdance on 2/26/08

I think fault should be put on the bus driver as well. At the very least he should have pulled over and investigated. I agree he had to have known something more than usual was going on, unless the kids who were watching intentionally kept the incident from view of the bus driver. Most cell phones have video capabilities, since the other kids found it so "entertaining" to watch and do nothing, maybe someone taped the incident and are just not speaking up. I feel really sad that the other kids did nothing to help the girl out. I agree with Ponycar, if nothing else, someone should have knocked the little thug out cold!

By: etech30 on 2/26/08
tragic-I couldn't agree more with you. To the posters here who are Riverdale students, please stand up! I have no doubt you'll have PLENTY of support.
Stand up for those students who have been victims.
Stand up for those who didn't have the guts to on the bus...

To the students here: is there an atmosphere at your school that getting involved to prevent a bad situation either from starting or escalating could lead to suspension? I have read in other posts from parents that their kids tell them that very thing...

By: deelew on 2/26/08
To all of you out there who are critical of the bus driver:
How long has it been since you were on a loaded bus? Have you ever had to drive a 30-40 foot long vehicle through traffic? Do you have any idea how loud it is on the bus? If his eyes are on the road, how can he see anything? Sure, he can maybe take short, quick glances in the large mirror, but give me a break. He has to keep his eyes on the road - otherwise you'd criticize him for that. He is in a no win situation. No, I am not a bus driver. BUT, I am a teacher and I have quite a lot of experience riding on busses w/ kids. Also, the seats of the bus are tall - coming up to about most kids in the chest height area. You cannot see what they are doing from about the chest down. I cannot blame this bus driver at all. I have been on busses RECENTLY as an adult (forget what you think you remember from your childhood - that was years ago). I find it hard to believe that anyone can criticize this bus driver. It is almost as if you are saying, "he knew it happened and he ignored it". Are you kidding me?

By: rhs3320 on 2/26/08
not to mention that I'm a freshman and I know and associate with the victim! It makes me upset to hear that no one did ANYTHING to help her, including her own peers. But to those who said that we, students, need to stick up for ourselves and try to fix this problem, I couldn't agree more. Except it's really not as easy as it sounds, considering small issues around school such as drugs and fighting can't be fixed as it is and i'm sure an issue as large as this would be completely "too much" for the administration to handle. Who are we kidding, you mean I would have to inconvienance someone to keep the school I'm FORCED to go to safe?! What kind of world is this? are people really that selfish these days?

By: rhstudent11 on 2/26/08
ok i am a riverdale hgih school student that rides that same bus and all i have to say is really we spoke out and you'll get the truth soon enough and if the truth is never displayied i will tell wat actually happened...i would tell now but i have been told not to .... just please do not get upset with us students who witness this take place..if u knew our side u would understand why right then and there we said nothin or 'helped'.... and rak i understand 100% they are only getting one side of the story and its sad that they will automatically point their finger and say guilty and they dont even know wat truely happened... and the bus drive did nothing wrong at all thats why they let him go... u can even read about it in the other thing they posted on here today... hopefully mr. joe will be back on the bus tomorrow he is a good bus driver

By: tragic on 2/26/08
rhsstudent11: Are you saying that this was a set up? that she purposely spoke to the camera?

By: weeeezzll on 2/26/08
Some of the comments on here are just ridiculous!

"Blame the bus driver"
Kids scream all sorts of craziness on school buses, it's nearly impossible to separate real cries for help from horse play. The driver's number one priority is the road. Other than cursory review glances, he should only be inspecting the activity in the back when the bus is safely stopped.


"Put chaperons on every bus"
Are you serious? Do you really want to pay another salary per year per bus for something that has probably only happened once in the last 10 years? You can't stop all crimes from happening. That is why we have jails. To punish the ones we can't stop.

"I can't believe the other student didn't help..."
Really? You've never been in an unusual situation and not known exactly what you should do. Thrown off by the absolute surreal nature of what was happening?

"What is an 18 year old adult doing on the bus?"
He needed a ride home from school you idiot!

You can make your decisions before seeing the evidence or after seeing the evidence.

By: tragic on 2/27/08
weeeezzll, first of all, you are the idiot. i hope you don't have kids. "help" should solicit some attention in ANY situation. that's why we teach our kids to say it. Mr. Joe has pulled the bus over in the past & He's a pretty big guy; he could have plucked the boy off of her. What incident could possibly be more inportant to warrant pulling the bus over than preventing a man from raping a little girl? People are suggesting aides or volunteers ride the bus. THIS IS A TRAGEDY. WHY DO YOU EVEN HAVE THE AUDACITY TO MENTION HOW MUCH MONEY CRIME PREVENTION WILL COST? DO YOU LIKE FEELING SAFE? This crime should have been stopped. This hasn't happened once in 10 years. This type of thing happens much more often. If you consider this "being in an unusual situation and not knowing what to do" then you are a COWARD. I would bet that 60 out of 60 kids are not even that big of cowards. The kids on the bus need to explain themselves.

By: deelew on 2/27/08
weeeezzll
I agree.

By: angrystudent on 2/27/08
ok from what i have heard from school...alot of people are saying "set-up" and others are same as us...same being we read articles and watched news and understand he did it...

i also understand the guy who raped her has a car...WHY IS HE RIDING BUS?!?

By: rhstudent11 on 2/27/08
ok im not saying that it was set up ... i would go into more detail but i cant right now

By: tragic on 2/27/08
rhsstudent11: if you know something about this, it should be said. Who is stopping you? the school admin?

By: rhstudent11 on 2/27/08
the police know my side of the story and many other witnesses... we spoke out to them but we arent allowed to tell anyone else wat we told them... when they r ready to tell what we said then u will find out i mean it will probly come up in the trial or sumthing we dont know yet..... but once our side of the story is out it will all make sense

By: barrettbear on 2/29/08
Well, here we go. Another incident involving a 14 year old, an 18 year old, and the bus driver. After reading all these comments and opinions I would first have to ask were you there. My second question is have you seen the video? Third is with all the laws policies and procedures in place I would certainly want to know what each individual would have done if they had been driving. So one person messed up and violated his rights so people assume everyone else should be held responsible. Think back a few years when the boy was wrote up for tobacco use and the next day the drive shot and killed cold blooded. the students acted but who suffered? Everyone did and so you know, we can not go back and fix what has happened, but come together as a community and work,live,play everyday. Involve yourself and your children. Love them, discipline them, nurture them,respect them. It will all come out in the end.

By: RHS_Go on 3/16/08
Ha.
I go to RHS and I'm loving how all these adults think they know everything.

Don't blame the bus driver. Whens the last time you where on a bus? Probably never considering you ALL had to walk 3 miles up hill both ways in 6 feet of snow to school.

Don't blame the students.
They are mostly under the age of 16, and this dude was 18. The people that I have talked to say that they had no idea what was going on, so obviously the "Screams" weren't quite that loud.

Blame one person and one person only
Brandon Stover.