A vile school bus video goes viral and victim may get a well deserved vacation

The video of Greece, N.Y., middle schoolers verbally attacking an elderly bus monitor is disturbing and the language is abhorrent but condemnation of the kids has been instant and universal.  An Internet effort is under way to collect money to send monitor Karen Klein on vacation.

These kids in the video are oafs. I hope their parents aren’t and will make these kids own up to their repulsive behaviors. Do not listen to this video with kids in the room. It is disgusting.

Here is the video:

According to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:

Greece police and school officials have questioned some students believed to have taunted and harassed a Greece Central School District bus monitor. A video of an incident, which happened Monday, is making the rounds online. It has gone viral with more than 100,000 hits by Wednesday afternoon.

Greece Police Capt. Steve Chatterton said Greece Central School District officials contacted police Wednesday morning regarding the 10-minute-long video, which contains explicit language and was posted on YouTube. The video shows several middle school students verbally abusing a female bus monitor while riding a school bus.

he school district said the bus monitor is Karen Klein, who has worked for the district for 23 years. She was a bus driver for 20 years and a bus monitor for the past three years. Klein, a grandmother of eight who lives in Greece, said she learned of the video Wednesday morning via Facebook and watched it at the district’s bus garage.

“It was like ‘wow,’” she said. “I can’t believe it happened … It was just plain mean. Nobody should have to put up with that.”

Klein said she didn’t report Monday’s incident to her supervisor because the school year was nearly over. She also said she did not feel threatened and that the kids “weren’t always that bad.”

Klein said she didn’t want the students to face criminal charges, but would like to see them “grounded all summer, or maybe all year.”And, Klein said, she would love an apology.

Klein also said she is hearing impaired and didn’t hear all of the taunting until she watched the video. “I was trying to just ignore them, hoping they would go away and it doesn’t work,” Klein said. “Trust me, they didn’t go away.”

Dozens of people have sent friend requests and notes expressing sympathy and support, she said. She also received several bouquets of flowers from strangers who were moved by the images. District spokeswoman Laurel Heiden said the district has received numerous emails and phone calls from as far as Australia regarding the incident. District officials said they learned of the incident and video Wednesday morning, and that at least two other similar videos were previously posted online.

–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog