Problems on school buses prompt need for monitors

Serghino René

The recent suspension of five Roxbury elementary school students has renewed debate over the use of monitors on Boston public school buses.

Five Emerson Elementary school students — four girls in the first and second grade and one boy in the fifth grade — were suspended last month after an alleged sexual incident on a school bus. The students were playing a game called “rape,” according to one of the girls, which involved lewd language and touching. The boy received a three-day suspension, since he did most of the touching, while the girls received one-day suspensions.

But Boston School Bus Union president Franz Mendez said the incident could have been avoided.

“This could have been prevented if there were school monitors on the bus,” said Mendez.

For years, the Boston School Bus Union has advocated for more bus monitors on Boston public school buses, but to their dismay, there have been no improvements.

Jonathan Palumbo, spokesperson for Boston Public Schools, said there’s simply not enough money to hire monitors for every bus.

“We have about 700 buses on the road during the school week,” said Palumbo. “Funding is limited and it would be difficult to pay monitors considering the number of buses we have on the road.”

It’s not like bus monitors are unavailable, Palumbo said. In fact, monitors are assigned on a case-by-case basis and kept on the bus as needed.

“Children should not be acting differently than they do in the classroom,” said Palumbo. “The bus should be understood as an extension of the classroom.”

According to Mendez, there has been more emphasis from the school department on advocating the installation of GPS systems in buses than on supervision, installing cameras or improving the two-way radio.

“Putting GPS on buses [and] pretending it will do better than human supervision is wrong,” said Mendez. “Bus monitors are the way to go.”

Palumbo said BPS is hesitant to conclude that having bus monitors is the solution to ending all bus problems. There are other factors that need to be taken into account.

“There is no one here who can say that bus monitors are the only solution to preventing this problem,” said Palumbo. “There are a number of factors and there is no one answer.”

Whether members of the Boston Public School system talk publicly or amongst themselves, said Palumbo, shared responsibility is an issue that often comes up among administrators.

“We were not trying to put the sole blame on parents,” explained Palumbo. “[BPS] will do what they can, but controlling children should be a partnership between the parents and teachers.”

Marie Jean-Jacques of Mattapan, a mother of two, was surprised to hear that children have the opportunity to engage in such behavior on a bus.

“What happened on that bus shouldn’t have happened at all,” says Jean-Jacques. “Parents need to be more watchful of what their children are exposed to.”

“At a young age, I don’t think kids know what sexual harassment is, but that doesn’t make it right either,” said Randall Sipher of Dorchester.

The students involved have served their suspensions. School officials met with parents to discuss the issue and parents individually sat down with their children to discuss the severity of their actions.