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June 21, 2012 By 23 Comments

Who Raises Kids That Bully the Elderly???

Creative Commons: Tanya Puntti

I’ve written about bullying in the past on several different occasions. Sometimes it happens in the schoolroom sometimes it happens in the boardroom.

Whenever and wherever it happens it’s ugly. But I was shocked to see just how ugly it can be.

Yesterday, a friend from high school sent me a link to a video that was posted on YouTube of an elderly bus monitor (Karen Klein) who was viciously and mercilessly abused verbally for 10 minutes on a school bus by a group of middle school students.

You read that right – middle school kids.

That means the members of this mean-spirited pack of jackals were each between 11-13 years of age.

The disturbing  incident was captured on a video phone by one of the cowardly conspirators who did nothing to stop the verbal assault and battery of this senior citizen.

I’ve decided to share the YouTube video in its entirety below. However, I’m sure that your sense of decency will be so assailed that it will prevent you watching the entire mugging-by-words that this poor woman endured.

Be warned this video contains the most vulgar, hateful, graphic and explicit type of language. Do NOT watch it around any children.

Tears of sadness and anger welled up in my eyes while watching this the first time. I’m ashamed to say that this egregious outrage occurred in a suburb of my hometown of Rochester, NY.

What kind of parents raise these types of animals? When did thugs take over the middle school bus route?

How did these perverse preteens become so callous to human decency while simultaneously reveling in such malicious selfishness?

The filth that frothed from the mouths of these rabid, senseless minors troubles me deeply because I know it’s not isolated to the Greece Central School District.

Carbon copies of these self-absorbed Cretans are in every school district across this country, like pock marks of anti-decency whose sole purpose is to scar and pain people.

The bullying has to stop and that must start in the home.

Specifically to the parents of these lowlifes in the video above – take accountability and responsibility for your progeny!

You should be ashamed of the stain these woeful youths have left on your family names!!!

Nobody deserves to be treated in the shameful manner that Ms. Klein was treated. She should not have to pay the price, in tears and heartache, for your inability to control the craven behavior of your moronic offspring.

The disturbing irony, is that if Ms. Klein had used foul language to retaliate with these idiots or touched them (as they touched her), these absentee parents would have screamed bloody murder demanding justice and Klein’s firing.

Yet Ms. Klein did no such thing. She replied only with her tears; her attempts to ignore the abuse; and a stinging indictment that she’ll send the children each a “Thank You” card for being “so kind” to her.

In truth, the only kindness to emerge from this unseemly video mess is that one of the outraged viewers, a guy by the name of Max (Maximilian) Sidorov, started a fundraiser to give Ms. Klein a vacation – who knows, perhaps enough money might be raised for her so she can retire from having to be a bus monitor for demon spawn.

If you’d like to donate to the Karen Klein vacation/retirement fund, here’s the link: http://www.indiegogo.com/loveforkarenhklein?a=720266

Question: Have you ever been the victim of bullying? Were you ever a bully yourself – do you regret it?

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  • http://www.adjuvancy.com/wordpress Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A.

    So, my first question is- WHERE THE HE>> is the bus DRIVER? Is one possibly that oblivious? And, if so- why is that person left to drive the bus?
    Secondly- was this was a contrived appearance? Which makes it worse. If these kids planned this, then the solution is to insure that the parents must now drive their children to school for a month.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1524552990 Kim Sickles

    This is actually only one of 3 videos that the little demons have posted. With a little research on you-tube, two others were found from other incidents. I had assumed that this was not the 1st incident simply based on the response, or lack thereof, from the victim.

    To answer Roy’s question regarding the bus driver, if I had to guess, the driver knows that he/she has little power to enforce any rules or make any decisions regarding these behaviors. I am waiting for other educational staff to chime in here this morning to confirm my belief that children (and their incompetent biological creators) have more power than the teachers and staff in schools. It is easy to see why teachers, educators, drivers, cafeteria workers become complacent, after all who wants to fight a battle that was lost before it even began?

    We are about to celebrate our 25th class reunion from York Central School, just a few miles from where this travesty occurred and my suggestion is that we send some of our drivers from the ‘good old days’ to drive for these jackals for a couple of weeks with no holds barred. I guarantee you would see different children walking off that bus.

    This situation is, as Tor stated, far greater than this single video. This is society’s new plague. The plague of disrespect, lack of consequence and poor parenting.

  • Laurie (Gross) O’Shaughnessy

    Hi Tor,
    I have followed this pretty closely. I have 2 teens. and a family member who works in the Greece School District. (She works in Kindergarten) There is probably a greater amount of detail available here, as it is so local.

    they have interviewed the bus driver. Dr. Ackerman expressed concerns about where he was and how could he be so oblivious. My 16 year-old son watched the video. He said the same thing…I asked him, if these kids and the monitor were toward the back of the bus, what would the bus driver see? He said…kids laughing and joking who looked like they were talking with the monitor. She kept her cool, called no attention to herself, and didn’t even report it. She chalked it up to a “bad end of the school year”. She is hard of hearing, so she did not catch ALL of the horror being thrust upon her.

    Parents of those kids are devastated. One is getting death threats on his family. Really?! What these boys did was awful…and the kids who sat by and let it happen were not much better. This woman, handled it with grace. I am sure she was embarrassed and hurt.

    My son has been a victim of severe bullying. When he finally was mature enough to face it head on, with his words…Many of the “bullies” apologized. They had been “piling on” what the instigators started many years ago, and were too immature to realize how painful it was to him. He is doing much better now, as it has decreased dramatically.

    My point is…These kids CAN learn from this. They should be severely punished (I would not be surprised if they need to change schools for awhile, as everyone knows what they did, and most are totally disgusted by it.) Parents need to take responsibility and get help for these boys. But I don’t know if they share blame. How many of us grew up in families where everyone had the same parents, same circumstance…yet 1 child goes astray and get into big trouble in their life. It HAPPENS. Kids can be mean and awful…and so can adults. There is a lynch mob mentality around this right now. If you watch that video to the end, the lady talks about the words on her purse…integrity, caring, honesty, blessings….Words to live by. Words that we surely live by at our YMCA in Canandaigua.

    My hope is that people can follow her example. Some day, one of these “awful boys” may grow up to be a doctor, a lawyer, a journalist, a police officer, a minister – - Helping others…And he just may get there, because of a huge mistake he made that cost a woman her dignity, his family a position in their neighborhood, and because some special person may help him to realize, that no matter what awful thing you do, especially at the age of 13, , you can make amends and pay society back with the good things this situation forces you to learn.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1524552990 Kim Sickles

      I find it hard to believe that the parents are devastated. Devastated that they have been thrust into the middle of this nightmare because their children foolishly posted this for the world to see, maybe.

      There is no way that these behaviors are limited to this particular incident. No child wakes up one morning and turns into a ‘jackal’. These children learned this behavior somewhere so the parents are responsible in one way or another. Whether they themselves act in this manner or they allow their children to be exposed to others who are poor influences, they are still accountable.

      I do hope that some good comes from this. I truly hope that this exposure will stop them and others like them from future behaviors. And I certainly do not condone bullying and threats made against these families.

      This incident has touched a lot of nerves in a world that is tired of injustice and sick of the lack of consequences for situations such as this. I am sorry that your son experienced this same type of situation. You obviously have done a great job as a parent in getting him through it. He is lucky to have you!

    • Chris Adams

      Laurie,

      Please post again when you find out what the consequences will be for the “awful boys”. I think that the outrage may subside if there are real consequences. Also, it would be nice to know when the “awful boys” will issue an apology along with their parents.

    • Martha Giffen

      Glad to hear you say the parents were devastated. Apparently, the writer of this blog blames their parents for insignificant guidance. Give me a break! I’ve raised three successful sons, but I can tell you, everything they ever did was not a reflection on my parenting. The people to blame are the bullies themselves. They were old enough to know better but chose not to. They should receive consequences, and their parents don’t deserve judgement.

      • http://www.thedailyretort.com/ TorConstantino

        Thanks for the comment Martha, I appreciate it. While we are each our own moral agents (including these preteen bullies) the fact is, these children are minors in the eyes of the law and their parents are ultimately responsible for their kids.

        I agree that these kids are responsible for their own egregious behavior, but whether we like it or not – so are the parents.

        • Martha Giffen

          I understand the law. My law degree is proof of that. What I don’t understand is a judgmental attitude towards parenting, which is what this post is about. Hope your own kids always do what you expect and therefore spare you any judgements on your parenting style :)

          • Stuart Nager

            Martha: legally, the parents are not responsible. Morally, yeah…they have something to do with it ESPECIALLY IF they defend what their kids did.

            That just rolls over on the whole problem of no one being accountable. Not all kids are bad; not all parents are negligent, but somewhere, you have to make someone take up the responsibility.

            Instead of attacking Tor, voice your opposition to his points, don’t make this personal, and realize the heinous state we are in.

          • Martha Giffen

            I never said the parents were legally responsible. I said I understand the law. And I would never make this personal. I don’t know the blog author at all. But it is a shame when a blogger stoops into the muck by name-calling. If you will notice, there are at least 7 name-calling words in the above post, directed towards the kids. In my book, two wrongs don’t make a right :)

          • http://www.thedailyretort.com/ TorConstantino

            Martha, did you even listen to what those kids said? It’s hate speech – they attacked her weight and age. The words I used to describe them fit the horrible behavior those kids used – the words “jackals” and “Cretans” don’t even come close to the f-bombs those kids used.

          • http://twitter.com/MarthaGiffen Martha Giffen

            Wow! Just because their language used the f-bomb, that makes yours OK? I think not. Teach that to your children? I think not. Name-calling is name-calling. There’s no excuse for it. Express your outrage, but use a different manner. You are outraged because she was called names and treated with disrespect, yet you have decided to be judge and jury and call those kids horrible names also.
            And, of course I listened to it. It’s been plastered all over the TV and internet since it was posted. It’s a terrible incident, but to turn around and spew out the words you did towards the bullies was the pot calling the kettle black.

          • http://www.thedailyretort.com/ TorConstantino

            Actually their video they shot and posted publicly judged them. Regardless, thanks for the engaging discussion!

  • http://aguide4women.com/ Alicia

    That is so sad, and I’m surprised she didn’t say anything, even in a professional manner, such as, “Boys, you are being very unkind, and I am disappointed that you would act this way, especially in a school setting”. She really deserves a vacation.

    • Laurie (Gross) O’Shaughnessy

      She DID say, “If you don’t have anything nice to say you shouldn’t say anything.” A boy then said to her “Shut the *#&@ UP!

  • http://aguide4women.com/ Alicia

    I also have to add that it may not be the parents’ fault. Most of them are likely joining in to “look cool” to their friends. I also know that bus drivers usually DON’T do anything because there isn’t much they can do to control 50 kids at once. In my high school, they had cameras on the bus and they didn’t do anything when kids were being bullied, even though that’s what they said they were for. Part of it is probably the school because they don’t have any punishment for behavior like that and may need to do more to preach against it. There’s no way to really know whose fault it is, though. The media? The school? The parents?
    I am now done with my little rant.

  • Stuart Nager

    One of the key things is that if the parents do not force a real consequence on the kids, the kids will know they can get away with just about anything. Teachers and other adults are scared to enforce any real discipline because many of today’s parents will back their kids, right or wrong, and attack the teacher/adult first. The schools shake in their booties that a kid will cry abuse of any form: the kids know it, and quite often what they say is taken as truth before any evidence is thought to go for.

    I worked in NYC schools as a teacher, and have worked across the country as a teaching artist. The change in behavior is astounding. The second the kids knew they had any power, it all went to shit.

  • Mullenann4

    I was a sub and was been bullied. I tried to stop bullying from happening in my classroom and was unsuccessful.

    If you want to know who is to blame, go back to the 1960s-70s when we changed teaching by rote to taking care of the kids feelings so they would be free to learn.

    Each successive generation of teachers lost the right and the power to discipline and kids learned more and more to terrorize. These kids became ineffective parents and teachers and had more kids.

    Many of the teachers are extremely ignorant themselves. This terrible mess has to end somehow and I don’t have the answer. I just know the one in the 70s was wrong.

    Mea culpa.

  • Rob Swanson

    Children can be heartless. I know I was, though at the time I wouldn’t have called it bullying. I’d been physically beaten up several times, but taunting a kid was just showing how clever I was… it’s mortifying now, of course. Thankfully, that kid is now a successful man with a good family.

    I can’t imagine being the parent of out-of-the-home students. My kids are within my wife’s and my sight 90% of their waking time and STILL they can say the darnedest things. My parents were completely unaware of most of my childhood and they were wonderful parents. Had they known of my behavior, they would have corrected me, but they never knew (not bullying, other stuff). No amount of asking would have gotten the truth out of me and I’m sure these kids are no different.

    The hardest thing in parenting is being pro-active and knowing what you should talk to your kids about. Without feedback, how could they know? I believe that they would be devastated. Who would guess their kids are capable of that?

  • http://www.thedailyretort.com/ TorConstantino

    For the record, I consulted with a practicing lawyer this evening who did indeed confirm the fact that if a minor inflicts intentional emotional distress (aka… bullying or hate speech) against another individual the parents of said child can be held liable. While the law varies from state-to-state and case-by-case, parents can be sued for the conduct of their children. Like it or not….

  • Bruce_lambert

    I work part-time in a large retail chain and we see parents allowing their kids run amok everyday. They seldom are this vicious, but it is indicative of the lack of parenting and the lack decency that is becoming more prevalent with each passing day.

  • Donovan

    I am glad that someone weighed in here with the legal perspective, but this is not a legal matter, is it? Regardless of the age of these brave teenagers here, does the law cover slander? What would society base such a law on?

    The behavior of these teenagers looks more like the law of the jungle rather than the law of man anyways.

    Outside of that and frankly more to the point, why apply any critique to Tor’s critique? The thought that if you have any opinion of the parents that one would be wrong to do that is puzzling to me. What makes that judgment wrong? How can you know that it is wrong?

    People observe their world every day, investigate, deduce facts and make judgments about everything. Example: you are at Starbucks and your order takes 15 minutes as opposed to the typical 5 minutes, would you pass a judgment on that service or can I assume that everything in sanguine? Probably not.

    Back to the teenagers in question, was their behavior exemplify merit or demerit? If merit (or demerit) measured against/in contrast to what?

    This is the rub. It is not a legal matter, their behavior does not violate positive law (that I know about). Tolerance and disrespect are gelatinous terms because they cannot be grounded in anything other than “would you like it if someone did that to you?” Apparently that thought did not go through the minds of the teens without verbal filters or perhaps they associated closely with the others in the group and derived their strength from their numbers (aka “might makes right”). Obviously they DID LIKE their behavior and did not care what Karen’s feelings were. What would the bus driver had even said? How about a teacher? Principal?

    And why should these kids be taught to respect others at all? “Because you would not like it if someone did that to you,” just does not cut it.

    It seems puzzling that there (presumably) are rules posted about utilizing the tax payer funded transportation to school, but there are not any teeth in those regulations. I see this with my Mother-in-law who teaches in a public school. From year to year she will inevitably have 30+ kids in a class with about 3 kids who would charitably be described as “unruly.” The result is that you have 27+ kids who get nothing out of the lesson because all the attention goes to address 3 kids directing this exact kind of verbal abuse in the classroom TO the teacher!!! What would we have the school system do to these “unguided” teens in the mean time while we are waiting for their enlightenment? Seems to me that we have 27+ kids who are there to learn, so you bounce the other 3 (shall we say “non-empathetic”) out. But, this is beyond even polite discussion, because how can you do that to these precious blank slates? For me the decision is easy because I think that it is WRONG (not just that I do not like it) for those unrefined kids to speak to my Mother-in-law that way.

    I would guess it to be the same for these verbose bus rider kids (although there is no way for me to know that) on the bus. Someone like me would vote to send them on their way since they have more important things to do other than go to school. However, it is likely that they were given a pass because they may one day “snap out” of it. I do not know about that, I see plenty of bullying everyday actively and passively amongst grown ups.

    This is where society’s throughout history have broken down–when the moral compass no longer can be relied upon. Let us not kid ourselves that we cannot make judgments about our observations though.

  • http://www.jackiebledsoe.com/ jbledsoejr

    This is sad beyond words. Your title fits perfectly, “Who Raises Kids That Bully the Elderly???” Great post Tor!