USA Bus Lines

Kids were in school bus wreck. What would you do?

My 3 kids were in a school bus wreck this week where a second bus hit their bus in the rear at an unsceduled bus stop. My daughter hit her head and was seen at the er. The doctor said it was just a contusion of the tender muscles on the side of her head. She started running fever that night to 103*f. She is still having problems with fever and not fealing well. 17 students (13 from our bus) and 1 bus driver whent to hospital alot of parents are getting an attorney. I didn't want to sue but I have faught with this school for 4 yrs trying to get something done with this bus route because of the problems on this bus. My kids have been bullied and threatened numerous times. Threatened to be shot 3 times and school has done nothing. I have been to the supp of schools and bus supp. called state dept of ed, wrote washington DC and still nothing. What should I do next? My home is PAID for and there is no way in hell I will move just because the scool dont want to do their JOB and protect the inocent children!

Public Comments

1. Move
2. sue
3. Start driving your kids yourself.
4. we need seat belts on school buses. is anyone willing to start a wave of pressure on the govt. to enforce seat belts? if i don't wear one in my car, i get a fine. that's bs. let's get it started. my email address is ilovetammysue@yahoo.com
5. sue for all you can, there is no way you cant win, keep all the mediecal papers for her doctor visites and just go frome there.
6. If the school has not responded to you over these issues of bulling, I can understand your frustration. However, that is a completely seperate issue than the wreck. Your daughter is still having problems? Get a Lawyer.
7. Unfortunatly addressing these problems in a suit regarding the crash would not be opportune for a number of reasons. First of all "stuffing" a case makes it less valuble in court and can lead to a dismissal. Rather sue for the accident and support your reasoning because of outlying circumstances. Then or instead of I would sue the school board for failing to meet your request and eradicating an imminent danger. The best advice I can give how ever is to speak with an attorney and your religious leader about the situation. Best of luck in all of this and God bless. Concerning the welfare of your daughter I would take her to the pediatrician to ensure not underlying problems, not discovered in the ER, exist.
8. Get a lawyer. Sounds like you have a case against the district. You haven't been treated well or fairly. The injuries could be more serious than you know. Let your lawyer handle things. If your situation does not get better you could go directly to the newspapers. But talk to a lawyer first. It won't cost you any money for the attorney in an injury lawsuit.
9. If you're not already, keep a running paper trail of all the times you've spoken with whomever. Also make sure you keep a file with all the Dr bills you're accrueing because of this accident. I know you weren't planning on sueing, but there should be some sort of restitution owed to you for the damages and injuries your daughter sustained. My recommendation (and I am not an attorney) would be for you to contact your local Legal Aid. This way it doesn't cost anything or very little for you to get legal advise on everything from the accident to the threats and everything else. It sounds like what may happen is a class action lawsuit. I'm not a sue happy person either, but again, you don't want to mess with the health and safety of your kids. At the very least, get some professional advise. It would be well worth your time.
10. A few years ago, a girl at the school I went to was using a piece of equipment for class and had an accident. The spring that was supposed to keep it in place released and she was hit in the face hard enough to shatter her jaw. She didn't want to sue the school, but she was advised by several people that she needed to. She would never have been able to pay all her medical bills on her own. Suing people is not supposed to be about getting rich quick, or making people suffer. It is about being taken care of if it was someone else's fault that you suffered from their actions. In your case a lawsuit is justified, don't be afraid to talk to the lawyer. Even if you decide against the suit, you should still talk to the lawyer. Make sure you don't lose your rights just because you want to be nice. As far as making the bus route safer, you need to get the community involved. After you have identified the problems, find solutions for each of them, and then assign jobs to all the people in your community who want to help. You can get the routes changed, bullies dealt with, and everything else when you have enough people working toward a common goal.
11. There is no point in suing over the accident, accidents happen and as long as the school provided your children with emergency care, I think they fulfilled their duties. If the fever has lasted for more than a day, get her back to the hospital, she may be having more problems than the doctor first suspected. The school's insurance should cover any medical care related to the accident. I understand the frustrations you have from the other problems, but taking advantage of this situation doesn't seem practical. Suing for monetary compensation for an accident won't change the conditions of the bus or bus route, unless the accident was directly connected to the problems you are discussing (its hard to advise without specifics). Try getting the media involved with the problems you are having so they can put some pressure on the school, and until the issues are corrected, start driving the kids to school yourself. If you are truly that concerned about their safety, that shouldn't be much of a sacrifice (nor should moving if you REALLY believed their lives were in danger).
12. first of all: have you documented all the contacts you made with the school and school board. second: have you talked to the bus driver and get his/her opinion about the route. third: have you talked to the students on this route about the route. forth: have you talked to the other parents on this route. fifth: have you talked directly to the transportation department about this route. a lot of times the school and board will not interfere with transportation and leave all the busing issues with the transportation department. take pictures of the route where you and the other parents are having problems and make copies for transportation. another thing if a group of parents go to transportation and TALK to them not YELL at the staff, you should get more action from them. make sure you get a copy of the police report. good luck