An Arizona school bus driver has resigned from a suburban Phoenix district this week after video was released showing the driver locking dozens of students on the bus, yelling at the students for bad behavior, before speeding off while parents attempted to break into the bus to free their children.
The resignation was confirmed by Dysart Unified School District spokeswoman Polly Corsino, however, the district does not plan to release the name of the driver.
The surveillance video from inside the bus obtained by CBS This Morning shows the driver preventing over 30 young students from leaving the bus while he berated the students for bad behavior such as hitting and yelling.
“The longer we stay here, the more your parents are going to get upset – and not at me,” says the driver on the recording. “They’re going to be getting upset with you because it’s your fault you’re not getting off the bus.”
The recording also captures the sound of at least one parent banging on the door of the bus, to which the driver is heard yelling, “You break that door, you’re going to be buying a new one. Your kid will get off the bus when I’m done with them.”
Children are heard clearly crying in the video and begging for their parents. As the bus drives off the children scream.
During the ordeal, parents called 911. “He’s actually driving away with all our kids,” Adam Kautman told an emergency dispatcher, according to an audio recording. “One of the dads tried ripping the door open. And this guy’s screaming at the kids.”
None of the children were injured according to Corsino, but the video shows the importance of remaining calm and level-headed when dealing with disciplinary issues. Countless school bus drivers encounter rowdy and unruly students every day with poise and authority, but this video serves as an example of how not to handle a bad situation on the bus.
See the video from CBS This Morning below:
