I drive a small school bus, transporting students who live outside the main catchment areas for the schools they attend. So while most students at a given school live with a few miles of it, these students live further but still attend that school instead of a closer one for various reasons. Fewer students means smaller bus, which uses less fuel.

For one such school, I only have one student, a teenager. When she started riding the bus, she asked if we could listen to the radio, and I obliged with a warning that the radio didn’t always work well. I set it to an alt-rock station, and we had nice time listening to songs and chatting during commercials, until the radio would inevitably cut out after about twenty minutes.

This past week, the radio lasted a few songs longer, and we got tunes all the way to school. It was a nice surprise! Then came Friday. I picked her up, turned on the radio, and “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers came on, a song we both like a lot. The radio petered out just before the song ended, and didn’t come back to life the rest of the ride to school.

When it was evident after a few minutes that the radio was done for the day, the student mused:

Student: “The Killers killed the radio. Not much of a bright side to that.”

I currently work as a travel chaperone for an eleven-year-old. He has PTSD from the first few years of his childhood, as well as ADHD and autism, so he goes to a school geared toward children with neurological disorders and behavioural issues. We connected quite quickly because I’m also autistic and ADHD, so I understand the unique issues he’s facing. These conditions affect his behaviour quite a lot, so his school advised that he have a chaperone to get to and from school since his parents aren’t able to drive him every day.

The area where he goes to school has a number of secondary schools (kids aged eleven to eighteen) nearby, so in the afternoons there are often a lot of teenagers taking the same bus as us. They’re a bit rowdy, as teenagers tend to be, but usually nothing too disruptive.

One day, we’re on the bus going home as usual when some kids around fifteen get on together and sit in the few rows in front of me and my chaperone kid. They’re clearly friends, laughing and joking and insulting each other as teenagers are wont to do. At one point, [Boy #1] sitting directly in front of us gets up to sit in a different seat and accidentally steps on my foot. He apologises, which is when one of his friends, [Boy #2], pipes up.

Boy #2: “Sorry, mate, forgive him. He’s kinda stupid. He’s got autism and ADHD; he doesn’t really know what he’s doing.”

Me: “So do I.”

[Boy #2] was clearly not prepared for that response.

Boy #2: “Oh. Well, like, there’s nothing wrong with that, but like, he goes to a special school, y’know?”

Me: *Pointing my thumb at my chaperone kid* “So does he.”

[Boy #2] is now doing the human version of the blue screen of death.

Boy #2: “Uhh, I didn’t mean that was bad, like, he’s just, like…”

Boy #1: “Man, just shut up. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

Girl #1: “[Boy #2], we all go to the same school. What’s wrong with you?”

[Boy #2] sank into his chair in embarrassment that his attempt to rib his friend had backfired so terribly.

For the rest of the bus ride, his friends kept making fun of him for trying to use ADHD and autism as an insult. I tried not to show how pumped I was to have actually held my own against a teenager, nature’s cruelest predator.

I’m a school bus driver, and covering a coworker’s regular route while he’s unavailable. I pull up to the high school knowing I’ll only have two students: this route is for students with disabilities, and while it normally has more students, some are absent today.

My notes also inform me that one student is non-verbal (he’s already on the bus at this point) and the other is blind. The blind student is approaching the bus, so I greet her to let her know she’s headed for the right area.

Me: “Afternoon, [Name]! I’m [My Name]; I’m covering for your regular driver today. Still the same bus, so everything should be where you expect it. [Other Student] is here already and it’s just the two of you. Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll get you both home.”

Student: *Without missing a beat.* “I hope they gave you good directions because we’re no help. He can’t talk and I can’t see.”

I laughed, and the non-verbal student grinned; and yes, my directions were good enough to get them home!

When I was in middle school, a friend was bullied by another student on school bus rides. The bully understood well that in our school, the headteacher only fought against intimidation inside the school. His perspective was that things that happened on public transport didn’t ruin the reputation of the school.

When the harassed comrade went to see the headteacher, he said that he had no authority over school transport. (We found out later that this was false.) Indeed in France, school bus service is a public service managed by the region. (We did not know all the details at the time.)

The bursar’s assistant saw [Friend] sad on the stairs of the administrative building and asked her what was wrong. She explained, and he informed her that she could also contact the public transport company.

She followed this advice. Video surveillance on the bus proved the bullying, and the company suspended the bully from the school bus for one month — the maximum before definitive exclusion from school transport.

As his parents had to arrange to bring him to school over for a month, the bully never started again. 

But thanks to the bursar’s assistant for giving the advice while the headteacher did nothing.

I’m a paraeducator, waiting outside my school with a group of special needs students who take the bus home. Several school buses have pulled up, but due to construction, it’s hard to see all the way to the end of the line. One of the drivers at the end of the line parks her bus and comes over toward us so her students can find her. She briefly says hi to another driver, and when she turns back to our group, one of her students is there.

Driver: “Oh, [Student], hi!”

Student: “Ms. [Driver], I didn’t recognize you.”

Driver: *With a shrug* “No worries; my face looks different from the back.”

It was absurd but also completely accurate!