COMMENTARY | Earlier this week, a video went viral depicting a Greece, N.Y., school bus monitor being verbally abused by the children she was supposedly watching over. This sparked national outrage which led to a campaign to raise money for the 68-year-old grandmother to go on a dream vacation.
As of Friday morning, the campaign has raised half a million dollars. But despite the amount raised and Klein's numerous television interviews, the aggressors have been silent until today. The boys released an official apology through the police which was read on CNN's "Anderson 360."
In a statement through the police, Wesley, one of the bullies stated, "I feel really bad about what I did. I wish I had never done those things. If that had happened to someone in my family, like my mother or grandmother, I would be really mad at the people who did that to them."
Josh, the other aggressor in this incident also apologized saying, "I am so sorry for the way I treated you. When I saw the video I was disgusted and could not believe I did that. I am sorry for being so mean and I will never treat anyone this way again."
Klein seems to have accepted their apologies. And when asked by Anderson Cooper if she thought they were bad kids, she said, "Not really, not deep down."
What happened to this elderly grandmother was horrible and nobody deserves to be treated that way. But Klein is the school bus monitor. She should have been more assertive and told those bullies off. And frankly, she should have been performing her job.
Again, what the children did was bad, perhaps even evil. But the adult in this situation should have controlled these unruly minors. Bullies pick on their victims because they know that they can get away with it. Perhaps this sweet grandmother was giving the vibe of victim as opposed to school bus monitor.
In the video, it is clear that instead of facing these unruly kids and attempting to quell the situation, Klein was ignoring the kids even looking away, unresponsive. This reaction only fueled the cruel taunting. Ignoring and cowering away is not the proper response of a responsible school bus monitor, it is more of bullied child.
When Anderson Cooper informed Klein that Southwest Airlines was flying her and nine other people to Disneyland for free, Klein was thankful and grateful but continued on to say, "But, I feel like I haven't done anything."
I could never agree more.
