Metro Atlanta students meet with Governor, seeking approval of bus monitor bill

Some local middle school students are trying to make their ride to school safer and it comes more than a year after a fight on a school bus to Renaissance Middle School shows a student attacking a younger boy.

Now the students are asking Governor Brian Kemp to support a bill they helped write that would put adult monitors on buses.

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Several girls who are part of a group called GirlKode met with Kemp at the State Capitol.

“I’m impressed with you girls. Thanks for coming to visit with me,” Kemp said to the students.

“Thanks for listening,” one of the students replied.

The students were able to get a meeting with Kemp to get his support for a bill they helped write. The bill would put bus monitors on school buses. It’s the student’s solution to try and stop fights on school buses.

6th grader Kai Leite was in the meeting. She told Channel 2′s Tom Jones that meeting with important people can be intimidating.

“I get nervous but for some reason meeting with the Governor wasn’t scary at all,” she said.

They helped write House Bill 238. The governor had questions about it. Like what if there was no funding for the proposal?

“What would ya’ll think about somebody’s parents being on the bus. You think they would do that? You think that would be a good idea? Or bad idea?” he asked. “I think that would be a good idea because they have experience with children,” one student responded.

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The governor also mentioned volunteers, retirees, or grandparents serving as monitors. Leite doesn’t support that.

“And I don’t feel like grandparents would be such a good idea because they’re old and they can’t handle all those kids doing all that other stuff,” she said.

State Representative Roger Bruce co-sponsored the bill and mentored the girls. He was in the meeting. Representative Bruce was amazed at how well they handled themselves with the Governor.

“I was so proud of them. They say men are not supposed to shed tears. I was about to shed some tears,” Bruce said.

Representative Bruce said the bill is in the education committee and is expected to get a hearing.

About 25 girls are a part of the Kids with Strong Opinions Organization. It’s a non-profit that teaches them how to use their voices to promote change in their community.

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