Burlington parent Rebecca Mack filed a complaint with GMT about the May 23 incident that reportedly began with students of color singing and clapping on the bus ride home, Mack wrote in a widely shared Facebook post.
The students, two of whom are Mack’s children, attend Edmunds Elementary and Middle Schools. The Burlington School District contracts with the local bus company for student transportation.
Mack was at Barrio Bakery on North Winooski Avenue around 3 p.m. that day when she saw a group of kids, ranging in age from 5 to 13 years old and all students of color, walking together on the street. They told her that the bus driver made them get off on North Street and asked Mack to record a video while they recounted the incident.
“They were very upset, and they were certain they were targeted on the basis of their skin color,” Mack told Seven Days on Monday. “I can say for my own children, this was the most personally racist event that had ever happened to them, and it’s something that’s never going to go away.”
Some students initially refused to exit the bus but got off once the driver threatened to call the police, Mack said. The driver told them to leave whether they’d made noise or not; Mack’s own son was watching a video with headphones on when he realized what was happening, she said.
“For a parent, that is a very heavy thing,” said Mack, who identifies as a white, Jewish woman. “When you’re raising children of color, you have to teach them the world isn’t always safe for them.”
Mack said the students were scared; one child ran from the bus so quickly that he left his shoes behind. Others appeared lost and were far from their normal bus stop, she said.
“It is not a crime to sing and clap while brown and black,” Mack wrote in her post. “I do not want my children, or any others, growing up to believe that they will endanger themselves by being joyful, by singing out loud, because of the color of their skin.”
Just three days prior, 300 Edmunds students — including Mack’s children — walked out of class May 20 and marched on Church Street to protest racism. Mack said she thought the timing of the bus incident “was ironic.”
She’s since contacted city councilors, state Rep. Selene Colburn (P/D-Burlington) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont about the bus issue. In response, City Councilor Ali Dieng (D/P-Ward 7) drafted a letter to GMT that invites transit officials to explain “the nature of the incident” at the next council meeting. The letter was cosigned by Councilor Max Tracy (P-Ward 2).
Council president Kurt Wright (R-Ward 4) said he will ensure GMT is in attendance: “We need to hear about it,” he said.
Mayor Miro Weinberger, whose daughter participated in the Edmunds walkout, said the allegations, if true, are “troubling and unacceptable.”
Jamie Smith, GMT’s marketing and public affairs manager, told Seven Days in an email that the agency can’t comment until it conducts an internal review. Smith said she told Mack that GMT doesn’t ever recommend a driver “remove students from the bus without a field supervisor involved.”
Smith declined to provide the driver’s name and whether he was still on duty, though Mack said “GMT did temporarily remove the driver from Route No. 47″ to another bus line. Mack said GMT told her it will review the onboard bus camera, but Smith wouldn’t comment on the company’s internal review process.
Mack will read a list of demands at Tuesday night’s school board meeting, including a request that the district reconsider its contract with GMT and that it address supervision on school buses.
“I’m doing everything in my power to see that these children’s rights are protected in the future,” she said.
Read the full letter below:
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I have contacted GMT numerous times about the bus drivers behaviors toward minorities and people with disabilities. Nothing ever happens partly because GMT never answers their phone. The bus drivers are rude, lack empathy, and it is obvious they do not receive some sort of training on diversity and multiculturalism. It is completely unacceptable what happened and what continues to happen. It is always the same few bus drivers and it gets swept under the rug. Someone needs to do something, I agree.
This bus driver should not be driving anywhere at all while any investigation is happening. Having him go to another bus route where potentially he can repeat these offensive behaviors is unacceptable. He needs a thorough investigation. No child should ever be told that they cannot sing or clap or be frightened off a bus .
I have been a rider on GMT’s Link bus for 10+ years and I can tell you their drivers are one of the sole sources of diversity in the state. I have had Eastern European Muslim drivers, African drivers, Asian drivers… Men drivers, women drivers… Literally all over the map. The busses are equipped with cameras and I expect justice will be served. It serves no one to let our collective imaginations run away with us.
Lack of riders, inadequate routes, and now this? GMT’s days are numbered.
I was absolutely floored to read this article. This is completely unacceptable on SO many levels. That driver should be fired! Those kids were put at risk! Because he let his hideous personal opinion override his job description! Good grief. Of course, my reaction is based solely on this article, but on the face of it, we should ALL be ashamed of this fellow Vermonter’s actions.
Maybe people should wait for the investigations and the facts before commenting.
I’m very interested to see the video footage from the bus. I keep thinking he could have stopped the bus and explained that he had to concentrate – or asked them to please keep it down. Where was civility?
Unless I’m mistaken arent school bus drivers supposed to stop the bus and call the dispatcher to call parents to pick up their kids when any “incident” happens? Isnt it a law?
My 7 Year old was kicked off this bus as well and had to walk home across multiple intersections !! Very scary .. anything could have happened ! Thankfully he had his big brother to walk with him who got kicked off and threatened with police by the the bus driver !!! Sadly this isnt even the first time it has happened just the most traumatic … the final straw !! Something needs to be done !!
As a former GMT bus driver, I have to wonder how many of the people commenting have been on a bus full of children after they leave school? These kids are LOUD! When you have a bus full of kids, safety is the first thing on the driver’s mind and being able to concentrate on driving the bus is essential to getting kids home safely. The kids don’t care about being quiet so the driver can do their job, and there is no other adult on the bus to assist with supervision. I honestly quit the job because the driver really has very little control of the situation.
However, the way in which the driver handled the situation was wrong and certainly not by the book. Internal policies require the driver stop the bus if they cannot safely continue and contact a field supervisor for assistance. He should’ve waited until the field supervisor arrived before asking or letting anyone leave the bus. It would be up to the supervisor to decide how to proceed.
I’m not going to say the driver should be fired without reviewing the video to see exactly what happened. Right now, we only have one side of the story and the video (with audio) will tell us the truth.
Until then, I will suggest that anyone who thinks kids should be allowed to “sign and clap” and make as much noise as they want to on the bus, needs to learn some manners about how to behave in public, and learn that being safe is as much about their own behavior as it is someone else.
Elrod has summed up much of the situation. Checkout the video footage for sure, interview anyone present at the time, etc. Sounded to me like the driver got upset and let his emotions get the better of him – which isn’t very professional. BUT let’s get all the info. I sure do know what you mean about a busload of screaming kids – it’s loud. The kids had no supervisor? The guy couldn’t pull over a minute and stand outside the bus and take a deep breath? Perhaps soon we’ll know what happened, and how to avoid it in the future. No, I don’t think anyone should be fired at present. Anyone look at the footage yet?
Thanks, everyone, for looking into this.
If I was kicked off the bus, my parents probably would have called the driver at home to find out why. They certainly wouldn’t have been taking the word of a 10-year old who was looking at punishment at face value without investigating first (and nor should they). I’d suggest the parents of the kids kicked off the bus start doing the same, especially now that people who have seen the on-board video are reporting that it’s quite different than Ms. Mack’s second hand account of the incident. The driver probably shouldn’t be on a school route if they’re struggling with the kids, but it sounds like a lot of parents should probably be working to ensure their kids actually listen to the driver, even if they don’t like them.