My son's public middle school bus separates the boys and the girls.

[trumad]

I asked my son, he's in 6th grade, if he still sat next to his friend Danielle on the bus and he told me that the new bus driver doesn't allow the girls to sit with the boys.

I said whaaaaaat.... so I called the Seminole County School District here in Central Florida and the supervisor of the bus drivers told me that it's the drivers discretion to do that.

I asked her if all the drivers do that and she no. I asked her why the bus driver is separating the girls and the boys and she said it may be for safety issues. I asked her if there we're any incidents and she said no.

I then called the school and asked if they knew of any other busses that were doing that and they said no.

Am I nuts for making a big deal out of this. I want my son to interact with girls because quite frankly I think it's healthy. I mean my God, it's the 21st century!

[DURHAM D]

1. Just curious - boys in the front and girls in the back? eom

[Tyranny_R_US]

4. Probably the other way around (always is) eom

[Ian David]

2. I suppose it depends on the driver's reasons

But do you really want your son getting cooties anyway?

[DURHAM D]

3. Not funny. eom

[greekspeak]

5. Aren't you afraid your son will get girl cooties?

This driver is obviously trying to run a cootie-seperation zone so girl cooties and boy cooties will not mix. Besides...what if they jostled into each other and the girl got pregnant.

[johnaries]

6. When I was in Jr High in the early 70's the bus driver kept boys and

girls separated - because too many girls had gotten pregnant on the bus.

[Ian David]

22. Pregnant... on... the... BUS???

What the hell kind of school did YOU go to?

[johnaries]

23. Yep! Before they were separated, boys and girls had sex in the last

seats all the time. I saw it for myself.

Then they started putting boys on one side and girls on the other.

[Ian David]

25. Why not just close the last seat?

[johnaries]

48. Because then there was the next to the last seat.

It's hard for a bus driver to see all the way to the back of the bus in his/her rear view mirror. They are busy driving the bus, after all.

[txindy]

24. Um....

[ultraist]

28. Kids on some of our buses make out and have sex on the bus

Two kids, in the way back of the bus aren't within the view of the driver. Some middle school kids are very sexually active.

[SmokingJacket]

7. Eh. There are bigger battles.

I mean, my heart goes out to the school bus drivers of the world -- all kinds of crazy stuff happened when I rode the bus.

Frankly, I wish they'd banned boys from my bus. Would have made my youth a lot less hellish.

[mr_hat]

8. Are they required to march in, two by two?

[liberalitch]

9. HARLOTS........ Those evil second grade temptresses.....

(how old is your son?)......
God knows what they could do to your son.

[bbernardini]

10. Didn't you hear? They're reading sexy books and getting bad ideas.

That's the latest story...sexy books for teens.

[trumad]

12. LOL

I think it's boys front girls in the back. I know there are bigger battles to fight but the little skimishes keep them honest.

[Bridget Burke]

11. Perhaps a (polite) letter or two is called for.

Phone calls can be forgotten.

Just ask why this was done. Had the bus driver witnessed problems from mixing the sexes? Or is it his or her problem?

[trumad]

14. The bus driver is a hard ass.

So says my son. I appreciate how hard thier job is, I really do...but some bus drivers are power hungry dweebs.

[txindy]

30. They can be pretty tough, I agree

I think this bus driver is asking for more trouble, though, by putting all of the boys together. They tend to be wilder at this age, generally speaking, when there are no girls around. The same goes for the girls. The last thing the driver needs is more mayhem on his bus because of an arbitrary policy he's created.

This whole 'separation' thing makes no sense right off the bat because, unless there's an empty row of seats between the boys and girls, there is one row of boys interacting with the girls at the driver's 'Berlin Wall' where the segregation starts. Does he favor those boys/girls by letting them sit at that dividing line or does he consider it a punishment? That's what I would ask.

[RamboLiberal]

13. How about separating them in their classes?

I know of some public school districts who are doing this. I really don't think this is a good idea and will lead to a lot of sexist problems later in life. My feeling is girls and boys need to learn to interact and not be separated.

Separation by sexes IMHO is the exact kind of thing the radical fundamnetalist Islamists do!

[trumad]

16. My thoughts exactly.

[Iris]

38. Actually, both sexes tend to do better when they are in same sex classes.

Takes the pressure off.

[Shoeempress]

15. No your bus driver is a nazi, and by that I mean probably a fundamentalist

convinced that allowing kids to sit together leads to impure thoughts. I'd be raising holy hell.

[trumad]

18. LOL

that was my very first thought. fundamentalist

[maxsolomon]

17. separation cannot protect against GIRL GERMS

the infect you, you go through puberty, and sure enough, it becomes a chronic condition.

[MissMarple]

19. Ask the bus driver.

:shrug:

[KitchenWitch]

20. Amazing

If it were me, I would push the issue with the school, stating that if I wanted my son to be subjected to gender segregation, I would have sent him to an all boys school.

[Cooley Hurd]

21. I'm with you... what if they separated the African-American and white...

...boys and girls?

Segregation of ANYONE is ultimately wrong!:thumbsdown:

[aasleka]

27. busdrivers

Remember they used to have hatchets hanging over the windsheild for fire safety? My bus driver told us if she saw our feet in the aisle os standing while the bus was moving she would take that down and throw it at us....

We had a orderly, safe bus.

I chuckle at the thought now of that gray haired lady reaching for the hatchet when we got a bit too boisterious.

[AlienGirl]

42. My bus-driver was arrested for conspiracy to commit murder

Ironically, she was the best bus-driver we ever had...she was the only one who could keep the other kids from picking on me.

Tucker

[knitter4democracy]

26. Rape and sexual assault are pretty common on buses.

Usually with the middle school and high school crowd. I used to hear of it happening when I taught, and I was always shocked. I think the bus driver is doing it to head off a problem. Can you imagine what would happen if a student were raped on her bus and they found out the bus driver had done nothing to prevent it?

[RayOfHope]

31. I agree

my husband is a coach and this problem crops up all the time. He separates boys and girls, too.

[Yupster]

44. It's oral sex on the buses

from what teachers tell me. A couple of kids will block the view from the front, and a dozen kids will watch a girl service a boy. Kids are sure different today than when I went to school. Even if I could ever find a girl willing to do this, I would never have had the nerve to expose myself in front of a dozen other boys and girls.

I'd pick another fight.

This driver probably is doing this because he's had problems in the past that he doesn't want to go through again. I'd say his job is hard enough. If this is how he thinks it worksbest, give him the benefit of the doubt.

[knitter4democracy]

46. That's what I'd heard, too.

Even if it's not as prevalent as we're thinking, it only takes once for that girl or boy to get STDs, and what does it teach the ones watching?

Honestly, there are plenty of times for her son to socialize with his female friends, and if it's not on the bus, that's okay.

[hedgehog]

29. It might be to prevent cat fights, not sexual activity.

It's unbelievable how some middle school kids are so into the boy friend girl friend game. The teachers at our junior high used to laugh at how some of the girls reacted to school sponsored dances. They would speculate the week before whether their boy friend would dance with them and be in tears the week after if he didn't. These girls were so focused on boys they didn't have a thought for school. And heaven help the girl who "stole" someone's boy friend!

I applaud you and your son for a good attitude towards other people regardless of gender. The problem is that other kids are being pushed into relationships they aren't ready to handle.

[MsTryska]

32. i think it's a good idea.

of course depends on what kind of kids are on the bus, but if they're the preteen sex having kind - or the sexual baiting and assaulting kind - i've got no problem with it.


After all - the bus driver is operating heavy equipment and carrying precious cargo, and imo is entitled to have whatever arrangement they need in order to do their job safely.

[Iris]

40. I do, too. I had some bus drivers who did this when I was riding the bus.

It just makes things easier. They need to be watching the road not worrying about who's in the "way back" playing doctor.

[MsTryska]

50. exactly.

i don't think i've ever had a bus driver segregate girls and boys - but i have had them segregate known troublemakers from each other, and the objects of their taunts and ridicule.

[sakabatou]

33. Guy's probably a fundie...

[Initech]

37. Bet he also works as a part time pharmacist!

[sakabatou]

45. So?

[God Bless the USA]

34. The ACLU has defended a simular case locally

I recall a scandle at a local school recently when two girls were denied the chance to be managers of the middle school football team because the administration didn't want girls to even ride the same bus as the football team. The ACLU stepped in and caused the school to retreat a little bit. The girls were granted a waiver but they were to be the last ones.
Gender discrimination is now the law of the land in the Seymour, IN school system.

[knitter4democracy]

36. Having taught high school, I wouldn't want my daughter riding

with the football team. They can get all caught up in the testosterone moment (both my stepbrothers played, their dad played for Western Michigan, their grandpa for Michigan State and the Lions, so I'm not dissing football players), and I wouldn't trust them. Of course, some of them are also hopped up on roids, which makes it even more dangerous.

I don't mind the girls being managers--good idea and worth doing. I just wouldn't want them on the bus.

[Nikia]

43. The cheerleaders road with the football players at my school

They were segregated though. The cheerleaders road together at the front of the bus. The coaches also road the bus with at least one between the players and the cheerleaders.

[knitter4democracy]

47. So they kept them apart and knew how to handle it.

If there's a plan, that's cool. I could see letting the two girls sit up front with coaches, but I'd be worried if there were no plan.

[Meldread]

35. Here are a few POSSIBLE reasons:

I think before anyone screams sexism that it is important for the Bus Drivers reasoning to be fully understood. It wasn't that long ago when I went to Public School and yes I road the public school bus just about everyday.

I know for a fact that older children were having sex on the bus, I've seen it first hand. Mostly masturbation and sometimes oral. (Always girls on boys though.) Plenty of fondling went on. I even had a bus driver quit her job after someone threw a used condom at her while driving. (Although, to be honest -- she was a bitch and I feel little remorse for her.)

Personally, I think there is a more productive way to go about this situation. Obviously from reading what you've stated the Bus Drivers do not have a unified policy of handling issues on the bus, and from my recent (about 6 years ago) exit from Public Schooling and Bus Riding... I can safely say that one is needed. I would highly suggest that you bring to the attention of school administrators that such a policy would be good. It would be beneficial to gather all the Bus Drivers together and try and figure out what would be best for controlling the behavior that takes place on the School Bus. Then that policy could be applied equally and evenly across all buses and would probably benefit the entire system as a whole.

I also believe most school fights take place on the Bus -- at least that is where I saw most of them take place.

[The Backlash Cometh]

39. Seminole County buses are notoriously crowded & unruly..

They did that one year to my daughter, switched from allowing the older kids in the back, younger kids in the front, to gender separation because the bus group was difficult to handle. It's their own fault because they're overcrowded.

I imagine they liked the gender seperation because they can pack three kids on a seat without worrying about offending a kid who still hasn't gotten over the cootie problem. It is pretty shameful that the Seminole County schools would allow the third kid to hang out in the aisle. I think they intentionally put bus stops far away from subdivisions so that parents are pressured to look for other transportation arrangements.

But, this is a Republican county. They don't even have common intramural sports in the middle school because of tight budgets. That means that kids who don't participate in private Club sports at an early age and learn on their own, can't really start anything new in high school because the Varsity and JV are for people who have developed their skills in private Clubs.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

41. Preventing sexual harassment?

Maybe grouping the boys together makes it less likely that some girl is going to get groped against her will?

[Bassic]

49. I think it is a big deal. It's not a service to kids to prevent them from

socializing with kids from the opposite sex. This bus driver is an ignorant ass.

[Xithras]

51. We had a 7th grader raped on a bus a few years back.

She was kissing her boyfriend and he wanted to go further than she did. By the end of it, she was being held down by two boys and another girl while her boyfriend finger-raped her.

Now, all busses are segregated by sex. Boys on the right, girls on the left. Sitting on the wrong side will get you thrown off the bus. And yes, I agree with that policy.

[IrateCitizen]

52. I find such a policy perfectly reasonable these days, to be honest...

My wife taught middle school science for several years, and just switched over to guidance starting this year. One of her fellow teachers told a story about a middle school girl giving a boy a hand job in the library, then telling her about it afterwards.

My wife told me about how the kids at her school will have "rainbow parties", where the girls will wear different colors of lipstick in order to leave "rainbows" on the boys that they give blowjobs to.

These are 6th, 7th and 8th graders doing this, in a public school.

Given such information, I don't think it's unreasonable at all to not allow girls and boys to sit next to each other on the bus. Your child may not engage in such behavior, but there are plenty of others who do, and the bus gives them a perfect forum to do so since the driver can't keep an eye on everybody. Your child has plenty of other opportunities to interact with girls outside of his bus trip.