Seven middle schoolers accused of beating girl unconscious on school bus

[MH1]

46. The bus driver should have called the police.

But apparently he didn't have a working cell phone or any other way to contact the police or school officials.

If the bus crashed and the girl was hurt due to a maintenance problem, it would be the school's responsibility, right? (or the bus company. Often the buses and drivers are contractors, if I understand correctly.)

Part of the safety protocol for operating the bus should be what to do if a situation among riders gets out of hand. That goes for public transportation as well as school transportation. Any entity operating a bus without such protocol is operating unsafely, just as if they were behind on maintenance.

That said, I'm all in favor of parents being explicitly punished in some way when their kid physically attacks and harms another kid. But, that has to be part of world where people are allowed to choose to NOT be parents ... and respected rather than stigmatized for the choice.