Blog #331: A Neurodiverse Perspective into the Brian Fitzgerald Situation
- Jeffrey Snyder
- May 1, 2023
- 3 min read
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It’s a very well known fact that the responsible of a teacher or a parent is to teach our children about the dangers of the real world. However, in doing so, we end up hurting our children more than helping them. The same holds true for school bus drivers, too. Even when the school day is over, students who ride the school bus have one last teacher that they have to learn from and that’s the School Bus Driver.
In a way, the School Bus Driver is, in a sense a teacher, responsible for teaching children to be safe and respectful because as school bus passengers, you are taking that first step towards becoming independent and eventually taking various forms of public transportation such as air travel, trains, etc.
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When I look at the case of Brian Fitzgerald, I do feel sort of a conflicting matter. Yes, he had to assert his authority on the students that were on the bus and that he had to teach them that there are consequences of their actions. However, when it comes to setting an example by allegedly slamming on the brakes and resulting in a student getting hurt, you really have to go back and think about what should have been taken in terms of steps.
As I have said before in numerous past blogs, being among a class or group of students being disciplined and scolded is among the most uncomfortable feelings I have ever had. To say that it was a tense filled situation was an understatement to say the least. Hell, I even got upset a couple of times when I was in a situation like this one.
But to get back to the story at hand, Brian Fitzgerald did show his authority by scaring some sense into these students…accidents are sometimes caused by distracted drivers and when a school bus involved, the stakes are raised ten times higher. However, the other side of me says that he probably should have gone for the lesser harmful approach by taking names and presenting them to the school administration. But, in his mind, doing a brake check sharply was more potent.
As I have also said before, we live in a society where everyone nowadays is sensitive to everything. What’s more is that some of these children who were on the bus don’t get the proper direction at home from their parents/guardians.
Sometimes we have to show tough love in order to get a message across, especially now in this day and age and something a majority of authority figures refuse to do. Some children think that being on a school bus is a right that is given to them, but it’s not, it’s something you have to earn and when you are on the bus, you have to be subjected to the authority of the bus driver or else you lose that privelege.
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But then, there is another side to this matter and that it is reflected in the workplace such as in the education field. You see, Brian was mostly known for driving a special education bus and was probably not used to driving a larger bus with general education students. In any job, you must view flexibility and willingness to learn as a survival skill such as going from a special education bus to a general education bus. Brian was most likely not ready to drive a general education bus and it showed in the video.
Now, given the state of the situation, this is one of those times where I have to blame both sides of the matter: Despite showing his command, I do blame Brian the bus driver for both unintentionally hurting and scaring some of the students while showing his authority, some of whom who may have been sensory friendly on board, and I blame the students for not following the driver’s orders and commands to behave themselves.
It goes to show you that there are some situations where there is no one right side and this is definitely one of them. When I was a kid, I rode the bus during kindergarten and first grade and the times where the whole bus got in trouble was what ultimately led to me getting off riding the bus for the rest of my education (except for field trips and sporting events). In the end, it’s really up to those who show authority to teach students not to behave in this manner.
Again, did the bus driver do his job? Yes.
Did he do it correctly? Possibly, but it could have been handled better.
This goes to show you that we still have a long way to go to further teach our children the importance of road safety and the consequences of what happens when that importance isn’t considered.
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Catch you all later!!
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