Complaint Review: Mt. Healthy City Schools & Ohio Public School System - Cincinnati Ohio

*All people's names have been changed for confidential reasons

I have recently posted an article about the humiliating treatment lavished upon me by Mt. Healthy City Schools's school bus trainer, Dave, as he's not a very patient instructor at all. He seems to resent women becoming school bus drivers, unless of course, it's a good friend, neighbor, or a church member of his. I think all parents and the community should KNOW what's really going on behind closed doors in their public school system, since it sure don't come cheap: These school officials forget that we, the citizens "pay their salaries" via extra high levy taxes, which is making property ownership almost unbearable. This is a universal problem among all public schools throughout the State of OH, as more parents and other citizens need to be "the trustees" in order to allocate where the tax dollars go to, rather than trust the big-shots misusing the funds, so to have a better lifestyle. This is why I am for casino gambling, since apparently, the people aren't taking more responsibility on forming a solid committee "open to the public" so to VOTE on where the money goes, like for new books; increasing teachers'; janitor's; etc.,salaries"on the bottom of the chain of command; improved access to meals for kids; much better school bus service; etc. I can think of many other positive ways to raise funds for schools, including auctioning off or selling older items the school wishes to replace with newer equipment to the public; rent out the school buildings during Summer or evening, when kids aren't attending school; sell shirts, hats, bumper stickers, etc.; have adult education classes for different subjects; etc., in order to raise money for schools, rather than continuing to raise property taxes so skyhigh, that more people are having their homes foreclosed upon. Real estate market is VERY bad, as sellers' equity has went way down, so when times do get better, you can count on more people fleeing Hamilton County, due to EXTRA HIGH property taxes, along with hardly any decent-paying jobs, as extremely high gas prices continue taking their negative tolls.

I would venture to say that at least 99% of the public have no idea that "bus driver TRAINEES" have to pay for their own Background Checks; Physicals; etc., which is very costly, just to "train for FREE". There's no such thing as a "training wage" for school bus trainees directly through the schools, so with all those high levy dollars going to the schools, shows they are not willing to invest in good, qualified drivers for the kids to journey to and from school each day. From my degrading experience mentioned, I would recommend that the school, if it was sincere, strip this Dave fellow of this "trainer status", since obviously, he hasn't the patience or understanding to help a person achieve their career endeavors, as he singles out "who he likes or dislikes", then on goes the short temper tantrums; etc., making it unbearable to concentrate in such a "lose-lose situation" described. As for him being around kids in a bus, as long as he don't allow his short temper tantrums to scare them to death, he would be better qualified to continue being a school bus driver, rather than train the women he resents being in the same field he is in. He's not a "people person", so to become a good instructor, it takes a lot of time and patience, to try and help students achieve their goals, which he sorely lacks.

Then another suggestion I have is for ALL schools to stop having their own school bus training programs, since obviously, it's very costly upfront for the potential school bus driver and has much better chances of having a nasty, impulsive trainer feeling like "he/she is FORCED to train, besides having to drive a school bus." There's many trucking schools popping up like weeds, so why can't there be "school bus driving schools"? I don't understand why this wasn't thought of as a plan, since once a person would enroll in a "school bus driving school", he/she could not only work towards training to get Class B CDL License to drive a school bus; but, could drive ANY bus, since Passenger Endorsement would be on their license to drive any type of bus, or even a limosuine. If a person has to pay high upfront costs to be trained "for FREE" at schools, then why not take the same amount of money and enroll in a "school bus driving SCHOOL", where the instructors teaching are mainly there because they "want to teach", rather than being FORCED into it, besides having to drive a school bus as well? An instructor for a "school bus driving school" would have enough hours each week to train students in a classroom setting, as other students would be around, cutting down on a curt, degrading instructor usually being alone with a particular student, giving the student a much harder way to go. If a trainer in a school bus driving school, for eg., acted in very disrespectful, Dr. Jeykll-Mr. Hyde manners towards students he/she decides he/she "don't like" for what ever reasons, then this issue would be brought to a halt, rather than a person paying their hard-earned money like I did to Mt. Healthy City Schools, to get nothing but degrading treatment, and still not be able to obtain my Passenger/School Endorsement, unless I wish to pay more upfront fees to another public school. No one in the world deserves to be treated in such hostile, demeaning manners, like Mt. Healthy City Schools allowed to happen to me and others, which is money wasted on the trainee's end, as to reason they could care less! Proves that Mt. Healthy City Schools is only interested in collecting taxpayer dollars, while treating the same people that pay these taxes like dirt!

Today, I struggle fiercely to make ends meet, as the job market is very bad, and pay is extra low causing me so much stress, that it's often times hard to sleep at night. I am very disappointed in Mt. Healthy City Schools for allowing such uncalled-for, nasty treatment to me, the "potential school bus driver", as now all my hopes and dreams of ever driving a school bus have

been washed away, making me feel like a total failure, the way one feels when having someone steal their money, as all that goes through your mind is, "If only I knew this, if only I knew that", as to what Mt. Healthy City Schools has done to me and others, since they didn't pay all those "upfront fees" for me to train----I did!!!!

For about a month, I have not been able to find steady employment, so not drawing one single cent, as my ailing husband only has a measley Social Security Check coming in. We are pinching pennies left and right, like millions of Americans now must do in a very bad economy, so I thought in my heart that if I pursued school bus driving, I would have a nice, steady career, since it's local driving and I am not living below-poverty weeks OTR, waiting on very slow freight. It angers me to the max how me and many other "would-be" school bus drivers were greatly taken advantage of by Mt. Healthy City Schools, only to be treated in very threatening, demeaning manners when doing our best to obtain our Passenger/School Endorsements, or simply getting CDL B License, too. It will take me a long time to build back my self-esteem to ever reconsider school bus driving, if I ever want to do it at all, as right now, way too costly to try another school, when they all charge "upfront fees" and now I know Mt. Healthy City Schools did me dirty. I also heard about the other women school bus driver trainees, who were also treated by Dave in very demeaning manners, as I am sure most of them have done what I have decided to do: Give up on school bus driving, since obviously, schools mustn't be that interested in attracting good, qualified drivers, or they wouldn't allow such nasty trainers to continue UNmotivating their trainees, like what was done to me. There's no excuse as to why a trainer should put down and threaten any of his trainees, just because he resents women being in male-dominated fields, or for other reasons!

If economy would pick back up, I would be much better to gain more OTR experience, so once at least over 1-2 years in, I can go to much better-paying local jobs, as opposed to retrying to drive a school bus, which the horrible treatment and high "upfront costs" are real turn-offs, as schools continue being dishonest about where the taxpayer's levy dollars REALLY go to. Many articles about different schools misusing funds, so until the State of OH puts way more regulation and control on how schools conduct their business, and until more citizens vote on how the money is used, more wasteful spending and disrespectful treatment towards school bus driver trainees, and even towards the people that do drive school buses daily, as teachers; etc., also need to be respected much more than they are now. So parents, next time you meet a school bus driver, just know he/she may have had to deal with nasty treatment from a trainer, or, know FOR SURE that it costed him/her plenty, like at least $200 or more to GET that license/endorsements to be able to drive your kids to and from school each day! For all of this said, much better pay deserves to be given out to school bus drivers; etc., as this type of work is highly demanding, but grossly underappreciated.

I would love to be on a public committee, if there was one, so to be able to VOTE where our levy tax dollars go, rather than keep it in the hands of school officials, who don't keep accurate accounts of where most of the money goes to.

Teri and frank

Cincinnati, Ohio

U.S.A.