'You're never gonna see your mommy again:' Townships school-bus driver investigated after outburst
An angry outburst by a school-bus driver in the Eastern Townships is being investigated after children complained they were shoved and warned they would never see their mothers again.
The incident took place Wednesday as students from the Princess Elizabeth Elementary School in Magog, Que., were being driven home.
One of the students on board, 13-year-old Hannah Rudiker-Sheldon, said the driver became aggressive after other children were misbehaving.
"He was pushing kids. He was violent. He was saying, 'You're never gonna see your mommy again,'" said Rudiker-Sheldon.
She said the older students tried to shelter the frightened younger children from the driver.
"We brought some of the little kids to us in the back so that we could make a wall so that he wouldn't come to them," Rudiker-Sheldon added.
"They were opening up the window and ... screaming 'help us, help us' [to people outside]. But nobody would help."
The driver eventually returned the children to school, where parents picked them up.
Paula Rudiker, Rudiker-Sheldon's grandmother, said Hannah was visibly shaken by the experience, as were her five other grandchildren who were on the bus.
"I saw them after. They were just terrified. They didn't want to go to school. They were crying," Rudiker said.
"[Hannah] was crying at the same time. She's 13 years old. She doesn't cry for nothing. Her face was all red."
School board investigating
Parent Megan Crook saw some of some of the commotion herself when her eldest child called her from the bus via video chat on his cell phone.
"It was screaming and crying. It was hysterical. You could tell the terror in the kids faces," she said. "He hung up very fast because the bus driver was coming. He didn't want to get in trouble."
The Eastern Townships School Board acknowledged in an email to CBC News that an incident did occur, and that it has opened an investigation.
A letter was also sent to parents to inform them of what happened, saying the school board will take appropriate measures once it had all the necessary information.
Rudiker said the driver was a substitute who the children had never complained about before.
However, she said all staff who work with children need to be able to respond to them appropriately.
"The bus driver is supposed to be a professional and understand they're kids," she said.
