An investigation has been launched after a group of middle school students from upstate New York were caught on camera viciously taunting a school bus attendant to tears on Monday.
In the three videos, which last a total of 14 minutes and have been viewed more than a million times, Karen Huff Klein, 68, endures one profanity-laced comment after another from a group of male and female students during a bus ride.
Greece Central (N.Y.) School District officials contacted police on Wednesday morning after seeing the video, and students believed to have been involved have been questioned by school and police officials, according to a report by the Democrat & Chronicle.
Officials are deciding whether to bring any formal charges.
“I want the boys punished, but I don't know how,’’ Klein told Matt Lauer on TODAY Thursday. “It made me feel really terrible, but I will get over it. I've gotten over everything else.”
Klein was a bus driver for 20 years and has worked as a bus monitor in the district for the last three years. The students called her “an elephant,’’ and said they would egg her house, among other unprintable slurs and comments. Despite the nature of the taunts, Klein kept her cool and did not retaliate.
“(It took) a lot of willpower because I'm not usually that calm — just ask my kids,’’ she told Lauer. She first saw the video Wednesday morning. Klein is hearing-impaired and did not hear all of the taunts Monday before watching the video.
“There were more times than I thought when they were picking on me...because I wore hearing aids,’’ Klein said. “They just could be really nasty.’’
The behavior of the children has drawn outrage over the lack of civility between young children and an elder.
Thursday, Matt Lauer had strong words for the students.
"I think they're narrow-minded monsters, to be perfectly honest with you," he told Klein of the kids on the bus. "I think their parents should be ashamed of them.
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