Bus Driver Tapes Special Needs Child's Mouth Shut & Isn't Even Embarrassed?!

[Cafe Steph]

Bus Driver Tapes Special Needs Child's Mouth Shut & Isn't Even Embarrassed

Posted by Jeanne Sager on July 10, 2012 

Former bus driver Marjorie Jones got lucky. She won't be going to jail for duct-taping the mouth of a 7-year-old girl with special needs. But even losing her job and facing community service and probation doesn't seem to have convinced the 63-year-old that she did something wrong.

Jones was convicted of child endangerment for her mistreatment of little Angelina Kio, a girl who can't speak and whose cognitive abilities are equal to that of a toddler. But when she stood in front of a judge facing a possible year in jail for the act, the woman who used to drive a bus full of children was still claiming it was all in good fun.

Her exact word? "Playful." Jones thought putting duct tape on the mouth of a child with special needs was "playful." Anyone else wonder if Jones would be thinking it was "playful" if the judge had chosen duct-taping her mouth as part of the sentence? It kind of makes her "I am sorry for what I did" sound like a non-apology, doesn't it?

Sadly, I came at this sordid story looking for an out for this woman. I didn't want to believe that someone would actually do something so cruel to another person, much less to a child with special needs. 

I know it can't be easy driving a school bus, what with all those kids screaming in the background and a bunch of idiot drivers out there on the road. And Jones works for the Corinth Central School District in upstate New York, where wintertime driving can be especially frustrating. As a parent who happens to live in upstate New York, I know a good bus driver is worth as much as a good babysitter -- they're like gold.

But Jones' lack of remorse is appalling -- almost as appalling as the act that landed her in court to begin with. This wasn't a horrible mistake made in the heat of the moment by a frazzled bus driver. Her inability to use nearly two years of time to think it through, to take the criticisms to heart, proves that.

So I'm going to say it again. Marjorie Jones to lucky. She's got three years of probation and 100 hours of community service ahead of her. But with her refusal to admit duct taping a defenseless person's (honestly, Angelina could have been 27 or 47 and it still would have been wrong) mouth shut isn't PLAYFUL should have gotten her a lot more.

What kind of punishment do you think would be more appropriate here?

[Mary762]

This really ticks me off. I have a son who is handicapp, he is now 22 years old . There are people like this everywhere, even to ones who you think would never do this to a person with a handicapp.When my son was growing up and still to this day he deal with ignorant people everyday. His own Aunt use to make fun of him when he would have a seisure and would talk, one day I told her what my granny always said: What you sow, sow shaw you reep...When her youngest turned 6 she started having seisures and had a speech problem, god handled this one. He had a teacher even when he was in 5th grade that would call him retard on a regular basic until one of my older kids heard her, lets just say when I got done with her I got a 2500.00 fine and ban from school grounds the rest of the year and my son was removed from her class and put into another. These kids and adults are very special people and need to be treated that way. The courts should have given the parents of this child 15mins behind closed doors with this woman. Then they should have sentenced her to prison and made her work in a state home for the handicapp.

[calusari]

As a parent of a 6 y/o autistic son, these types of people are why I am so leery of strangers being involved in my son's life. This bus driver, and the teachers who put an autistic child in a duffle bag when he misbehaved (I read about that last year)...those stories break my heart!

[Anonymous]

Jesus christ. Get over it. Three years probation and a $200 fine isnt enough, now the parents are suing, civil lawsuit. Why did the bus driver tape her mouth, was there ever an explanation? There was a time where parents allowed the teachers and principles to whip their kids, now the entitled fb and cafemoms just banned together to not allow any spankings, school or at home. I feel sorry for our kids futures. :(

[Bethsunshine]

Special needs or not, that is just WRONG!!!! Someone needs to tape HER mouth shut, along with taping her hands and feet together so she is completely helpless!!

[brettsmomma]

What kind of person thinks there is anything playful about duct taping a kids mouth... 

[alyssaravensmom]

And right there is exactly why I am not sending my daughter to any ytpe of preschool, etc. unless she can talk and tell me what is going on, I just can't trust other people. My daughters already been through enough.

[Jenny_Penny89]

Duct taping any childs mouth shut is cruel not just a special needs child.

And it sounds like she doesn't care, she has no remorse. People never cease to amaze me. O_o

[TheMrs407]

This is outraging!  I just don't understand how anyone can do this to anyone, especially a child, especially one with special needs...and yes and a teacher I understand how frustrating things can get, but I can't even imagine doing something like this.  If the child was a typical 7 year old, the "joke" excuse (still not at all right) might be able to be made if the child had done it to herself. But how can she claim it's a joke when the child probably doesn't understand it as that?

I think the judge should have had her mental evaluated.  No remorse?  That is frightening.

[Lishes]

 That's sick.

[sunshinebebe26]

If it were my kid i would drag that bitch off the bus and slam her face into the concrete repeatedly .... just saying.... some of you guys will bash me for saying it , but i don't give a shit there is not one good reason to put duct tape over a child's mouth ever ....