Awful: Bus Driver Hits 8-Year-Old Boy For Misbehaving

It is common knowledge that children can be a handful. They yell, they throw tantrums, when I worked with small children there was a 4-year-old whose sole purpose in life seemed to be to follow me around and kick me directly in the shins. And then we would talk about it. And then he would kick me in the shins some more. It was a most enoyable diversion.

Regardless of how much a child is trying one’s patience, however, it is never acceptable to put your hands on them, not even if you’re working their last raw nerve, and especially if you’re not charged with transporting the child to and from school. It appears that Cathy Goetz, a bus driver in Ashland, Ohio did not get this memo because video has surfaced of her slapping a possibly disabled 8-year-old who Goetz alleges cried, kicked and threatened to kill her.

A resident who was first on the scene was initially concerned about Goetz soon shifted his concern to the boy who was screaming, rocking, and trying to explain that someone had hit him. The video shows that Goetz did not just slap the child, but also lunged at him at one point, holding him down and pinning him in his seat.

Goetz has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of child endangering, assault and menacing. The superintendent of schools has stated that he will push for her firing.