News: Bully victim Karen Klein retiring with $700k in donations

Haus

Quote:

Bus monitor Karen Klein, of Greece, N.Y., is surrounded by school children while riding a tourist duck boat, an amphibious vehicle, in Boston. Klein who was shown in a video being relentlessly bullied by a group of boys says she’s retiring. She told The Associated Press Friday that her decision to leave the job she held for three years was tough but that it’s time to move on.

GREECE, N.Y. - A school bus monitor who was shown in a video being relentlessly bullied by a group of boys said Friday that she will retire.

Karen Klein, a 68-year-old grandmother, told The Associated Press that the decision to leave the job she held for three years was tough but wasn't based on her now infamous encounter with the mean-spirited seventh-graders, who tormented her with profanity, insults and threats during a bus run as the school year wound down in June.

A 10-minute video of the episode went viral and spurred an outpouring of more than $700,000 in donations for Klein from all over the world.

"I'm not quitting because of what happened. That's not it," Klein said from her home in the Rochester suburb of Greece. "I enjoyed working with the kids. But I guess it's my time to leave. That's what I've decided."

Although her mind is made up, she said she has yet to submit the paperwork that would make her retirement official.

She said she'll keep busy in her retirement, perhaps volunteering with organizations that help people touched by bullying or suicide.

Klein's oldest son killed himself 10 years ago, making all the more appalling one of the students' taunts: "You don't have a family because they all killed themselves because they don't want to be near you."

The cellphone video, posted online, shows Klein trying her best to ignore the abuse.

The Greece school district has suspended the four students for a year.

KAREN KLEIN THE BUS MONITOR IS SEEN HERE BEING HARASSED BY KIDS ON THE BUS. SHE WAS VERBALLY ABUSED, MOCKED FOR HER WEIGHT, POKED AND PRODDED AND NUDGED WITH A BOOK. (CAPITALTRIGGA/VIA YOUTUBE)

A Toronto man, Max Sidorov, was so moved by Klein's story that he started an online campaign with the goal of raising $5,000 to send her on a vacation. The fundraising site Indiegogo listed the total amount raised at $703,833. A spokeswoman for the site said more than 30,000 people contributed, with donations coming in from at least 84 countries and all 50 U.S. states.

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-styl...icle-1.1124138

I'm so happy for her

amazing what a few dollars from thousands of people can do for one person. I hope she has a happy retirement and those asshole kids never get their names cleared

ABEL-o-matic

Holy Moly! I could use some money! Good for her

jomarr

I am happy for her! Now she can live her life and have her vacation.

Quote:

"You don't have a family because they all killed themselves because they don't want to be near you."

How ****ing insensitive.

Loghen

Deuces

Good for her.

conseeded

That video was horrible

Good for her though

Kang.

I heard about this before.

It's good she gets rewarded like this after what happened; I feel very happy for her.

Hunter_13

This makes me so happy, she deserves all the money

Mzd

Yesssss

Andre

she deserved more i cried when i watched her being bullied

xAyana

She deserves the vacation and all of that money, really good for her.

Chickenchiki

If I was the mother of one those kids, I'd be so embarrassed. What they told her about her family killing themselves is terrible. Glad that she won't have to stand them anymore.

Sunshine.

Quick somebody bully me, I have some bills to pay.

But congrats to her for finding the light in this mess.

brpk

So happy for her. She deserves the best.

vamp

This was blown out of proportions. That was a harsh sentence for the kids. They don't know what they were doing hence the way they spoke to her. This lady should have known what she got into when she started working with these kids. She let this go on for how long? I hate that she let this get to this point without doing anything about it and she made the kids suffer as a result. She should have acted as a grown up and stood up for herself and disciplined the children before letting it escalade the way it did. Instead she acted poorly and let the kids talk that way to her as if she was a child herself. You're a grown up. Act like it.

Jennifer

Good for her!

Jennifer

Quote:

Originally posted by vamp

This was blown out of proportions. That was a harsh sentence for the kids. They don't know what they were doing hence the way they spoke to her. This lady should have known what she got into when she started working with these kids. She let this go on for how long? I hate that she let this get to this point without doing anything about it and she made the kids suffer as a result. She should have acted as a grown up and stood up for herself and disciplined the children before letting it escalade the way it did. Instead she acted poorly and let the kids talk that way to her as if she was a child herself. You're a grown up. Act like it.

I somewhat agree with this, too. What those kids said was mean and everything but I'm pretty sure most of us have said rude things like that, especially at that age. They deserve punishment but a 1 year suspension?? For name calling? Like....

Katamari

Congrats,gurl

BTrisc

Quote:

Originally posted by vamp

This was blown out of proportions. That was a harsh sentence for the kids. They don't know what they were doing hence the way they spoke to her. This lady should have known what she got into when she started working with these kids. She let this go on for how long? I hate that she let this get to this point without doing anything about it and she made the kids suffer as a result. She should have acted as a grown up and stood up for herself and disciplined the children before letting it escalade the way it did. Instead she acted poorly and let the kids talk that way to her as if she was a child herself. You're a grown up. Act like it.

There's not much that bus monitors can do in the way of disciplining the students. Anyways, how could you possibly say "she should have reported it earlier so the kids could get a lesser sentence?" The kids knew damn well what they were doing and were plenty old enough to know it was wrong.

Katamari

Quote:

Originally posted by vamp

This was blown out of proportions. That was a harsh sentence for the kids. They don't know what they were doing hence the way they spoke to her. This lady should have known what she got into when she started working with these kids. She let this go on for how long? I hate that she let this get to this point without doing anything about it and she made the kids suffer as a result. She should have acted as a grown up and stood up for herself and disciplined the children before letting it escalade the way it did. Instead she acted poorly and let the kids talk that way to her as if she was a child herself. You're a grown up. Act like it.