Driver 'encouraged students to be bullies'
A school bus driver has been accused of creating a hierarchy among his preteen and young teen charges that encouraged older students to bully younger ones to keep order.
“It was Lord of the Flies with adult supervision,” said William Smith, spokesman for Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan, referring to the novel and movie about a group of boys left to fend for themselves on an island.
The driver, Michael Cianci, was charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and released on £280.
Cianci allegedly encouraged students in his so-called Death Cheese Club - allegedly named for the yellow school bus – to use headlocks on other students and push them around beginning about three months ago, Smith said.
The bullying system on the bus was brought to the attention of authorities after a student cut the jacket of another student with scissors and Cianci allegedly failed to report it.
Cianci also allegedly forced a group of students around ages 11 and 12 to recite a set of “rules” – a 12-tiered ranking system that ended with a proclamation that “Mercy will not be tolerated.”
Smith said there was no explanation as to why the students did not report the bullying system sooner.
The first complaint came on January 17 when the parents of the 11-year-old boy whose jacket was cut reported it to school authorities, Smith said. The parents of another 11-year-old boy filed a complaint at around the same time when their son told them of ongoing harassment on the bus in the form of headlocks and shoving.
Smith said there were no direct threats against any of the students beyond the “rules” the driver posted that set a pecking order on the bus.
The Department of Education said Cianci was suspended without pay. It said he has been a certified bus driver for 15 years and had no prior complaints against him.
