There Are “Two Sides To Every Story” Rings True Here

Sometimes, when a story breaks, it’s easy to come down on one side or the other. Still, the old idiom, there are always two sides to every story,” holds true. That said, one side may not be compelling at all, but it still exists.

Last week, a story surfaced about a school bus driver in Pennsylvania who was fired for posting a sign on her bus that read, "Out of respect for English-only students, there will be NO speaking Spanish on this bus!"

I have no idea how you will digest that, but I was not personally offended by it because I suspected the driver had some reason to post it. The driver’s name is Diana Crawford. She is a 66-year-old independent contractor who has driven a school bus for three decades.

She posted the sign to stop what she interpreted as bullying by a student who accomplished it by speaking Spanish.

In an interview with WHP-TV in Harrisburg, Crawford explained what she was trying to do with the sign, and just as importantly, what she was not trying to do.

“I didn’t mean to be racially insensitive or anything like that. Maybe I should have worded it differently. Maybe it should have said, ‘No bullying in any language,’ but I didn’t mean it to be anything but to correct.”

The problem was that a student was using Spanish to disrupt the atmosphere on the bus.

“I didn’t know if he was bullying somebody, telling them to do something that they shouldn’t do. I thought I heard him saying ‘Gordo’ and--I understand some of the words--I don’t know who he was talking to, but I assume he is directing it at me.”

“Gordo” is a Spanish word for “fat.”

“I didn’t know if he was bullying somebody, telling them to do something they shouldn’t do. How do you keep control of your bus if you have no control?”

Crawford is absolutely correct. She is responsible for EVERY student on the bus, and if one student was disrupting the ride by bullying others in a language they don’t understand, she had every right to retake control of her bus.

Yesterday, left-leaning Newsweek reported the incident and stated:

“The incident has sparked a debate about the balance between safety and cultural sensitivity in school environments.”

What debate? There is no debate. Student safety should always outweigh everything.

However, the Juniata School District and Rohrer Bus, the company with which Crawford subcontracted, stated that the driver simply had to leave.

In a joint statement, according to WHP, they stated:

“Following the incident in question, the District and Rohrer jointly reviewed the situation in accordance with established procedures. The investigation concluded after the subcontractor provided a written admission confirming that the signage had been installed on her bus. At that point, the relevant facts of the situation were fully known and discussed among District and Rohrer leadership.”

“Based on those facts, and after careful consideration, the District and Rohrer determined that the conduct did not align with the standards and expectations for student transportation providers.”

“Juniata County School District and Rohrer Bus stand by the decision made in this matter and remain committed to providing a safe and inclusive transportation environment for all students.”

Right. Diana had only been transporting children for three decades; if only they had a larger sample size.

Fortunately, Diana’s story is gaining attention beyond central Pennsylvania. Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights during the Trump administration, has taken notice, and she doesn’t sound pleased.

She posted on X:

Diana’s motivation for posting the sign was certainly not nefarious or racially biased in any way.

“I dedicated everything I had to driving a bus,” she said. “And it was for the kids. I love the kids. And a lot of the kids love me.”

After hearing the explanation, the reasonable thing to do would have been to discuss the situation with the person who complained and simply explain that no malice was intended. Instead, they overreacted to the thin-skinned snowflake’s grievance, and instead of sparing a woman who meant no harm her job, they coldheartedly fired her.

These are the things that happen when spineless officials fall to their knees and worship at the altar of the left. Innocent people get hurt. Diana’s intentions were only to keep the children safe; her only crime was a poorly worded sign.