As a kid, it wasn't always obvious how big a difference an attentive bus driver can make. There's a wide gap between a reasonably fine drive to a place most of us didn't want to go and a chaotic ride that made boring classes seem like a blessing by comparison.
For many of my school days, my bus driver was a man I could describe as "tough, but fair." He had a sense of humor and didn't mind a little chit-chat, but he also made it clear that if kids acted up enough, he would drive us back to school and make us wait like we had detention.
But as miserable as it was when his replacement did nothing about a group of girls loudly singing the same three songs every morning, one unfortunate story from Wisconsin makes it clear how dangerous that unresponsiveness can be.
