Johnny Cook was a school bus driver in Haralson, Georgia, until he lost his job due to a Facebook post. When Johnny returned home one evening after finishing his bus route, the Georgia man, who also trains horses, went straight to the stables. But one scenario kept recurring in his memory while he was attempting to deal with an animal.
He couldn’t ignore it, regardless of how hard he tried, so he resolved to do something about it. Johnny revealed to others that he was “feeling frazzled” when he sat down at his computer, praying that he would never hear another tale like the one he had heard earlier that day.
This evening, a middle schooler came on his bus and said, Mr. Johnny, he is hungry,’ the bus driver stated on social media. What’s the matter, buddy? Johnny remembered questioning the youngster. Did he not have lunch? He wasn’t expecting the response he was going to get.
The kid answered, No sir, he didn’t have any money on his account, Johnny said, detailing his conversation with the hungry student. He was perplexed, so he explained the child’s assertion, saying, They wouldn’t let him charge it? No, sir, he was informed again. This irritated Johnny Cook for a range of reasons.
One can’t let this youngster eat since he is already on reduced lunch. Are you kidding? Johnny expressed his displeasure in a Facebook post. He is sure there was some leftover food thrown out today. However, children were turned away because they lacked $40 on their accounts, he continued. As a taxpayer, he would rather feed a kid than waste money.
A lil flustered this evening. A middle schooler got on my bus this evening and said mr johnny im hungry. I said why are…
Posted by Johnny Cook on Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Then he tried to ensure that this never occurred to another hungry youngster. Please contact him the next time they can’t feed a youngster for forty cents, he added, publicizing his personal phone number. They’ll scrounge together the cash, he joked, before adding, this is what the world has come to.
About 200 people hit it, liked it, loved it, and did all the Facebook stuff, and it just took off, Johnny Cook remembered. And it didn’t end there. But not all agreed with him, as he was about to discover the following day when he was summoned for a meeting with the school’s administrator.
According to Haralson County Superintendent Brett Stanton, he carefully researched the matter and determined that the events described in Johnny Cook’s article did not occur. Not only was Stanton sure that the youngster would have been handed a packed lunch, but he also maintains that security footage proves the child did not walk through the lunch line at all. As a result, the bus driver was given a deadline. He might remove the message and apologize, or he could be fired.
In his heart of hearts, he believed the kid was telling the truth, as Johnny said of the pupil. The nameless sixth grader’s family also supported his tale, even writing a statement about what occurred. The youngster described the events exactly as Johnny described them, yet it made no difference in terms of the bus driver’s employment.
Johnny, who believed the student, refused to back down and deny the statement, which led to his dismissal. He has no regrets, though. He is glad that he was able to take a position when others may not have been able to and that he can perhaps, in some small way, influence a change, he said, adding that this isn’t the first time a kid has reportedly gone without a meal at school due to a lunch debt.
In other circumstances, they’ve been ordered to throw away the food they’ve chosen and are offered an alternate snack, such as cheese and juice. Approximately 40 primary school kids in Edgewood, Kentucky, went without normal meals throughout the state testing period due to overdrawn funds, CNN said.
While it is the duty of the parent to pay for their child’s lunch, the school should be the first line of defense in recognizing students who do not have their fundamental requirements addressed. When questioned about whether someone should have noticed the youngster hadn’t eaten, Superintendent Stanton stated, it’s really tough to see when one has over a thousand pupils. With a comment like that, it seems like the incorrect person was dismissed. Johnny Cook is the kind of individual we want caring for our kids, not those who are overly preoccupied with whether or not they are being fed.
