Ohio bus driver Jackie Miller says she misses the kids she used to drive, but won’t be returning to the job that she quit in haste after being bullied by a group of misbehaved students.
The GoFundMe that launched in the aftermath of the uproar over a viral video of Miller yelling at the students has so far collected north of $60,000 to help support the bus driver as she takes some time off and finds a new job.
In an interview with a local news station, Miller said she ‘has no words to say how grateful I am for all the people who have supported me,’ adding that most of the kids she drove regularly were ‘smart and wonderful.’
In a viral video, Miller is seen storming down the aisle of her bus after a student told her that somebody had sprayed perfume.
Jackie Miller was caught on camera, in a video that then went viral, berating students after they sprayed perfume on her bus
‘How much more do you expect me to f*****g take?’ she yelled, then demanded to know which student had done it.
All the students denied spraying anything, but Miller insisted she could ‘freaking smell it.’
‘I’m sick of you, I’m done with it,’ she said, pointing out individual students. ‘I’m gonna start f*****g kicking some serious a**.
‘Do you hear me?’ she yelled. ‘My foot’s gonna be so far up your a** it’s gonna dangle out your f*****g nose.’
As the kids kept denying they’d sprayed perfume, Miller insisted she could smell it, saying: ‘I’m allergic to that s**t.
‘I ought to walk off this bus right now and let you people walk the f**k home,’ she said.
Despite the severity of her reaction, Miller later defended her actions, telling 3News how just a month prior the same group of students had intentionally sprayed perfume on the bus and caused her to have a serious asthma attack.
‘She sprayed perfume on the bus and I had a horrible asthma attack,’ she said.
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‘I had to stop the bus, grab my inhaler and try to get my lungs to open up again. I had all the kids open up all the windows they know this.’
Miller became an unlikely hero as scores of people leapt to her defense over what they felt was a fair reaction to a dangerous situation.
A local store in Amherst, Ohio even started selling t-shirts with her infamous exasperated declaration printed on it, donating some of the proceeds to the school bus driver.
Donors to the GoFundMe page were also supportive of Miller’s behavior in the face of what they saw as aggravating and dangerous behavior from the students.
Rosalind Robbins wrote: ‘Thanks for keeping the kids safe all those years! I’ve seen bus drivers save kids lives by quickly pulling them back out of harms way when oncoming car illegally speeding around bus as kids depart. You definitely don’t deserve to be treated poorly by teens who should have been taught to respect the adult in charge.’
Michael Glassman wrote: ‘Thanks for saying what should have been said to these kids long ago.’
April G. added: ‘Thank you, Jackie! So few parents raise decent human beings any more [sic]! You deserve the very best. Happy retirement to you!’
A t-shirt with Miller’s quote on it. A portion of the sales is going to Miller to help her out
Though Miller later told 3News that she regretted the incident, she said that she would not take it back and that she felt her behavior was justified.
Miller explained that those students had been intentionally provoking her for years and that when the perfume was sprayed again after the first incident she’d finally had enough.
‘I’m sorry for the way this went down, I truly am,’ she said. ‘I do apologize for my actions, but I won’t take it back.
‘This is a plight of all bus drivers, we are treated in the worst possible sense of the word,’ she added. ‘We are treated with such lack of respect.’
The Dailymail.com has reached out to the organizers of the GoFundMe as well as to Jackie Miller.
