Last week, after a Polk County, Florida student missed his bus and ended taking a different one back home, he lamented to the driver that he hoped his two moms wouldn’t be mad at him.

The driver, Violeta Jacobo, responded by saying “God doesn’t like that” and that the the boy wouldn’t get into Heaven because of his parents’ homosexuality. Then she gave him a business card for the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

It didn’t just end there. Since that day, the boy has been telling his mothers they shouldn’t be together. And all the while, the bus driver kept her job. She received a warning, more or less, but she was still behind the wheel.

That finally changed this week.

The Polk County School District has placed a bus driver on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation into accusations that she told a second-grade boy he and his moms are going to hell because of his parents’ same-sex relationship.

That’s precisely what they should’ve done from the beginning. Investigate the issue and relieve the driver of her duties until they can confirm or deny what happened.

If it turns out she really did unleash her anti-gay rhetoric on a child, then there’s no doubt she doesn’t deserve to stay in her job. A slap on the wrist — in the form of a suspension or special training — wouldn’t be enough. She needs to be dismissed.

(Image via Shutterstock. Thanks to David for the link)



