Knife Allegedly Pulled on Student on Bus

CLARIFICATION: District 186 has not confirmed reports of a student being threatened with a knife. The information we
have is based on statements from parents and students.

Friday morning, Tracy Kriener's second grade son rode the bus to school, like every other day.

He got into an argument with another student. That kid's sibling jumped in, in defense.

"He became angry because Hunter kicked his sister, held the knife to Hunter's throat and said I'm going to kill you," Kriener explained.

Another child reported the incident when the bus arrived at Jane Addams Elementary. Hunter was not hurt but Kriener still finds this frustrating.

"A thousand horrible images ran through my mind, and all this time I'm thinking how could this happen with a monitor on the bus," she said. "I thought there were monitors this whole time, only to find out there's not."

District 186 recently made changes to how funds are distributed to schools, which affected how buses are supervised.

"Bus monitors were a part of the budget cut not too long ago, but I can't say for sure that every bus monitor was cut for sure," Pete Sherman, the district's Director of Communications, said.

"It's absolutely horrifying,"said Heather Peart. Her kids also ride the bus. They have come home and told her about multiple problems.

"We've had incidents already with my first grader, there was another child bullying him," Pert said. "I told him are you telling the bus driver, plus he has an older brother on the bus... I told him and they said yea mom we told the bus driver and all he tells us to do is tell the teacher."

Kriener still allows her son to ride the bus, but she still worries about students not having supervision.

"They've taken bus monitors out of the budgets and the what ifs, the what could happen next? You know, it's horrifying," she said.

The student who allegedly pulled the knife out on Kriener's son was suspended for 10 days.

We were outside of Jane Addams Tuesday and did see bus monitors on some of the buses.

The police were not involved with the situation on Friday. That's because the school and First Student bus company did not report it. Knife Allegedly Pulled on Student on Bus