Two Bullies Apologize to School Bus Monitor Karen Klein (VIDEO)

Two young bullies have issued apologies to the 68-year-old school bus monitor they drove to tears earlier this week.

Appearing on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 last night, Karen Klein, a New York bus monitor, discussed the verbal abuse she endured when a handful of young students from Athena Middle School harassed her on the ride home Monday afternoon, then uploaded the video to YouTube.

On the program, it was revealed that two of the students had issued statements of apology to Klein.

“I am so sorry for the way I treated you,” one of the students, Josh, said in a statement. “When I saw the video I was disgusted and could not believe I did that.”

Klein, though, says she’s not sure she believes Josh.

“Even if he wasn’t picking on me, it was something else,” Klein told Cooper. “So I just don’t think I would believe anything Josh had to say.”

Another student named Wesley said he feels “really bad” about what happened on Monday.

“I wish I had never done those things,’ Wesley said in a statement. “If that had happened to someone in my family, like my mother or grandmother, I would be really mad at the people who did that to them.”

Still, Karen Klein says neither student has apologized to her face-to-face, and she doubts the rest of the bullies will even apologize at all.

Yesterday, we posted the footage of the abuse Klein endured, which quickly went viral around the internet.  The YouTube video has attracted close to 4 million views so far and shows students mercilessly poking, insulting, and threatening Klein, with one of them suggesting her family kill themselves.

A fundraising effort on Klein’s behalf has now generated more than $450,000, enough for her to retire.

UPDATE: Klein has received over $700,000 as part of a fundraiser

“It’s a nice gesture, but I don’t know if it’s real or not,” she told Anderson Cooper last night. “It sounds too good to be true.”

Earlier this week, the father of one of the bullies said his family has been getting death threats.

Klein says she doesn’t plan to file charges, but both the school and local police department are conducting an investigation.

Despite the bullying incident, Klein says she doesn’t think the students that harassed her are nasty kids “deep down.”

“I want them to make sure that they never do this again, to anybody,” she said. “I would like them to be at least kept off the bus for a year, and be forbidden to play any sports.

“Somebody mentioned community service, and I thought that was a pretty good idea, too.”

Check out more from Karen Klein’s appearance on Anderson Cooper 360 below, and see the full video of the bullying incident here.

Related articles

• New York School Bullies Drive Bus Monitor Karen Huff Klein to Tears (VIDEO) (blippitt.com)
• Father of bus aide bully speaks out (wivb.com)
• Karen Klein, the Bus Monitor Mercilessly Bullied by Middle Schoolers, Speaks Out on Fox and Friends (foxnewsinsider.com)
• Group Raises Thousands to Help School Bus Monitor After Bullies Berate Her to Tears (fox4kc.com)