Widow bullied on school bus

Associated Press

Karen Klein, 68, speaks about the verbal abuse she endured from middle school students during an incident on a school bus.

New York - A fund set up for an upstate New York grandmother has taken in more than $330 000 in just over 24 hours after a video showing her being bullied by middle-schoolers on a school bus went viral on the Internet.

The 10-minute video, in which students from Athena Middle School in suburban Rochester insult 68-year-old bus monitor Karen Klein, making her cry, has received more than 1.8 million views on YouTube.

In an interview with the Today Show on Thursday about the video, Klein said: “I'm sure they don't act that way at home, but you never know what they're going to do when they're out of the house. They should have been taught to respect their elders.”

In response, a donation fund started on the website indiegogo.com reached $330 000 for Klein at 5.50pm EDT on Thursday and was still climbing, according to a live tally posted on the site. The fund was created on Wednesday.

The post connected to the fund says that Klein “doesn't earn nearly enough” to deal with the children bullying her. “Let's give her something she will never forget, a vacation of a lifetime!”

Max Sidorov, who started the fund, told CNN he felt heartbroken for Klein after seeing the video. “I felt I had to do something for her,” he said.

A statement from the Greece Central School District, where Athena Middle School is located, said police have become involved in an investigation of the incident, interviewing “all of those involved”.

“We do not tolerate harassment of staff or students,” the statement said.

Klein, whose Facebook page says she has been widowed for about 17 years, was scheduled to appear with Anderson Cooper on CNN and on Fox News’s Fox & Friends later on Thursday. - Reuters