Ever notice that children tend to behave better for supervising adults who respect them more? Smile and treat a kid like you treat a fellow adult, and suddenly the child feels the behavioral expectations.

The Albert Lea School District and the Albert Lea Bus Co. took the appropriate disciplinary action in the Bus 344 case and did it swiftly. The driver who had spoken disparagingly to a student, prompting the bus to break out into a chant of “Racist, racist, racist!” was relieved of his duties.

It all comes down to respect. In fact, so many issues in life do.

As we ask students to respect each other and their elders, we elders need to respect the students just the same. Instead of yelling at the offender, the driver had smarter options. For instance, he could have stopped the bus and easily garnered the support of every single passenger by saying: “Please remain seated so we can all go home. I cannot drive the bus until you sit.”

And when the child sits, reward good behavior with two words, “Thank you.”

If the adults who interact with our children don’t display respect, how can we expect anti-bullying efforts to be successful?

We do praise Superintendent Mike Funk wrote in response to the Bus 344 incident: “Providing a safe, healthy and welcoming environment for the district remains the top district priority. As a district, we have behavioral expectations for our students, and those adults that work with them.”

It is the right response.

He also asked students and parents to let him or principals know when there are concerns about student safety. In other words, this is a big deal to the school district administration. They want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

That, too, is the right answer.