What Tribune reporter Sarah Stultz found this week is that a really scary situation occurred last Friday on Bus 344. Parents deserved to know what happened immediately — not after the local newspaper has to dig it up.

In fact, not just parents need to know, but anyone in the district. More than merely parents have a stake in this school district.

When no officials from the bus company, the police department, the sheriff’s office and the school district took the time to ask the children on Bus 344 what happened Friday, Stultz did.

This newspaper has made a commitment to protect children from bullies, whether the bully is a child or a grown-up. Our story Thursday speaking with 11-year-olds reflects this. The Bus 344 incident is no small matter to be swept under a rug.

Let’s be clear about this. It is verbal bullying if a person — child or adult — says, “Hey, black kid, get your ass up here.”

And was it racism? Well, whether the driver said it or not remains an allegation. However, racism is not a difficult concept. When half the children on a school bus are chanting “Racism, racism, racism!” the grown-ups in the community ought to have the truth served to them with alacrity. Many other kids on that bus were downright frightened.

We want education and law enforcement officials to take this incident as seriously as this newspaper does. Send a clear message about what this community tolerates and what it does not. Imagine the same words spoken to adults: “Hey, black teacher, get your ass over here.” “Hey, black reporter, get your ass over here.” “Hey, black cop, get your ass over here.”

Such words would be grounds for termination.

Also, the Albert Lea School District and the Albert Lea Bus Co. would be wise to come up with a method for getting facts before the public. It appears the bus company circled the wagons, downplayed inquiries and offered misleading tales. Such insular behavior only makes suspicions worse. Meanwhile, the school district simply didn’t have facts. How can it duly assure parents of the children on that bus if it doesn’t possess the appropriate knowledge? It needed to apply leverage to get the truth out of the bus company.

Just because our children step onto buses run by a private company doesn’t mean the public loses its right to know. Public money still pays for the contract that keeps the buses running.

We hope local law enforcement follows up on its initial three-car response Friday to Bus 344 at Clark Street and Newton Avenue by doing what’s right — conduct an investigation. It wouldn’t be hard to get a manifest of the passengers, and the new buses possess video cameras. The full detailed facts would be quickly available to people with the legal authority to gather them.