Students on Albert Lea Bus 344 on Friday afternoon chanted, “Racist, racist, racist!” in response to an interaction between two passengers on the bus and its driver.

Parents are still asking questions about the incident — to which police responded — but have been unable to find out much other than what their own children are telling them.

Not all the students were chanting. Some were just scared. One parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said his child called him three times crying from the bus that afternoon wanting to get off, but ultimately the child stayed on board until he was dropped off near his home.

Despite multiple attempts, Richard Polley, the general manager of the Albert Lea Bus Co., could not be reached for a comment Wednesday, even after the Tribune went to his house and spoke with his wife, who then called him while he was golfing. Earlier in the week, Polley called the incident a mere misunderstanding, claiming the bus driver just was confused about an uncooperative student he thought was not supposed to be on the bus.

Students aboard the bus are saying otherwise.

According to two 11-year-old students on the bus — speaking with the Tribune in separate interviews but with matching accounts — there were three or four students crammed into the bus seats that afternoon. At least one child was sitting in the aisle and at least one other was standing.

The bus contained students from an elementary school and Southwest Middle School.

The students said the bus was loud because of all of the activity and the driver — whose identity has not been able to be confirmed — kept yelling out to a black student to sit down.

This student kept standing back up, and then the next thing the children knew the driver pulled the bus over near the intersection of Clark Street and Newton Avenue.

“Hey, black kid, get your ass up here,” students recount the driver saying.

After that, a taller black student from the middle school responded to the driver. He reportedly called the driver a racist and flipped both his middle fingers at him. The bus driver went to the back of the bus and confronted him.

Shortly after, at least a third of the bus, maybe half, began chanting “racist, racist, racist” at the driver.

The driver ultimately called police.

Albert Lea Police Department student resource officer Ted Herman said a Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office deputy was the first to arrive at Clark and Newton, after which came Albert Lea officer Rod Davis and then Herman.

Dispatchers, based on the call from the driver, told police officers that students were out of control on a bus, he noted.

Herman said when he arrived children were acting unruly and some were trying to get off the bus, but no one — students or driver — approached the officers to tell of any comments about potentially racist statements. However, the officers conducted no interviews, either.

“If there was (a racist statement alleged), we would have definitely done an investigation into it because that’s something we do not tolerate,” he said.

Herman said two parents picked up kids while he was there. One of the students the Tribune talked with, however, recalled about five parents coming to pick up their kids.

Once the bus started on its route again, almost every student on the bus got off at the next stop — in front of City Hall — and decided instead to walk home, according to a student the Tribune interviewed.

Some of the children were also upset with how the police responded. The deputy, reportedly, yelled at the children to calm down, rather than asked questions about what had happened.

Steve Anderson, Albert Lea Area Schools director of facilities and transportation, and Jim Quiram, director of technology and human resources, said they were surprised to hear the account given by the students. They have talked with representatives from the bus company but heard different information.

Quiram said at this point, the district has only addressed the incident as a bus personnel issue.

They said they heard there was some yelling on the bus and said there were kids chanting and dancing, but they are not aware of what they were chanting or why.

If what the students say is true, “those are things we would take seriously and take a look at,” he said.

What they are concerned about is that the behavior was stopped and dealt with immediately, he added.

Anderson said he had been under the impression that no children walked home. And he mentioned the account of the incident that Polley told the Tribune on Monday about the “misunderstanding,” which was printed Tuesday, was not the same as what Polley had told district officials.

Albert Lea Bus Co. reported Monday the driver has been transferred to a different route.

Quiram said because of the good relationship the bus company has had with the district, the district trusts the bus company will work to resolve the issue.

“We’ve always had a good working relationship with them,” he said. “Dealing with student issues here, I wouldn’t expect this would be any different.”

Parent Cathy Purdie said she hopes regardless of what happened, there can be some closure for the students on the bus.

“It was a scary experience,” Purdie said. “Three cops being called is not normal.

“There was disrespect on the bus driver’s part, there was disrespect on a lot of the children’s part. What should be the lesson learned?”

As of Wednesday, no police report had been created.