Jessica Flowers, a former bus driver for Chesapeake Public Schools (CPS), said she was forced to quit after making a video of her interacting with students. Flowers and parents called the video, which showed her doing special handshakes with students, totally harmless and fun.
Flowers shared how much she loved her job and the bonds she’d built with the kids she drove, connections that are now broken.
As a mom herself, Flowers has always been big on helping young people, even working in childcare before deciding to switch careers.
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“I accepted the interview and I did everything that I needed to do to become a Chesapeake Public Schools bus driver,” Flowers told 10 On Your Side.
Tara Mark, whose middle schooler was on one of Flowers’ routes, described Flowers’ arrival as a welcome change — a “breath of fresh air”.
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According to Mark, Flowers consistently went above and beyond in her role, a level of dedication they had not experienced previously.
“Since COVID, Chesapeake [Public] Schools have had a challenge with having consistency with bus drivers, ” Mark said.
She immediately made the children feel comfortable, building a great connection with them, she said. Her aim was to make each child feel special as they got on her bus.
“I decided to do a handshake,” Flowers said.
Last week, she recorded a video of herself and each student doing their unique handshake, a move done with parental permission, and later shared it on social media.
“In this day and age you see these kinds of videos go viral and you see the love and the dedication,” Mark said.
Chesapeake Public Schools, however, wasn’t too happy with her actions.
Flowers mentioned that the school division told her she had broken an unannounced “zero tolerance” social media policy. She was given the choice to resign or be fired. 10 On Your Side reached out to Chesapeake Public Schools for more details and they confirmed it.
“Chesapeake Public Schools generally does not provide information to the media regarding the specifics of personnel matters,” the school division said in a statement.
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Mark remarked, “Policy is very important, but so is common sense and compassion.”
They’re both hoping this leads to a policy change.
In an emotional interview with WTKR News 3, Flowers said she loves her job and didn’t realize she had violated the school system’s social media policy.
“I’m here to make a difference,” she expressed.
CPS has stated that its strict policy mandates parental consent and social media training for publishing content on social media, neither of which the individual in question completed, as reported by WTKR News 3.
All CPS personnel are required to adhere to Board policies and regulations concerning student privacy, professional conduct, social media usage, and appropriate student communication. These policies explicitly limit the photographing or filming of students for personal social media and restrict one-to-one communication with students through personal devices. The School Board’s website provides public access to these policies.
In this case, the employee did not obtain parental permission before filming and posting a video of students to her personal social media account, relying instead on verbal consent from the students, CPS said. She was assigned training on the appropriate use of social media and professional communication with students; however, she chose not to complete the required training, it added.
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