I WAS SO ANGRY.....

I have always thought of all people, I would be one level headed woman when it came to issues with my children. I really did.

Not so, number one.......I nearly lost my mind yesterday. On Wednesday afternoon, my middle son (MS) came home from school and asked to speak to me privately. Uh oh, is what I first thought. What has he done now. (He tends to run his mouth alot and trouble seems to find him). I am not blind to my child's faults.

Apparently, another boy had punched him in the mouth on the bus on the way home from school and called him some rather unflattering names. The first question I asked was what did you say that made him hit you? Okay, that was so wrong. I backed up and said, it doesn't matter, nothing gives him the right to hit you.

So I went to the school, the principal wasn't there and the snotty woman at the front desk informed me that there was no one there that could speak in her absence. WTF??? Is this a public school or what? She didn't even ask me what I needed to speak with her about. And finally, when I said, you mean to tell me that someone can assault my child and you can't help me? Then she was like, Oh where did it happen. When she found out it was on the bus, she said we can't help you, you'll have to go so and so. I was livid.
So I went to so and so and they pulled the video of the bus ride home. Guess what, you can clearly see my son trying to ignore this person. This other person got up from a seat behind where my son was sitting and began punching his arm. (My son will not fight because we have told him it is not the way to handle things). So on the video you can see this other person get up while the bus is moving and change seats to deliberately antagonize my son. And on the video you can clearly see my son trying his best to keep his back turned to the other person. The other person hit him about three times on his arm and then my son turned around and put his hands up around his face. The other person stood up and punched him right in the face. I didn't know they had videos on the bus. Well, needless to say, I called the principal later in the day to find out what had been done about this other person. She tells me, get this, they cannot tell me anything about the discipline of the other child because it would violate HIS rights. Are you kidding me? What about my child's rights to an education without living in fear of some bully?
We try very hard to do what's right, but I'm freaking out over all this stuff.
Anyone with similar experiences have any advice for me. I'd love to hear it.