Karen Klein, the American school bus monitor who was subject to a torrent of abuse from middle school pupils, plans to retire after a fundraiser brought her more than $700,000.
Karen Klein, the American school bus monitor who was subject to a torrent of abuse from middle school pupils, plans to retire after a fundraiser brought her more than $700,000.
The video of the 68-year old Klein being bullied reached well over 1 million views on YouTube, and caught the eye of Max Sidirov from Toronto. Sidirov, once a bully victim himself, made a fundraising page hoping to bring in $5,000 for Klein to take a vacation. When the campaign finished Friday night, the donations totalled $703,873.
“I want to save some, I want to invest in some things to make it grow, and donate to a couple of groups that I have in mind,” she told the Canadian Press over the phone from her home in Rochester, N.Y.
While she says a vacation across the U.S. is likely, Klein has a granddaughter who has Down syndrome and a grandson with autism, and wants to help out organizations for kids with special needs. She also confirmed that she will not be coming back to work as a bus monitor this fall.