We at the Revolution wanted to stop and recognize some very special people.  The students on bus five headed for Grad Bash last week are some pretty remarkable young men and women.  In crafting the story, we came across a letter from Mr. Barlow’s wife Jeannie to Mrs. Morris that relates the events of the evening in a way that traditional reporting simply cannot.  We publish here, in its entirety, Mrs. Barlow’s words.  Spoiler alert:  you might need a tissue when you read of the behaviors of some true FHS Patriots.

Principal Morris,

To introduce myself, my name is Jeannie Barlow and I am the wife of a Social Studies teacher at Freedom High School.  My husband, Jim, and I had the pleasure of chaperoning Freedom High School seniors to Grad Night at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure last Friday night.  I am writing to recount a story of incredible selflessness that I observed during the course of the evening.  The behavior of the group of students under our care that night was nothing short of amazing and I still can’t believe they all acted so unselfishly.

There were five buses scheduled to transport the Freedom High students to Grad Night.  The students and chaperones were told that the buses would be leaving at 5:00 p.m. in order to arrive in plenty of time for the event opening at 7:00 p.m.  Unfortunately, the buses were late in arriving at the school due to heavy traffic, so instead of leaving school grounds at the scheduled departure time, we did not actually leave until after 6:00 p.m.

My husband and I were assigned to Bus #5 with the Assistant Principal and his wife, Mrs. Nays and her son Taylor, and 30 students.  Bus #5 was equipped with a handicap lift to accommodate Taylor, who has muscular dystrophy.  After Taylor and his wheelchair were placed on the bus, the remaining students then boarded, followed by the chaperones.  My husband and I ended up sitting in the back of the bus with Taylor and his mother.

As luck would have it, after leaving the school over one hour later than initially planned, the bus was on the highway for no more than 15 minutes when a tire blew.  The bus driver pulled off to the side of the road immediately and parked next to a guardrail which was there to protect vehicles from the steep incline of the adjacent grassy area.

At this point the bus driver made the necessary telephone calls.  I was not privy to who he contacted, but I can only assume that he called his bus company to report the blown tire.  The bus company must have decided to send out both a second bus and someone who would attempt to repair the tire.  The students on Bus #5 were incredibly well behaved during the entire time that we waited for help to arrive.  They talked amongst themselves and played quiet games during our seemingly endless wait.  In the meantime, unbeknownst to the students, the adults were discussing how to get Taylor off the bus.  Taylor’s mother was extremely worried about the closeness of the guardrail and the steep incline of the adjacent grassy area and the obvious inability to operate the handicap lift because of this situation.  Mrs. Nays was hoping that a police officer from Hillsborough County would block one of the lanes on the highway to allow the bus to pull out in order to operate the handicap lift.

Two hours after our departure, at approximately 8:00 p.m., a second bus pulled in front of our bus.  The students cheered and immediately stood in preparation for exiting the one bus to board the second bus so they could finally be on their way to Grad Night.  They stood for approximately five to ten minutes before they realized that they would not be allowed to exit the bus.  Without a sound they proceeded to sit, and appeared to be waiting for further instructions.  What they didn’t know was that the second bus did not have a fully operational handicap lift and therefore, even if the adults could figure a way to get Taylor off the first bus, there was no way to board him onto the second bus.

Also during this time help had arrived to attempt to have the blown tire changed, but unfortunately the position of the guardrail hindered the ability of the man with the jack to raise the bus up enough to have the tire changed.  It appeared as if the viable options for getting Taylor and his wheelchair safely off the bus were rapidly diminishing.

The Assistant Principal approached Mrs. Nays to relay the difficulty they were having in figuring a way to get Taylor off the one bus and onto the second bus.  He said they would have to figure a way to have the tire changed, but in the interim the rest of the students could board the second bus in order to get to Grad Night.  He indicated that he and his wife would stay with the Nays, while my husband and I went with the students on the second bus.  We all agreed that this seemed to be the only acceptable option and the Assistant Principal proceeded to inform the students that they would need to board the second bus so they could finally be on their way to Grad Night.

My husband and I started to gather our belongings in preparation for the transfer.  As the Assistant Principal finished his instructions, I heard several of the students ask how Taylor would be transferred to the second bus.  Mrs. Nays explained that she and Taylor would wait until the damaged tire could be changed because there was no way to safely transfer Taylor to the second bus.  At this point, without hesitation, I heard several of the students say that they would not leave their friend behind.  They said they would all wait with Taylor until the bus tire could be changed.  I did not hear one objection to this plan as they all calmly decided to potentially forfeit their experience at Grad Night because of their loyalty to Taylor.  I think my mouth must have dropped in surprise.  I could not believe these kids were consciously relinquishing Grad Night to stay on the damaged bus with their friend.  Not only did they pay $100 each for tickets, but all their friends on the other buses were already at Grad Night having fun.  Yet knowing this, they still all decided to remain with Taylor.

Shortly after most of the students decided to remain with Taylor, the Assistant Principal informed my husband and me that three students had chosen to board the other bus to go to Grad Night.  He indicated they would need chaperones and we were to travel with them to the theme park to ensure they would get there and back safely.  Nobody could fault the three who chose to take the second bus.  They had paid for their tickets, and it was already 9:00 p.m. at this time.  There would be no guarantee that the other bus would even ever get to Grad Night.  As it turned out, the damaged tire on the first bus was eventually changed, but it was already after 10:00 p.m. at this time and too late to make the trip to Grad Night.  The bus returned with its occupants back to the school.  Grad Night never happened that night for Taylor or his friends.

I wanted to write this email to you to relay an outsider’s point of view regarding the incredible act of unselfishness displayed by the 27 students who chose to remain with their friend.  I wish something could be done to reward such exemplary behavior especially since it flies in the face of all the negativity reported in the world today.  I am proud to have known those 27 kids for the brief time that my life intertwined with theirs.  I will probably never see any of them again, yet I will never forget what they did.  Whenever I hear a story of hate, revenge, and selfishness, I will think about them and the sacrifice they made for one of their own, and I will know that there is hope in this world.  I want to thank them for giving me that.