A central Pennsylvania school bus driver who was fired at the beginning of 2025 for posting an “English only” sign in the vehicle is spending the end of the year explaining why the move was necessary.
For 66-year-old Diana Crawford, an independent contractor, the sign was a way to stop what she thought was bullying on her bus by a bilingual student who made a point of doing it in Spanish.
And she’s getting some high-level support from President Donald Trump’s administration.
Crawford gave a tearful interview broadcast Thursday by WHP-TV in Harrisburg, where she described what she was trying to do with the sign — and what she was not trying to do.
“I didn’t mean to be racially insensitive or anything like that,” Crawford said.
The problem was a student who was using Spanish to disrupt the atmosphere on the bus.
“I didn’t know if he was bullying somebody, telling them to do something they shouldn’t do,” Crawford said. “How do you keep control of your bus if you have no control?”
It doesn’t appear the school district has responded to that — or even has an interest in doing so.
But the answer is as black-and-white as the lettering on Crawford’s sign: You can’t keep control. And as the bus driver, responsible for the safety of the young students in her charge, Crawford had not only the right, but the obligation, to find a way to get that control back.
But in the public school system of the United States in the 21st century, controlling students is apparently an afterthought to paying respect to the poisonous idea of “diversity” for diversity’s sake.
And the sign got Crawford summarily sidelined from a job she loved.
A Newsweek report published Monday shed the kind of unwitting light on the story that a liberal publication can come up with sometimes — if only by accident.
“The incident has sparked a debate about the balance between safety and cultural sensitivity in school environments,” the magazine pointed out piously.
Really? Most Americans probably didn’t realize there even was a debate that supposedly balanced student safety with something as amorphous as “cultural sensitivity.”
In fact, it’s a solid bet that for most parents in the United States — regardless of their ethnic background or what language is spoken in the home — the safety of their children soundly trumps any concerns about “cultural sensitivity.”
A debate? It’s not even a question.
But in the condescending educratese common in the world of public education today, the Juniata School District and Rohrer Bus, the company Crawford subcontracted with, explained that the driver simply had to go.
In a joint statement, according to WHP, they noted:
“Following the incident in question, the District and Rohrer jointly reviewed the situation in accordance with established procedures. The investigation concluded after the subcontractor provided a written admission confirming that the signage had been installed on her bus. At that point, the relevant facts of the situation were fully known and discussed among District and Rohrer leadership.”
Ah-ha! They conducted a “joint investigation” about a sign that managed to prove behind a doubt that there was, in fact, a sign. They even had a “written admission” that there was a sign.
At that point “the relevant facts of the situation were fully known.”
And guess what?
“Based on those facts, and after careful consideration, the District and Rohrer determined that the conduct did not align with the standards and expectations for student transportation providers.”
Really. Standards and expectations of transportation providers apparently don’t include those transportation providers ensuring the safety of the children on their vehicle. But they do include pandering to every grievance group that gets on the bus — as long as it can keep the adults who are supposed to be in charge from looking bad.
Fortunately, Crawford’s story is getting play far beyond central Pennsylvania. Harmeet Dhillon, the Trump administration’s no-nonsense assistant attorney general for civil rights, is taking notice. And she doesn’t sound happy.
This is deeply concerning. I have directed @CivilRights to open an investigation into this situation implicating DEI wokeness. EXCLUSIVE | Juanita County bus driver fired for ‘English-only’ sign fires back https://t.co/bRHrp9kfDK
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) December 22, 2025
“This is deeply concerning,” she wrote, noting that she has directed the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to “open an investigation into this situation implicating DEI wokeness.”
And there were plenty of posts urging her on:
Thank you
I think they need to consider motive. Trying to create a safe environment and understandably so.
— JoAnne Songs (@joAnneSongs72) December 22, 2025
I’m starting to believe that this firing is racially motivated.
If the driver was Hispanic it would’ve had the complete support of everyone.— Dane Larsen (@waky_dane) December 22, 2025
Thank you for doing this.
This should NOT happen to our citizens in our ENGLISH speaking country.
— DeDe (@dedeadams35) December 22, 2025
As for Crawford, her motivations seem clear — and not tinted by even a hint of racism.
“I dedicated everything I had to driving a bus,” she said. “And it was for the kids. I love the kids. And a lot of the kids love me.”
Sounds like a lot more Americans might be hearing about her before too long. Let’s see what 2026 holds.
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