ALBERT LEA — Students on an Albert Lea Schools bus chanted, “Racist, racist, racist!” on Friday afternoon in response to an interaction between two passengers and the driver.

Parents are still asking questions about the incident — to which police responded — but have been unable to find out much other than what their own children are telling them.

Not all the students were chanting. Some were just scared. One parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said his child called him three times crying from the bus wanting to get off, but the child stayed until he was dropped off near his home.

Despite multiple attempts, Richard Polley, the general manager of the Albert Lea Bus Co., could not be reached for a comment Wednesday. Earlier in the week, Polley called the incident a mere misunderstanding, claiming the bus driver was confused about an uncooperative student he thought was not supposed to be on the bus.

Students aboard the bus are saying otherwise.

According to two 11-year-old students on the bus — speaking with the Albert Lea Tribune in separate interviews but with matching accounts, there were three or four students crammed into the bus seats that afternoon. At least one child was sitting in the aisle and at least one other was standing.

The bus contained students from an elementary school and Southwest Middle School.

The students said the bus was loud because of all of the activity and the driver, whose identity has not been confirmed, kept yelling at a black student to sit down.

The student kept standing up, so the driver pulled over near the intersection of Clark Street and Newton Avenue, according to another student.

“Hey, black kid, get your ass up here,” students recount the driver saying.

After that, a taller black student from the middle school allegedly responded, calling the driver a racist and flipping both his middle fingers at him. The bus driver went to the back of the bus and confronted him, a student said.

Shortly after, at least a third of the bus, maybe half, began chanting “racist, racist, racist” at the driver.

The driver then called police.

Dispatchers, based on the call from the driver, told police officers that students were out of control on a bus.

A police officer said when he arrived, children were acting unruly and some were trying to get off the bus, but no one — students or driver — approached him about potentially racist statements. However, the officers did not conduct interviews.

“If there was (a racist statement alleged), we would have definitely done an investigation into it because that’s something we do not tolerate,” the officer said.

The officer said two parents picked up kids while he was there. One of the students the Tribune talked with, however, recalled about five parents coming to pick up their kids.

Once the bus started on its route again, almost every student on the bus got off at the next stop — in front of City Hall — and decided instead to walk home, according to a student.

Jim Quiram, director of technology and human resources for the district, said at this point, they have only addressed the incident as a bus personnel issue.

Albert Lea Bus Co. reported Monday the driver has been transferred to a different route.

Quiram said because of the good relationship the bus company has had with the district, the district trusts the bus company will work to resolve the issue.

Parent Cathy Purdie said she hopes regardless of what happened, there can be some closure for the students on the bus.

“It was a scary experience,” Purdie said. “Three cops being called is not normal.”

As of Wednesday, no police report had been created.