Denzel Movie Shoot Angers Ohio School Parents

BELLAIRE, Ohio — Ohio parents who say their children endured long, complicated walks home are panning the disruption of school bus service for a Hollywood movie shoot.

Scenes for a new Denzel Washington movie called "Unstoppable" are being filmed this week in Bellaire in eastern Ohio.

Parents say children were dropped off at a shopping plaza on Wednesday when the filming kept a bus from completing its route. Gregory Jeffreys says his 12-year-old daughter wasn't sure how to walk home and it took her an hour. He says children were in danger.

The Bellaire school system is apologizing. Superintendent Tony Scott says the district should have notified parents about the bus diversion but "dropped the ball," WTOV-TV reported.

Comments

[Arthur reed]

DW, you need a hit. It has been sometime since you had a winner.

[Horus45]

They should be thankful that a movie wants to shoot in their town, most cities across the US would be more than happy to be in their position.
If not for the movie shoot their taxes would probably have gone up.

[cgapples]

My God, I dont think parents should be angry at Denzel Washington at all for what happened to their kids. It was the people who were in charge of selecting that town for producing the film and the people who they came in contact with in the city. The school principal himself should had been contacted immediately and sent out letters to every parent letting them know about the film and about the transportation delays. That would have given each parent opportunity to either pick their kids up or not let them go to school during that time. We must remember smaller kids were involved. It is too many of our children is missing in our country now to take chances like this one. When I was 5 years of age I had to walk in all kind of weather to school and it was miles from my home. But this is a new generation and different things are happening with our kids now to allow such neligence.

[Jr Bob Jr]

Was it uphill both ways??

[haroldbolton]

and it was snowing and the kids were all barefoot

[LMPE]

You'd think that the filming would have been announced so that the bus could use an alternate route.

[harriettubman]

I agree with the parents. Shame on the city for allowing this stunt!!! School bus routes should not be interrupted cause a silly movie.

[Julie Pierce]

Wikipedia lists the size of the Village Bellaire as 1.8 square miles...how do you not know your way home when you live in a small Village of roughly 5,000 people?

[harriettubman]

If you don't know how to navigate yet. That's how! These are elementary to middle school children, not 17-18 yr olds.

[expatwing]

Children aren't stupid! If my CAT can find its way home I'm pretty sure a 12 year old can!

[Julie Pierce]

Yeah, I am aware of that. I have a 7 year-old and a 16 year-old myself. We live in what is considered a small rural city in Southern Ohio, yet we have a little over 4 times the population of Bellaire and are nearly 8 times its size. Both of my children have very good navigation skills and I can not count how many times one of them would point out that I was going the "wrong way" to Grandma's house or the store if I failed to inform them that we were making another stop along the way. My kids may not know all of the street names, etc. but they usually have a pretty good idea which way to go.

I am not saying this to excuse the school system for dropping off the children without notifying the parents. I would be up in arms myself...I just find the situation with the 12 year old unusual.

[plaidsportcoat]

the movie shoot didn't anger the parents at all.
the dumb planning of the school district is what bothered them, looks like.

[alucas08]

Growing up and living in New York for most of my life I am well aware of the frustration filming a movie could be , however perhaps the parents should be mad at the city and the school district for not making the proper accomodations for the kids and their parents. I doubt that the producer director or whomever really knew or cared about the details enough to say hey we are going to disrupt these kids and parents school bus route because we can. Really they go to the city and say hey we will pay you this much for the permission to film th is movie on these days at this location, and the city says oh hell yeah we could use the money, here ya go.

[jessicajuliette]

what's the point of being a famous producer, director or whatever if you cant' boss a bunch of school kids around?

if HOLLYWOOD cant throw it's weight around, who can...

this way you each the kids early on, look kids, the rich and famous are WAY important than you, good that you learn that now.....

[tantan75]

I'm pretty sure Denzel had no idea that this was going on. After he found out he was probably mortified. I won't be surprised to hear that the families affected get something for the trouble and anxiety they experienced. Nothing monetary, an autograph or something. Luckily, everyone got home safe. We should focus on that, instead of what could have happened.

[PansyRose]

It is not about walking a mile home it is about the danger of a young child doing that. Plus, there was no notice to parents that their kids would be dumped off at a shopping center. The child mentioned did not know which way to go to get home. I guess you would be happy if she were abducted!!!!!!!! Why should a movie shoot change school bus schedules?

[Cacaoatl]

What 12 year old kids can't walk? I used to walk home from school all the time and I lived in a bigger city than these snot nosed brats.

[leftbehind2000]

thank you for weighing in, denzel.

[BetterDeadThanRed09]

LOL

[harriettubman]

The key word here is you "walked" daily so you knew your way. These kids were driven by the bus daily so they didn't know their way. People on here act as if children should know everything at 12 and under.

[DMSmith]

I get the impression that the production company is not responsible for this, nor, surely is Denzel.

In cases such as this, it's up to the police or whoever gives the permission for such a shoot, to make arrangements. The school was surely notified. The fault is with the bus-driver, who under NO circumstances should EVER just drop the kids off at a shopping mall. FIRE him/her NOW!

Alternate routes or solutions were available and not used. Shame on the city, the school or whoever knew and did nothing. Special scorn to the driver who personally endangered the children. THAT is who the parents should be upset with.

[seatech1]

I gotta agree with you on this. The city really dropped the ball. Any city would charge a movie company for the added costs of rerouting kids to and from school, and then would have made arrangements to keep the kids safe while getting them to their destinations. If the city in question did not do that, it's on them and not the movie company.
When an industry comes in and seeks to do business in a community, the local gov does not abdicate their role in keeping the community safe and whole. Any extra costs incurred can be passed directly on to that industry or company in their contract.

[leftbehind2000]

Hollywood comes to town and expects its agenda to take priority over everyone and everything else, even the security small children. The hubris is as breathtakingly reprehensible as it is utterly expected.

[adoantarel]

Get real. You can't hold the movie responsible. it doesn't run the bus routes.

[leftbehind2000]

no, it merely takes whatever it wants, wherever it wants and expects everything else to work around it.

[pangursperson]

Are you high? The school system acknowledged that they dropped the ball. If the city didn't want the filming done there, they could have just denied them the permit.

[firelord5000]

How is this Denzel's fault?