EDITOR’S NOTE: I keep hearing about the school bus driver shortage. It’s so bad that there have been sporting events called off because of lack of transportation.
Why a shortage? Some say low wages. Some say weird hours.
My best guess is the following:
“As a school bus driver, I would like to explain something.
“My job is to transport your child from point A to point B safely, on time and ready to learn. That is all.
“What do I mean when I say safely? Let me explain. Safely means I pre-trip my bus daily to ensure it is running properly and that it hasn’t been tampered with. Safely means my eyes are constantly scanning all seven mirrors, blind spots, and the road in front of me.
“I’m NOT a babysitter.
“I’m NOT a mediator.
“I’m a BUS DRIVER.
“I would absolutely love to be able to watch and hear every little thing that goes on in the 40 feet of school bus behind me, but while I’m watching Johnny jump across the seat, I just missed a car pull out in front of me. And oops, while I’m yelling at Susie to keep her hands to herself, the light changed and now I’m slamming the brakes to stop in time at the intersection. And what’s that? Now Joey has a nose bleed? And now someone dumped all of Katie’s stuff out of her bookbag, and ‘bus driver, Bobby is flicking me,’ and ‘bus driver, Lily said she doesn’t like me any more.’
“What’s that? While I’m looking in the mirror behind me reprimanding your perfect children, a car just ran my reds and Sally almost got run over!
“It’s Never Ending to us…
“And that doesn’t even include the way the children speak to us. I’m pretty certain they don’t speak to other school faculty like that. And certainly don’t speak to their parents the way they speak to us.
“So please, parents, tell me … where do you want me to look? Behind me? In front of me?
“Would you prefer I pull over every time someone yells ‘bus driver’? Because then YOU will complain that the bus is never on time, and trust me if I did pull over every time, we wouldn’t even make it out of the school parking lot before I’d have to stop.
“In case you didn’t know, your children are not perfect…no one is.
“Would you rather I continue down the road watching what’s going on BEHIND me more than what’s going on with other vehicles on the road around me? “Because, I can assure you, if I’m not scanning every angle around the bus, there WILL be an accident, and then I will again be to blame, because I should’ve been paying attention to the road.
“Now, on top of that, we see your children for less than 30 minutes a day, in most cases. Please teach your child to respect the bus driver, and to behave themselves when riding the bus…because we want to return them to you, SAFELY.”
— Unknown”
This is absolutely true! I was a bus driver for over 5 years…I quit when we moved 14 years ago and the Wayland bus garage offered me a job, but the kids these days are so disrespectful and entitled these days, there is no way I was interested in going back to that!
Last I checked the school district has no mandate to transport children who are bullying other children on the bus, disrespectful to the driver, in some cases threatening or physically attacking fellow riders or the driver.
If districts want to attract and retain bus drivers they need to support them. Give problem rider’s options. Your child abides by rules or you can provide their transportation to and from the public school they attend. If that’s not going to work you can home school or send your child to a charter school providing transportation.