LTUSD recognizes staff on California Bus Driver Appreciation Day

Bus drivers in Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) were honored today during a celebration of California Bus Driver Appreciation Day.

The special day was created by the state legislature in 2009 “in order to draw special public attention to school bus drivers for their continued and excellent services to pupils in California.” After being created in the state, it has now spread to a nationally observed day on the fourth Tuesday of the month of April.

School bus drivers not only transport students to and from school, but they also drive students to and from school-related events, such as field trips and sporting events. In the United States and Canada, it is estimated that school bus drivers give about eight billion trips between homes and schools each year. Over half of the students in the United States are transported to and from school by bus.

In LTUSD, bus drivers are part of the emergency plan for the district and when all 23 are deployed can remove and transport 2,000 people in under 45 minutes.

A typical day in the life of a school bus driver means arriving early, performing daily pre-trip bus inspections, knowing what students ride the bus, where each student lives, and what school each student attends. School bus drivers faithfully make their way through all kinds of weather, even on days that school should have been canceled. They cheerfully greet the students day after day, year after year, to ensure they safely make it to school and back home. After taking students to school in the morning, bus drivers often have a period of hours of unpaid free time before they need to drive students’ home in the afternoon. However, there are often opportunities to continue working at this time, by driving for field trips or other school-related activities. Besides not being paid during the middle hours of the day, school bus drivers also are not paid during the summer, when students are out of school, including snow days.

School bus drivers like to drive, enjoy working with students, care about children’s safety, have great people skills, remain calm under pressure, and have flexible or full-time work schedules. School bus drivers must receive a commercial driver’s license with a school bus S and passenger P endorsement. This requires additional classroom and behind the wheel driving skills tests that are administered by a certified examiner. Federal regulations require random drug testing. State regulations require a background check and physical exam to determine driver fitness for duty.

From LTUSD: If you do not know someone personally that drives a school, let me introduce you! Bus drivers get up crazy early. They make sure the bus is safe for the students to pick up and take home. They have their head on a swivel for 6+ hours watching out for the millions of other drivers who cannot see the big yellow bus OR the students crossing the road. They carry the safety of ALL students on their shoulders, they are SO MUCH MORE! They tie shoes, fix zippers & backpacks. Pick up a spilled lunch (or clean up a sick tummy mess). They care deeply, form bonds of trust, set expectations, and give praise. They show concern and empathy, enjoy the silly jokes, worry about the sadness on faces; miss an absent child or morn one who moved without a word. Bus drivers pray for their students, laugh with them and hurt with them. Just to get up and do it again the next day. Many people do not realize how emotional, stressful, consuming and rewarding it is to be a school bus driver. Drivers face many challenges in their work. Fortunately, there a few things everyone can do to make a bus driver’s job easier, the first of which is to give the bus plenty of room. The vehicle takes up a lot of room, especially when turning corners. Drivers can help by not cutting in front of a bus, only to slam on their breaks and make a right turn. Our buses are big, heavy and carrying your children. We cannot stop on a dime. We keep a safe space cushion from the vehicle in front of us; please do not fill that space. When you see the amber lights come on, they are telling you we will be stopping to load or unload students. When the red lights come on…STOP… this is for the safety of your children, and the school bus driver. There are HUGE fines for vehicles/bicycles that violate the flashing red lights by driving right through them.

Here are a few ideas on how to celebrate the day: If you have children that ride a school bus, thank their school bus driver. If you are a school bus driver, make sure to let your coworkers and the students you know about the day. If you would like to become a school bus driver, today is the perfect day to take steps to do so! If nothing else, you could count how many school buses and school bus drivers you see today.