South Lake Tahoe celebrates School Bus Driver's Day

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - School bus drivers and the mechanics who keep the buses moving play an important role in the daily lives of children. The drivers are tasked with the vital responsibility of protecting children on their way to and from school.

On Tuesday, the Lake Tahoe Unified School District celebrated its bus drivers and mechanics on what is known in California as "School Bus Driver's Day." After being unofficially observed there for a while, the California legislature decided to make the date official. In 2009, they commemorated School Bus Drivers' Day to pay public attention to school bus drivers for their outstanding services to students in California.

There are fifteen LTUSD drivers for the district's 14 buses with one used as a substitute driver. They normally have more substitutes so everyone has been jumping in to help, from the mechanics to Transportation Supervisor Christy Blach.

The drivers cover about 900 miles a day covering their routes around South Lake Tahoe. Onboard those buses are 1,200-1,300 students each day. In the United States and Canada, it is estimated that school buses and school bus drivers provide approximately 8 billion trips between home and school each year, on approximately 484,000 buses while transporting 26.9 million children.

It was Blach who organized a party for the staff in honor of School Bus Driver's Day on Tuesday. Some of the drivers also received gifts from the students including flowers, gift cards, and even a straw hat. The drivers say they always get "thank yous" from the kids as they depart the bus, not just on this special day. She included the two LTUSD mechanics in the celebration. They too are short-handed and are not only responsible for keeping the buses running, but also for keeping the district snow plows, school equipment, and lawnmowers running.

Besides transporting students to and from school, to overnight out-of-town sporting events and field trips, some of the drivers jumped into action during the Caldor Fire, helping evacuate residents without transportation as well as residents from the Barton Skilled Nursing Center. The drivers of the five school buses used to transport locals got everyone off the hill, then they too evacuated.

The bus drivers also took on extra duties during the pandemic when students were on remote learning. They transported meals to all bus stops where the students could pick up breakfast and lunch, and they also helped Bread & Broth 4 Kids in delivering the weekend bags of food to those in need.

Drivers aren't just transporting children through down, they also need to keep order on the bus and become passenger management specialists.

Thank you LTUSD drivers!