Public School Drivers —
Building a Quality Workforce

The MYTH:
"Bus Drivers Just Drive"

The public perception that school bus drivers do nothing more complicated or involved with enhancing student achievement than "just driving" couldn't be any farther from the truth!

School board members, assistant superintendents, and a PTA president in Florida found that out recently as they shadowed bus drivers and other ESP as part of the Escambia-NEA ESP's program, "Walk in Our Shoes." The annual event, held in conjunction with ESP Day, raises awareness about the importance of the behind-the-scenes jobs that ESP accomplish every day.

"The program began two years ago in response to a school board member who was pushing privatization for our transportation services," says UniServ director Ellen Lawrence. "We knew if they walked in our shoes, even just for a day, they would realize just how important our jobs are."

Escambia County PTA President Cathy Roche was humbled by the experience. "I thought I knew what driving a bus would be like from driving my own van with five kids," she said. "But from this point forward, I'm going to start saluting bus drivers everywhere."

The myth has another facet: "Bus driving is easy." For school bus drivers, as with all other vocations, technology has become more complicated. There is a great need to increase understanding of the skills required to qualify and function effectively as a school bus driver. For example:

EDULOG is one of the many computer routing systems used by Transportation Departments. Often these routes are established in the computer without driver input or participation. The obvious occurs: streets have been renamed, streets and roads don't exist, children at wrong addresses, children with no ad- dress, bridges and roads under construction with no notation, bridges and roads that do exist but not in the computer database, etc. The quality of the information is dependent totally on the person doing the inputting. Without driver patience and input, accuracy and effectiveness are always suspect.

The process used to determine which route goes to which driver seriously affects the accuracy of the routes and the morale of the drivers. Most often drivers bid for routes by seniority, but some-times the routes are just assigned! This creates problems ranging from unfairness and favoritism to contract violations. It quickly becomes clear that driver morale and effective routing and dis-patching are much more complicated than just checking the computer!

Communication Equipment The scope of the equipment used to communicate as a school bus driver has expanded to include CB radios, cell phones, pagers, video surveillance equipment, and more.

Both communities and administrators often overlook one of the most important benefits of the resident public school bus driver. She/he has instant access to emergency and police personnel, and is out and about in the neighborhood on a regular basis.

Most public school drivers live in the communities where they work and know them very well. Public school drivers function as a "mobile neighborhood watch" for the entire community on a daily basis. This is an invaluable asset and can only be achieved with resident, committed public school employees.

The Paperwork! Here's a list of just some of the paperwork school bus drivers are responsible for: seating charts; pre-trip sheets; conduct, evacuation, service, accident, police, ambulance, and medical reports; inspection stickers; checklists for inspection safety, emergencies, standard equipment, engine, and tire condition; reports for change-in-route, emergency change-in-route, unauthorized riders, extra rides, authorized, parental notification, driver incident, contraband, lost & found, absentee, administrator notification, student discipline, and on and on.

The "Basics" It is important to mention the "basics" that are not well known or understood by communities. That is, in order to drive a school vehicle and transport students, one must first pass an extensive and specialized written test and a road test "above and beyond a regular drivers' license" to qualify for a Commercial Driver License. It is then necessary to obtain through further testing an "endorsement" in order to transport passengers and operate a vehicle that has air brakes.

Fingerprinting and a specific physical examination are also federal law, usually required on a yearly basis depending on the state. Various states require additional training in CPR and EMT training. A driver must also be able to physically operate a variety of equipment on the vehicle ranging from arms to overhead exits and emergency doors.

To Section 7: The REALITY: Children Are Safer on the School Bus!