President's Perspective

TRUST THE BUS DRIVER. THEY ALWAYS DELIVER.

Charles Warren, AAEA Board President

Believe it or not, when I think of Thanksgiving, I think of school buses. I’ve said some strange things in these monthly articles, but that statement is on a whole new level. Here’s the connection – growing up, my extended family would gather for Thanksgiving at my grandmother’s house in Elkins and my adult cousins would tell stories of their mischievous exploits going to high school in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was a different time back then.

Jack and Joe, my adult cousins, are twins. Somehow, they were given tasks by administrators to keep them busy during study periods. They sometimes drove the school buses down the street to get refueled. One time, so the story goes, they decided to race two school buses down the rural two-lane highway when returning to the school. They discovered that you can’t peel out in a bus, but you can lay some rubber down when you brake suddenly to avoid the superintendent catching you. I know it was crazy dangerous, but it was a different time back then.

They sometimes drove the school buses home to wash them. One time, so yet another story goes, they decided to back the bus into the river with the back door open to let the water naturally wash the interior. Too much water came in and they could not drive the bus back out of the river. They had to get another bus to pull the first bus out and drain the water. I know what you’re thinking, but as I said, it was a different time back then.

Unlike Jack and Joe, responsible adults drive our school buses. My cousin Sara, from the other side of my family, drove a school bus while going to college. She made homemade popcorn balls and handed them out to students on Halloween. She made Christmas cookies, Valentine’s Day treats, and other surprises for the kids she got to know on her route. I know we can’t do that now, but, wait for it, it was a different time back then.

I reached out to Melody Crane, Business Manager for Hector School District to talk about Transportation. She’s the reigning Truett Goatcher Arkansas School Business Administrator of the Year, so she’s got some street cred – pun intended. She’s been working at Hector since 1998, with the last twenty years as Business Manager. She’s a Hector graduate, so she shares my background as a graduate from an Arkansas rural school district.

She reminded me that the staff in transportation live a hard life when weather conditions are worrisome. On bad weather days, transportation gets on the roads so that students and teachers don’t have to be out. As a rural school district, she has a couple of mountain routes that may not run, even if school stays open in bad weather.

Even in an urban area like Fort Smith, administrators become weather forecasters to ensure kids are safe traveling to and from our schools. It is literally a thankless job because rarely does a parent call up and say “well done,” but there’s no stopping them using hindsight to post “that was a bad call,” like I might yell at the SEC referee while watching a football game on my TV.

Melody also talked about the value of the Enhanced Transportation funding to her rural district. That’s not something I deal with in Fort Smith, but it’s a big deal to Hector. There’s a part of me that’s glad that it’s not on my radar. That funding formula is super-secret – like the Coca-Cola-formula-secret or the KFC-eleven-herbs-and-spices-secret. I’m nervous collecting revenue that I can’t recalculate. I like the expression “trust, but verify,” so I prefer funding formulas with math I can check. You would think that as the elementary principal’s kid, I could just ride to and from school with my dad. That was mostly the case, but there were some years that my brother Bill and I would ride the bus home so that my dad could work late at the school – my own form of enhanced transportation. My mom would pick us up at the closest bus stop, Chris Curlee’s house. Please note that I said “Bill and I” and not “Bill, Jonathan, and I.” This was the period of time the most beloved son, Jonathan, was a preschooler and stayed at home with our mom all day. Not that Bill and I are bitter.

As a kid, I found it a thrill to ride the bus. I got to learn where some classmates lived. Although I occasionally rode on a route, I spent a lot more time on the bus going to and from ball games in junior high school and high school. I can also remember riding on field trips and going to the roller skating rink for class parties.

My brother Jonathan knew in high school he was going to be an educator. Our dad encouraged him to drive a bus while going to college. He took this learned advice and had four years of credit with the Arkansas Teachers Retirement System when he got his teaching license. He’s barely 50 and the most beloved son is drawing retirement benefits.

Administrators may only think about bus drivers and bus aides when an accident is reported. We tend to forget that they are, for many of our students, the first and last school contact every day. These individuals can make a lasting impression on our students.

Melody told me that two-thirds of her route drivers are also teachers or full-time classified staff. That’s a good gig if you can get it. You get two contracts for performing two distinct jobs. If you keep your bus at your house, your commute time is basically paid. If you are a non-exempt employee (defined last month), you are likely to qualify for overtime. That’s why I call these non-exempt employees “two-timers.” The payroll team has to look at two different full-time hourly rates to determine the blended rate of overtime they will earn. Please note that I use the term “two-timer” lovingly, not nefariously.

Just like child nutrition employees, bus drivers and bus aides really get to know the students. Sara knew every kid on her route. Growing up in Elkins, Mr. Faubus always drove the bus for the athletes. He didn’t even have kids playing, but he was our most devoted fan. After one particularly successful season, with extra state tournament trips, we all chipped in and bought him a box of his favorite cigars. Did I mention, it was a different time back then?

In stark contrast to a box of cigars, I’m glad districts can offer health insurance to a bus driver as a full-time employee. I just wish we could extend it to bus aides as well. These jobs may not have long hours in a given school day, but the impact can be real. They provide a welcome smile and a safe journey to ensure a kid gets to school and back home again every school day. There’s something very honorable about the person willing to get a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) in service of a school. That includes my beloved brother, who still has his CDL.