An open letter to our community, the Quad cities of Highland, Hardy, Cherokee Village and Ash Flat
I am a school bus driver. I drive for the Highland School District. I have been driving school buses for about 13 years.
When I retired in 2010, I did not want to spend my retirement years sitting in a recliner watching Mash and Gunsmoke reruns, although I enjoy that very much at 65. I wanted to do something to make a difference in this life. I needed to still feel needed ifyou know what I mean. I had a desire to serve in a way that might make a difference in someone’s life. I love children and enjoy interacting with them.
Having driven a company truck for AT&T for 32 years, I knew I could drive the highways and backroads pretty good. I had noticed there was always a sign out every summer on a school bus asking for school bus drivers. I decided to investigate that. I met with the transportation supervisor Dana Samples. He was very nice, very encouraging and offered me a job. Of course, I needed to fill out an application, pass a drug screening, be fingerprinted, have a background check run on me and then get my Class B CDL license. That all sounded simple except forgetting a CDL license. Mr. Samples said they would pay for my bus training and my study materials from the revenue office.
Wow! I was excited to start the process and within a few weeks I went to the test and passed, becoming a school bus driver. I love driving the bus! It is this big bright yellow vehicle that has cool flashing lights all over it. But that is not the best part. There are several best parts. I feel needed again. People rely on me, and I have a responsibility to be there for many parents. Parents put their trust in me to safely drive their children to school and back home to them every day. It is a big responsibility I do not take lightly. I am transporting America’s most precious cargo, your children, or grandchildren.
One of the other best parts of driving a school bus is making a difference in a child’s life. You see, many of the students come from homes of only one parent. In some cases, the grandparents raise the children. I get to be the smile that greets them each morning in a positive way. I can pour into these children, they are loved. I talk with them and listen to them as they ride my bus. They feel safe and cared for. The school bus driver is the representative of the school that makes the first impression on that child’s day and in the afternoon the last impression as they exit the bus. Smiles and laughter in life can go a long way in being a light in a child’s day.
Ok, there is another part that is cool for being a bus driver. You get off work about 8 am! You get to go home and do whatever you want because you don’t have to come back to work till 2:30 in the afternoon! It is nice to work a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the afternoon. You have time to run arrands and even take a nap. I even get to still watch Gunsmoke!
I almost forgot. You also get paid to do this! It is a very good way to supplement your income. Here comes another reason I consider this job to have many perks, I get summers off! That’s right, you can take the summer and relax and enjoy it. Oh, and you get a couple of weeks at Christmastime off to celebrate the birth of our Savior. A week off for Spring break too.
I want to encourage you to consider being that light in a child’s life. Our country desperately needs men and women to step up and make a difference to a child. They will always remember you as their bus driver years past graduation. I remember mine and I am sure you do too. That is unless you were the child that walked 5 miles in the snow and rain, up hill, every day back in the old days… I have heard those stories too.
Every year school districts nationwide struggle to find school bus drivers. You have seen those signs. Why is that? I am thinking it is the thought of driving a vehicle with about 30 to 50 children behind you that scares most folks. I understand that thought. It entered my mind also in 2010 after I applied to drive a bus. As it turns out, there is no better feeling than knowing how much you are needed, loved, and appreciated by so many, including those children that never forget you for the rest of their lives. You will have a strong impact on who they become as they make their way into the responsibility of adulthood.
It saddens me in the afternoon and even mornings at times when my boss must drive a school bus. Then I noticed daily, the assistant superintendent, who has had a long day already, step onto a bus to drive. As I look across the bus lot, I see the school districts Superintendent also step onto a bus to drive. Here comes the director over support services to drive. Custodians and teachers begin to arrive to help too.
Please hear the need. We need you. Just please consider helping your community to fill a need. Be a substitute bus driver. You don’t have to work every day. We are just asking you to be a part of a team of substitutes that are willing to drive when a regular route driver is unable to be there. Who knows, you may love it so much you might want your own bus route someday! It happens, those kids can draw you in.
Thank you for reading my letter to you. You are God’s creation, and you are loved. Consider making a huge difference in a child’s life by being a part of it. Bring your smile and be a school bus driver for your local school. We need you. We will love and appreciate you.
Jim Everett
Whale bus driver, Highland Schools
