Patience, Kindness and Safety: What I Learned Riding ACPS School Buses

For School Bus Safety Week (Oct. 19-23), I spent a day on two routes with drivers and staff who greet students with jokes, notice who’s having a hard time, and say the job gave their retirement special purpose.

Last week was School Bus Safety Week, so I climbed aboard two buses to see what it’s really like behind the wheel.

It was still dark when I met Mr. Steve, the driver, and Mr. George, the bus’s instructional aide. By 6:35 a.m., we were picking up our first sleepy student. Our winding route included stops at Mount Savage School and Beall and Frost Elementary Schools.

Mr. Steve is relatively new to the Transportation team, but his partner is a veteran. Mr. George has been riding the buses for more than 14 years. He buckles and unbuckles students and takes extra care helping the youngest riders with their coats and backpacks. Together, the two greet every student by name, trading jokes and asking about their weekends.

Both men take pride in their bus. Mr. Steve jokes that Mr. George keeps it so clean, you’d think he owns it.

What stands out most is how well this duo knows their kids: which families might be going through a hard time, which students may require some extra time, and which students need a little more attention. For the students, it’s like riding with a pair of substitute grandfathers.

I was introduced to every student, and one little boy asked me to sit beside him. He showed me his stuffed animal and told me all about his school. He was delighted to share, chatting about his mom, his grandmother, his cat and his favorite teachers.

When I made my way back up front, the conversation turned to other drivers on the road. Every afternoon, Mr. Steve and Mr. George told me, a call comes over the company radio about a driver passing a bus’s flashing red lights, usually around the same time. It’s like clockwork. I couldn’t help but wonder what drives people, pardon the pun, in traffic to ignore bus safety rules.

Even with the hazards, Mr. Steve and Mr. George talked about how much the job has given them in their “retirements.” They know it isn’t for everyone.

“I’ve never worked with a better group of people in my life,” Mr. Steve said.

Mr. George, the quieter of the two, nodded. They believe in the work they’re doing. They also know the afternoon run won’t be quite as calm. “They’ve had all day, so they have more energy when we get them.”

The Afternoon Run

That afternoon, I met Mr. Tom at the bus lot. He was dressed in shorts and a “hump day” T-shirt (it was Wednesday, of course). His secret to being a bus driver? Patience.

“If you don’t have patience, you won’t last,” he said. “I won’t tell you that every day is easy, but you have to let go on the hard days.”

Like the others, Mr. Tom is a kind man who has “failed at retirement” a few times. He worked for the school system for years as a custodian, but he felt truly at home once he became a bus driver. Like Mr. Steve, he already had his CDL.

“Every day is my best day,” he told me.

As we pulled into the bus lane at Allegany High School, we talked about his relationship with high schoolers.

“I don’t have problems with them,” he said. “I let them know who’s in charge, and I treat them with kindness.”

High school students’ names are harder to remember, he admitted, but he knows their faces. When one student greeted him with “champ” as he boarded, Mr. Tom sent him off with the same “champ” when he stepped off. Their looks can change from week to week, I noted, but Mr. Tom loves the students’ originality.

“One student has beautiful hair with neon colors, and I’m tempted to ask if it glows in the dark,” he said, laughing.

That kindness goes both ways. Most students thank him as they get off the bus, he mentioned. Sure enough, they did.

I asked one of the students whether Mr. Tom ever raises his voice or has to discipline anyone.

“No,” she said. “This is a good bus. We get along.”

Mr. Tom says he can count on one hand the number of referrals he’s written in all his years as a driver.

Then, just as Mr. Steve and Mr. George had predicted, a call came over the radio: a driver had failed to stop for a bus on National Highway. With flashing lights and stop arms on every bus unloading children, it’s hard to understand how anyone could miss them.

From there, we headed to John Humbird Elementary School, pulling up to a side door I’d never noticed. Mr. Tom knows these students by name and introduced me. The energy on the bus ramped up, and I moved closer to sit with the kids.

Two students walked me through “the rules” of riding the bus. Some I expected, like “Stay in your seat” and “Don’t put your hands out the windows.” Others I’d never considered, like “Don’t touch the ceiling of the bus” and “Don’t crawl under the bus seats.”

With a bus full of energetic elementary students, it’s easy to see why patience is Mr. Tom’s secret. He says it has grown with age. “I wasn’t nearly as patient as a father as I am as a grandfather and great-grandfather.”

Like Mr. Steve and Mr. George, he notices every detail about the children in his care, and he knows firsthand how much schools can do for families. He spoke warmly about the support his family members have received from their schools.

“They’ve connected our grandchildren and great-grandchildren to resources we didn’t know about. That’s made a difference.”

As we finished the route, he summed it up: “This is one of my reasons for getting up in the morning. I love being a driver.”

Interested in joining the team? 

Allegany County Public Schools is hiring substitute school bus drivers and bus instructional aides, as well as drivers to transport students in district SUVs (no commercial driver’s license required). Drivers with CDLs are encouraged to apply. Monthly school bus driver training programs are offered. Learn more at acpsmd.org/transportation.