As part of North Carolina School Bus Driver Appreciation Week and national ‘Love the Bus’ “Week, school bus drivers across the state got Valentine’s Day cards from grateful students and parents to cap off a week-long celebration of their efforts to safely get riders to and from school.
This comes amidst a time of driver frustration over low pay and unruly students that add stress to their job of transporting 800,000 riders a day across the Tar Heel State. “You’re not working for stellar pay, and we realize that,” one administrator told drivers. “We’ve tried to improve upon that a little bit this past year, and we’ll keep working on that. It’s really something we care about.”
Shifts start at 5:30 a.m. or earlier, and the workday often doesn’t end until 7 p.m. Pay doesn’t extend to the middle of the day unless special circumstances arise, like field trips. Pay starts at $12.55 an hour and reaches $19.90 per hour after 32 years of service. This past year, the school board approved a 3-percent raise. “The pay isn’t that good, but the reward is better,” said one driver.
It takes a certain amount bad judgment to believe a series of mistakes can only be corrected with more mistakes. A Pennsylvania school bus driver demonstrated her special form of bad judgment after she attempted to smuggle heroin to her jailed boyfriend. She has been charged with charged with four felony drug crimes. The 35-year-old had planned to pass the heroin and a banned withdrawal medication after completing her morning route. It is still unknown exactly how she planned to do this, but authorities seized a half gram of heroin after the driver parked the bus at the prison, registered as a visitor then retrieved and concealed the substances, subsequently returning to the prison for her visit. Her boyfriend has been charged with three felonies.
Shucking the responsibility of adhering to the rule of law, a trio of Florida students wandered onto a prep school campus, finding a school bus with its door open and key in the ignition. The trio didn’t attend the prep school where the bus originated. After a three-hour joyride in the stolen bus, authorities managed to bring the carjackers to justice after witnesses reported the bus swerving into oncoming traffic and running over curbs. Two 11-year-olds and a 14-year-old currently face disciplinary action. “The one thing on the bus was a broken tail light,” said a school administrator. “With the amount of time they clocked and the mileage they traveled, we’re very blessed that something more serious didn’t happen.”
Authorities in St. Paul, Minnesota believe a school bus driver fell asleep behind the wheel before he struck parked cars, nearly slamming into a post office. The 31-year-old driver was cited for careless driving, which is a misdemeanor. School administrators laud the bus company for firing the driver. “If that is what happened, then the bus company did the right thing in terminating the bus driver’s employment,” said an administrator. Eighteen students, ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade, were aboard the bus when it crashed. Paramedics took two students and an adult aide to the hospital for minor injuries.
