I read your articles with interest. For someone who has never worked in this industry, you do an excellent job. I have been a Director of Transportation of this district for only two years and never worked in this industry before then. I have a great appreciation for what school bus drivers do and I am dissapointed at times because of the lack of respect that is shown toward them by the parents as well as the students they safely transport. As a baby boomer that rode the bus a long time ago, I can't believe how kids react to adults these days. I would have gotten the whiping of my life if I did half of what these kids do today. The sad part is, the parents blame my drivers. Go figure!

Congratulations on the blog Steve. (I even got through the personal stuff okay). It is nice to know you have driven as well as ridden in school buses. Keep up the good work!

I am excited about this new adventure which you have chosen. I too have never blogged but the almost immediate interaction between people of various backgrounds within this Industry does sound inviting. You will find me visiting often and I will keep an eye on you...where I too have one green eye and one eye with a tinge of brown! Funny thing is, in my entire educational history, I have never been in a school bus. Besides an occasional field trip here and there, I had never stepped one foot onto a school bus until the day I started my training to become a driver.

Keep up the great work, Steve. I can't wait to see what happens here.

Kathy Gorecki
School Bus Driver
Leyden High Schools
Franklin Park, IL

I enjoy reading School Bus Fleet and would like to offer a suggestion. Many times when reading letters to the editor that take exception to an article or view expressed by you there is little or no response. Although I'm not looking for you to get into arguements with readers, I have felt that a follow up article or editorial looking at the opposing view could be interesting and of general interest to the industry. Unfortunately, I don't have a good example to share at this time. I will, however, share the next one that I see.

Welcome to the Blog World. I am another non-blogger and I just learned at a Transportation Conference presentation that 2 new blogs are are created every second and 1,116 bloggers are posted every minute!!! How does anyone get any work done anymore. Do we all spend our day on a computer?

I enjoy your reading your editor's note each month. For a non school bus driver, you definatley are in touch with our problems and tribulations. Keep up the good work. I have been in this business since 1989 both as bus driver and now supervisor. It doesn't get any easier.

Steve,

It will be good to hear your musings concerning our industry via this blog site. I just started blogging myself about 5 months ago, and I find it to be quite therapeutic on most occasions! I'm sure you'll have fun with it! And though I've known you now for about 4 years, I've just found out some things that I didn't know about you via this blog! Welcome to the world of blogging!

Max Christensen
State Director of School Transportation
Iowa

At last a place school bus drivers can vent. I've been a school bus driver for 12 years.

Dear Steve:

I'm very happy that you started this blog! As you did, I'd like to take a moment to mention some personal information about myself: As a former Editor-In-Chief of an industrial magazine serving the chemical industry, I dabbled in blogs very briefly, but this is the first time I've responded to someone else's column. I became fascinated with school buses when I was 12 years old, an incredible 45 years ago! I rode a 57 International A170, 58 passenger, Ward body, 6-cylinder, 5-speed, non-synchromesh transmission, manual steering and turn signals. You knew you were driving something behind the wheel of that bus! I'm sure my fascination with the bus probably drove our driver nuts at times, but she was always nice to me and even let me dabble with the controls from time to time. Her name was Shirley Winters and I suspect she's gone to her final reward by now, but I never forgot her or the bus. I owned my own bus for several years in the 70s and 80s, a 46 International K6 with basically the same drive train as the 57. I enjoyed it immensely and we made many trips with large groups of friends to such events as softball games and fireworks displays. Fast-forwarding to the present, I flirted with the notion of driving a school bus for many years and decided to bail out of the corporate rat race a little over a year ago and train as a bus driver for our local school district. The buses sure have changed from the ones that fascinated me as a child, but I thoroughly enjoy the newer International buses I drive, although sometimes I do wish they had stick shift! The gray area when I took this job was: "How will I handle the kids?" I have a kindergarten run, two intermediate school runs and a high school shuttle. I can honestly say I get along great with all the kids and we're almost like family on the bus. There's been some problems here and there resulting in suspensions and even a few students being removed from the bus permanently. But, by-and-large, the experience has been a good one. I talk to them the same as I do to adults; treat them with respect and kindness. I have a lot of patience with the kids and try never to lose my temper, although they have gotten a few tongue lashings. The bus gets noisy at times, but I don't find it to be a terrible distraction. They're kids and you have to expect that sort of thing. Overall, they behave well, don't trash the bus or destroy property, respect each other and me, and close their windows before getting off. I would like to think my laying down some ground rules early on in the school year had much to do with this. I know all their names, who their friends are, where they go, etc. I take a personal interest in all of them and attend school events in which they are involved. Getting along well with the kids makes the job so much more enjoyable. School bus drivers do have a very responsible position and it can be a difficult and stressful one as well. Regardless, I enjoy it and look forward to every day. I'll miss it this summer when school's closed for a few months and I'll certainly miss many of my students that are moving on to the 8th grade and won't be on my bus next year. But I'll be back in the fall for more of it!

Geoff Bridgman, Driver
Pocono Mountain School District
Swiftwater, PA

Hi Steve,
Always a pleasure to read and learn from the stories you print and the surveys that are shared in your magazines....keep up the good work. The drivers always grab the magazine to compare others adventures. Thanks to all.
Jayne Campbell
Owosso Public Schools Transportation Dept.