The Bus Driver
15 Years Experience
South, ..
Female, 37
I have been a bus driver since late 2006. I know the inside story, the scoop, the down low dirt of what it takes to be a bus driver, how to handle kids and adults, and how to survive on the "streets" so to speak. I used to have a blog, feel free to browse it or ask me a question here.
This is kind of a slippery slope for bus drivers. It is probably best to maintain the professionalism and not get personal. Thats not to say if you see him out and about in a place other than the bus, that you can't strike up a conversation with him, but in my opinion best to keep those conversations for interactions outside his professional job.
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That would depend on your local bus company. Different companies have different policies. In my district, as long as the children are school age, they are allowed to ride our buses. It also will depend on which schools you end up serving as to where your children can attend school within the district. Your best bet is to call the bus shop and speak to the supervisor on the bus shop's policy on the matter.
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The pre-trip inspections vary from state to state and bus shop to bus shop, but overall, they aren't all that hard to follow. In my district, our pre-trip inspections are basically ensuring all the lights work, the horn works, the stop arm and the stop sign come out, emergency buzzers are active and working as well as the door functional. Any mechanical issue is usually discovered either in the fuel line or when the bus stops working for some reason. Since we don't fuel our own buses, the mechanics do it, they check the fluids and all under the hood for us.
As far as going to bed and waking up, that will depend on your individual route and district. For mine, I don't have a set bedtime or anything like that, but my route starts at 6:35 am every morning so I have to plan to be up and out the door by 6:10-6:15 every morning. I usually wake up at 5:45 ish (start to wake up/alarm goes off at 5:30), in the shower by 5:50, and out the door by 6:20. It only takes me a few minutes to drive to work, so I'm on the bus yard by 6:25 and on my bus and enroute by 6:30 to my first stop.
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Be firm but fair. Don't let them see your weaknesses, but also realize that they are kids and will make mistakes. Try to listen to the kids. Calm bus driver = calm bus kids = easy time for all. Good luck!
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I would check to see what your district policy is on electronics on school property. In my district, electronics such as cellphones or music players or the like are not allowed primarily in school or on school property which includes the school bus. As for me, I allow these things unless they start to cause a nuisance between the kids, in which case I usually will warn the child with the offending device and warn of the consequences (confiscation and a parental phone call) Most of the time the kids will tone it down and behave. Have you tried warning this child of the consequences for his behavior? Finally, you can get the back up of your supervisor in order to help manage this.
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If the driver backed into the arbor, knocked it down, and broke something then it should be up to the bus company to pay for a reasonable replacement of items broken or damaged. Accidents happen, and things should be fixed. I once backed into a yard and over a low fence (fence was largely decorative and only outlined parts of the driveway). I didn't think I had damaged anything but my boss got a call from the homeowners. Though I took responsibility, my boss just went and got the items needed to simply repair the damage (a post and one small piece of fence) It took all of 10 minutes to make the repair as it was a simple accident and not malicious in any way.
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Far as I can tell the notifications are left up to individual bus companies. I would assume it is based on severity of accident. If the bus was involved in a minor fender bender where no children are hurt, it is likely they will be either transferred to another bus and then delivered home or to school, or the bus is undamaged so it is able to deliver a student to and from school. You should review your individual school system policies to see what their protocol is on notifying parents of bus accidents.
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