School Bus Driver

School Bus Driver

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.

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1007 Questions

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Last Answer on February 07, 2021

Best Rated

What happens when a bus driver writes somebody up?

Asked by Imari over 9 years ago

The citations are usually handled by the school. The bus driver will turn the citation into the proper authorities (principal or supervisor) and the citation will be handled from there. The consequence depends on the severity of the behavior written on the citation. For example: two kids in a fight will get 3 days off the bus but the kid who gets in trouble for using foul language might only get a warning. It depends on your school districts policy.

Is there a minimum age to become a school bus driver? I'm 20. Is it a potential job while I myself am in school? Drive 5-8, class 9-12, drive 2-5?

Asked by Matt over 10 years ago

Each state has their own laws regarding the age of bus drivers. I think here in Georgia it is 21 or 22. Other than that I'm not sure. As far as time is concerned, yes it can be worked during a college schedule. In fact I am in college myself and manage my job and college.

How do i get a bus driver to stop in front of my property which is a designated bus stop. He just refuses to drive down a few 100 yards cause its easier to back up and turn around if he doesnt?

Asked by Angryinarkansas almost 11 years ago

"My sons bus driver says to be waiting on him in someone elses driveway a 8th of a mile up the road. No other kids get on when my son does. Waiting means stand there for possibly 30mins cause this bus doesnt come at a regular time."

I copied the second part of your question here so that I can address both at the same time

First, if your house is a designated stop, my first suggestion would be to go to the bus shop supervisor and find out why he has not been stopping at the stop.  There may not be an easy place to turn around down by where you live.  Sometimes there are safety reasons why we don't go down certain roads.  If the bus has no consistent time, this is something that should be reported to the bus shop as well.  I try to be on the same schedule within a 5 minute time frame so as not to worry my students or parents.  Third, I don't know the age of your child, but it is likely that if the child is in middle or highschool, it is easier to get the child to walk a couple hundred yards to where there is a safe place for the bus to turn around.  On one of my roads, there is literally no place to turn around at the end of the road.  I could go down it and back into someone's driveway, but I don't want to do that unless it is absolutely necessary or pouring down rain.

Keep in mind there are laws when handling back ups on a 40 foot school bus.  The bus isnt exactly the most maneuverable vehicle too.  Hope this helps.

 

Is it ok for parents to record the bus driver with her phone every time she arrives at bus stops without the bus drivers permission?

Asked by Tanner almost 9 years ago

Well given that most bus stops are in public places, I would venture to say that recording is okay. However that being said, there may be some legality reasons why you should not record anything involving other people's children. Best to check with your local laws.

Is a bus driver allowed to ask a child personal questions regarding another child? Also, the result of the questioning made him uncomfortable and cry, and it has nothing to do with the safety of either child. Is this sort of questioning legal?

Asked by Cynthia almost 10 years ago

I would need examples of the questions being asked in order to better understand the situation. That being said I rarely ask any child any side of a situation but his or her own. For example, on my bus on Friday, I had let one of my more challenging students sit further back from the front. As such, he subsequently threw something at other kids which made a big problem on the bus. Instead of accusing any one child, I asked each child what happened and their side to the story. This stopped them from being upset over the situation and allowed them to control their side to it.In the end, I got the truth about what happened, correlated by several kids, and not one of them accused the other of doing it.

Today someone called my company to say my kids were not sitting in the bus. I have nothing but problems with these kids and I have wrote up tons of them. This year I have 68 kids on my bus and are 3 to a seat. I can't get them to sit.

Asked by Someone called in on me almost 10 years ago

What happens when they get written up? If you are having a problem with overcrowding, you have a few options. The first would be to go to your supervisor. They may be able to rearrange and take some of the students off your bus route in order to alleviate the overcrowding issue. Most any kid is going to have problems sitting three to a seat, especially if they are older kids. A second option is to speak to your supervisor about splitting your route into two runs. I service elementary, middle, and high school students on my bus and due to an overcrowding issue I experienced last year, I opted to do an abbreviated first run in order to drop off approximately 20 students to alleviate the need to have most everyone at 3 to a seat. I still get done at the same time every day, actually about 5 minutes earlier by simply going to two runs. My kids are comfortable and they behave much better because they are not packed in like sardines.

A third option is for you to assign everyone a seat. Anyone not in their assigned seat or standing in their assigned seat will get written up.

This is a reply to your question... The girls are not crowded at all us boys are since we have so little seats that we usually have 3 to a seat the girls (there are less girls)get to do what every they want drink or eat but us boys cant do anythin

Asked by NotJohn almost 10 years ago

Then you may want to check in with the district and the bus shop to see if something can be done. Have you considered talking with the driver to see what his reasoning is? Maybe if you approach it with a polite manner, he might be more amenable to changing or giving an extra row of seats for space. Good luck.