Bus drivers work to make the grade

Michelle Baer wiggled in behind the big driver’s seat of a school bus for the first time on Thursday.

After practicing backing and turning the big yellow vehicle around, she judged her experience a success.

“I didn’t hit any kids, puppies or mailboxes,” she explained, relieved.

Baer and others spent part of their summer studying to become school bus drivers. Before schools will entrust them to deliver their cargo, they have to complete three days in class, three days on the road and earn a certified driver’s license.

Baer said driving a bus makes sense for her because she already volunteers at Knollwood Elementary School, which her child attends. “When you’re volunteering a lot at school, why not get paid for it?”

Learning to drive a bus takes patience, said Gary Sims, a driver education specialist for the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles. The buses don’t travel faster than 45 mph. Drivers must allow a lot of space between the buses and other vehicles before turning at intersections.

“It’s unfortunately not the kind of job where you can call one day and start two or three days later,” Sims said. “There’s state and federal guidelines.”

But Sims says that the hardest part to driving a school bus isn’t maneuvering.

“It’s a little different than driving a truck,” he said. “You’re maneuvering while you’re dealing with all the children. That’s why it’s so important for parents to stress to their children to behave.”

At the school system’s 10-bay bus garage on Old Concord Road, mechanics have been working under hoods. They’re preparing the 198 buses that will haul about 11,000 children to schools in Rowan County each day.

This year, the school system changed the times most schools open and close to allow bus drivers to serve more than one school. Rowan-Salisbury Schools can stand to save about $940,000 over the next seven years, Director of Transportation Jim Christy estimates.

The added hours should help bus drivers; many double as teacher assistants during the day. Others have retired and want to work part-time, Christy said.

Deborah Graham tries to encourage parents to have their children at their bus stop on the first day of school if they plan to ride throughout the year. Parents can find appropriate stops by attending their school’s open house or by contacting its principal or bus supervisor.

Drivers can’t always stop in front of every home, she said.

“If we could have every bus drive through every kitchen and pick them up at the table, that’s what they would do.”

Contact Brad A. Hodges at 704-797-4266 or bhodges@salisburypost.com .

Bus facts

• School buses cannot turn right on red.
  
• The maximum speed limit for buses is 45 mph.
  
• Rowan-Salisbury Schools used 408,824 gallons of fuel, 11,571 quarts of oil and 748 tires during the 1999-2000 school year.
  
• That same year, mechanics replaced 834 seat covers that were damaged by students.
  
• School buses may arrive at any point as much as 10 minutes early or late and still be considered on time.
  
• Riding a school bus is not a right but a privilege.
  
• Decisions regarding stop locations are based on state laws.