School bus driver livens up lounge with mural

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — To add a personal touch to the drivers lounge, Diane Alley turned to her artistic side.

The school bus driver for Petermann LLC began working on a mural on a wall in the lounge that would represent her operation. The result is a 16-foot by 20-foot painting of a school bus with an array of animals.

Each of the operation's buses is assigned an animal — there's a rabbit, a horse, a penguin and about a dozen more. The animals appear on magnets beside the student entry doors on the buses.

"This helps elementary students better identify the bus they are assigned," Director of Transportation Bryan Howard told SBF in an interview. "We have also noticed it helps the parents as well."

Alley, who has been a school bus driver for 15 years, spent about 60 hours on the mural, which she finished in December. She worked on it mostly between her morning and mid-day runs and put in some time on a few weekend days.

Howard is depicted as a ringleader, and there are three bees flying out of his hat that represent the operation's substitute drivers. The mechanic also makes an appearance, at work on the front tire of the bus.

The Petermann operation has been providing transportation service for Madison Local Schools since 2005. Last year, the contract was renewed for eight additional years.

The idea for the painting project came after the district moved the transportation group to a different area that had been remodeled.

"It definitely gives the drivers lounge character," Howard said.

Alley has also done a mural for a family member's baby room and an outdoor scene on the side of her garage, and she paints gourds to sell.

Now she's considering another mural in the transportation office. The idea is to paint the back of a bus around one of the office's doors, with the door posing as the rear emergency exit of the bus.