Special-needs bus driver honored for helping students, community

LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. — Lake Elsinore Unified School District (USD) special-needs school bus driver Julie Poirier-Leyva was recently recognized for her consistent efforts to help the students she transports as well as community members.

Poirier-Leyva received the Classified Staff Member of the Year award from the Riverside County Office of Education for the 2008-09 school year, an award for which colleagues say she is very deserving.

"There’s a pulse within her," Lake Elsinore USD Transportation Director Gene Durham told The Press-Enterprise. "If she sees a need, it just energizes her. She's just on fire to help."

According to The Press-Enterprise, Poirier-Leyva keeps water and crackers on her bus for students, and she has passed out water for parents waiting in line to purchase bus passes.

Poirier-Leyva’s other philanthropic endeavors include participating in a district-wide “Stuff the Bus” event, donating food for her co-workers on School Bus Driver Day and purchasing supplies for a family that lost everything in an apartment fire.

The Classified Staff Member of the Year award is an annual award that is presented to the top non-teaching employee in Riverside County.