What was the worst thing one of your drivers, or one of your supervisors, did in 2002?

Supervisors speak out

The worst thing one of my drivers did to a bus was hit a concrete light pole in the middle of an empty parking lot with kids on the bus. No one was hurt, fortunately. The second worst thing a driver did was drive across a raised concrete curbing, striking and knocking down two large palm trees, in the front parking lot/bus loop area of a brand new, just-opened elementary school. At least the bus was empty.
JOE REED, ASSISTANT TRANSPORTATION DIRECTOR
School District of Palm Beach County (Fla.)

One of my drivers had been having problems with her high school students throwing pencils. She had reported them to the administration at the school, and several had been suspended. But on one particular day, another student threw a pencil, and it happened to bounce and hit the driver’s elementary age child who was riding that afternoon. The child was not injured.

The driver proceeded to borrow a student’s cell phone and made a phone call. After completing the call, she pulled a $20 bill from her purse and offered it as a reward for the name of the person who threw the pencil. One of the students took her offer and gave her a name. All of this took place while the bus was traveling on the interstate.

When the driver arrived at the stop of the student that she was told threw the pencil, she didn’t stop and instead drove two blocks down the street to the next bus stop. At the stop two gentlemen were waiting on the corner for the bus to arrive. The driver had called the father of her child. He and a friend assaulted the high school student when he got off the bus. After the investigation, the driver completely admitted to her actions and immediately resigned.
JEFF BANNER, TRANSPORTATION SUPERVISOR
Winston Salem, N.C.

Drivers have voices too

Our transportation supervisor just got his CDL and, after an eight-hour in-service, we convinced him to try out for the roadeo like the rest of us. What a scam! This man couldn’t drive or back up at all. He ran over the tape measure that we used to measure distances.
ANONYMOUS

The worst thing my transportation supervisor did was give me an all-day field trip to take a group of fourth-graders to the beach. Another bus driver and I packed our lunches, headed to the school and waited for the kids. They didn’t come out, so I asked the principal if the trip had been cancelled. He said he knew of no such trip. I apologized for the mix-up.

I went back to my bus and discovered that the other bus driver had left. I got on the two-way radio and told the driver that there had been a mix-up. She replied that we were at the wrong school. She told me the correct school, but said I didn’t need to come. I assumed it was a smaller group than anticipated and only one bus was needed. But when I went back to the bus garage, I was informed that my boss had sneaked out in a bus and stolen my run. I guess he wanted to get out of the office and lie on the beach.
ANONYMOUS

A company complaint

After a driver applicant goes through the background checks, behind-the-wheel training and road test, they must then wait until the company has enough drivers to justify having a driver’s CORE class, which is mandatory in Oregon within 120 days of receiving a CDL.

If the driver fails to obtain CORE classes, even if it’s at no fault of his own, he will lose his school bus driver permit. If I remember correctly, he cannot apply for an application again for one year. Unfortunately, the company will not give the CORE training until it has a group of at least five new hires.

By now, the new driver has become frustrated with issues that he does not know how to handle, and most of his concerns would be addressed if he had taken the CORE class before getting his school bus permit. Now he has to sit through 10 hours of training that he should have had months ago.
RAY TINKEY, DRIVER TRAINER
Woodburn, Ore.

From the forums at www.schoolbusfleet.com