District’s Transportation Staff Makes Surprise Visit to Nursing Home Residents
More than 20 of Hamilton County (Fla.) School District’s transportation staff visit local nursing home residents after waving at them all school year as they headed out on their routes.
More than 20 of Hamilton County (Fla.) School District’s transportation staff visited Suwannee Valley Nursing Center on June 5 to interact with residents who waved at them all school year. Photo courtesy Kim Williamson
More than 20 of Hamilton County (Fla.) School District’s transportation staff visited Suwannee Valley Nursing Center on June 5 to interact with residents who waved at them all school year. Photo courtesy Kim Williamson
JASPER, Fla. — A group of school transportation staff members here recently made a surprise visit to residents at their local nursing home.
More than 20 of Hamilton County School District’s transportation staff, including bus drivers, aides, and maintenance technicians, visited Suwannee Valley Nursing Center on June 5 to interact with their “resident fans” who had waved at them all school year as they headed out to complete their routes, Ward Daniels, the district’s transportation director, told School Bus Fleet.
Daniels said that every afternoon the nursing home residents would sit on the porch of the nursing center, located across the road from the district’s bus yard, and wave to the bus drivers.
“We would pull our buses out at about 2:30 p.m. and the residents would be out there waving at us, and we’d simply blow our horns back to acknowledge them,” Daniels added. “I thought it would be special to visit them at the end of the school year, so I reached out to the manager of the nursing center and they agreed that it was a good idea.”
On the day of the visit, Daniels said that his transportation staff came in a few minutes early. They even gifted two of the residents — Kenny Neff and Eileen Thompson (a former school bus driver) — with T-shirts similar to those the transportation department wears every Wednesday.
Both Neff and Thompson had never missed a day on the porch, according to Daniels.
Kenny Neff (left) and Eileen Thompson were both gifted t-shirts similar to those that the transportation department wears every Wednesday. Thompson is a former school bus driver herself. Photo courtesy Kim Williamson
“It’s one of those exciting moments that they look forward to, almost like a parade for them,” said Kim Williamson, the activity director for Suwannee Valley Nursing Center. “Having our residents see [the drivers] up close and meet them was so wonderful, and I think the bus drivers got a kick out of it too.”
Next year, Hamilton County School District's transportation department plans to continue visiting the nursing center, according to Daniels. He also said that during this upcoming holiday season, his goal is to gift all of the nursing home residents with the T-shirts so they can match the drivers as they wave to them.
More Management
5 Questions: How CharterUP Brought a Marketplace to Student Transportation
What does it take to bring a transportation marketplace into K-12? Hear firsthand what CharterUP has learned about the unique needs of schools and bus operators.
Read More →
EverDriven Expands TripCentral Transportation Management Platform to All Partner Districts
The platform provides school districts with real-time trip tracking, student transportation scheduling tools, and pickup and drop-off management capabilities.
Read More →
6 School Transportation Trends to Watch: 2026 District Survey Results
School bus buying is up, fuel choices are shifting, and driver shortages persist. This and more in the latest K-12 public school survey, plus the largest fleets in the U.S.
Read More →
The 100 Largest School Bus Fleets in America: 2026 Rankings
Which public K-12 school districts are the largest in the nation in terms of bus fleet size? Here are the new standings of the top 100 district fleets.
Read More →
EverDriven Launches Route Consolidation Calculator to Estimate Diesel Savings
As diesel prices hit record highs, the largest alternative transportation provider says a 10% route consolidation could save a 120-route district more than $78,000 a year in fuel alone.
Read More →
Zum Secures Continued Financing Support for School Bus Expansion
Generate Private Credit has financed approximately $75 million in school bus deployments across three states, supporting more than 500 buses as Zum expands across the county.
Read More →
Beyond Discipline: A Different Approach to Student Behavior on the Bus
After implementing a dean of students program in Oregon, North Clackamas is seeing positive improvements. Here’s how it worked. The Route is brought to you by IC Bus.
Read More →
A Dean of Transportation's Different Approach to Student Behavior on the School Bus
After implementing a dean of students program in Oregon, North Clackamas is seeing positive improvements on the bus. Here’s how it worked.
Read More →
Inside NAPT ACTS 2026: Highlights from Louisville
From federal updates and student behavior strategies to new school bus technology and industry awards, see highlights from NAPT ACTS 2026 in Louisville.
Read More →
Meet the 2026 School Bus Driver Hero Winner: Annette Brown
We caught up with Wa-Nee Community Schools' Annette Brown on site at SBFX, where she was named the 2026 School Bus Driver Hero Award winner. Hear about her reaction, what she loves most about being a school bus driver, and more!
Read More →