Here, we share photos from events around the country that were held in February in celebration of Love the Bus month, which honors school bus drivers and highlights the important role that pupil transportation plays in students' education.
Love the Bus 2012
On Valentine's Day, the staff at Transportation South in Pelham, Ala., hosted its second annual Love the Bus celebration. As part of the festivities, the Backwoods Boys performed for attendees.
Also during the event at Transportation South, guests were invited to bring one special bus driver, who was to be recognized and receive a gift. Officials said the celebration honored the state's best school bus drivers as voted by the students, parents and teachers they serve. While enjoying lunch, students and other attendees heard from Joe Lightsey, Alabama's director of pupil transportation, who spoke about the track record of the school bus industry in the state, and throughout the nation.
North Carolina State Superintendent Dr. June Atkinson rode a bus and honored drivers at Caleb's Creek Elementary School in Kernersville. Bus drivers enjoyed a breakfast provided by the school and a performance of “Wheels on the Bus” by a pre-kindergarten class. Atkinson is pictured here talking to the media about the importance of the yellow bus.
The transportation staff at Jackson-Madison County Schools in Jackson, Tenn., was treated to breakfast on Feb. 17 as a show of appreciation for all of their hard work. Transportation Supervisor Grant Ward (not pictured) said that most of the district’s 28 schools recognized their bus drivers in some way in February.
The Virginia Association for Pupil Transportation (VAPT) and its business partners hosted Virginia's first statewide Love the Bus celebration. The VAPT said that students and pupil transportation officials from across the state gathered at Capitol Square in Richmond "to celebrate the institution of the iconic yellow school bus, and highlight the vital contributions pupil transportation plays in Virginia’s public education mission."
NHTSA Deputy Administrator Ron Medford and FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro (far right) were among the officials who attended a Love the Bus event at Sunderland (Md.) Elementary School on Feb. 21. They are pictured with Sunderland Principal Kathy Vogel (left) and Calvert County Public Schools board President Rose Crunkleton, as well as three winners of a Love the Bus poster contest.
Norman (Okla.) Public Schools bus driver Theresa Callahan, pictured with her two grandsons, was among the attendees of the district’s “Love the Bus Hockey Night” on Feb. 19. Christy Clemons, assistant director of transportation, partnered with the Oklahoma City Barons hockey team and the Oklahoma Association for Pupil Transportation to organize the event, in which bus drivers and monitors got to watch the game against the San Antonio Rampage and skate on the ice afterward.
In Swain County (N.C.), school bus drivers and other transportation staff took part in a Love the Bus celebration initiated by former driver Bill Reynolds. They were joined by state Sen. Jim Davis and Transportation Consultant Randy Henson from the state Department of Public Instruction.
Ralph Crockett, a school bus driver from the York County (Va.) School Division, takes part in the VAPT Love the Bus festivities. On his sleeve are his results from school bus roadeos.