Exuberant kids in yellow T-shirts, a bus-loving U.S. congressman and a School Bus Champion Award are among the pictorial highlights from the 2016 Love the Bus main event.
PHOTOS: ASBC’s Love the Bus event
The Love the Bus 2016 main event, organized by the American School Bus Council (ASBC), was held at Cosumnes River Elementary School in Sloughhouse, California, on Feb. 19. Congressman Ami Bera was one of the speakers.
The walls of the school's multi-purpose room were adorned in yellow bus decorations. In this creative craft, one student wrote, “I love the bus because they play good music.”
Jared Blumenfeld, the EPA’s Region 9 administrator, noted that each school bus takes 36 cars off of the road. “I think the yellow school bus is the best bus there is,” he told the students. “You get to have a great time, and you’ll save the planet.”
Hoffman noted that Elk Grove buses transport the district’s students 2.7 million miles per year. “Because of that, our kids are as safe as possible,” he said.
Elk Grove Director of Transportation Jill Gayaldo surprised the Cosumnes students by announcing that her department would reward their “Love the Bus” spirit by giving them a field trip.
Another Love the Bus decoration in the Cosumnes multi-purpose room.
Cosumnes Principal Mike Gulden expressed his appreciation for school buses, and, like his students, he donned a yellow T-shirt.
Congressman Bera (center) and other dignitaries posed for photos with students in front of Elk Grove school buses.
Elk Grove has taken steps to reduce emissions by acquiring new alternative fuel buses and retrofitting older diesel buses with filters. The district runs about 200 school buses total.
Seen here are officials from ASBC’s member organizations — the three national pupil transportation associations and the large school bus OEMs.
Cosumnes students in yellow T-shirts screamed in unison, “We love the bus!” Bera had told the kids to yell “loud enough so President Obama can hear” all the way in Washington.
ASBC representative Leon Langley (left) presented the School Bus Champion Award to Elk Grove Unified School District. Accepting the award was Superintendent Chris Hoffman.
In presenting the award, Langley said that while California does not require districts to provide transportation service, “Elk Grove has embraced the school bus.”