Monday was d-day for the bus routes. For six weeks I have been calling parents, chatting with bus drivers, setting up and driving routes and trying to collect all the paperwork to keep us with in the law.
I must say it didn't go off with out a hitch, but it could have been a lot worse. Only one miss placed student out of 300, and one irate mom who couldn't understand why I just couldn't make the buses cover her neighborhood, even though she is well off the path. The one miss placed student was at the school. After years of being told "do not talk to strangers", you hand your child to a teacher he or she barely knows, who then hands you off to a bus driver that they've never seen. Then we expect them to tell us their names or raise their hand when we call their names, and oh, even though it's 110 degrees outside and the bus is very warm, don't fall asleep because we cannot see you. We are very careful that everyone is fingerprinted and background checked who is handing off students but we are human and we don't just give other people's children away. That was the jest of it. Thank goodness it was my bus that it happened on. I just let it roll off because we just do our best, and that's all anyone can ask and no, we are not perfect.
By Tuesday all of that had calmed down and we got a little faster and they got a little braver about speaking up. We did have to sic the other students on sleeping students to keep them awake, we can only do so much while driving a 40 foot bus.
Today's Friday and yesterday's stuff happened on the Queen Creek run but they're handling it. All four of my bus runs are getting pretty full, but the students sit and just chat. It is a much better year than last year all ready. I'm already revising the bus forms so we can count and load the right students on the right buses. Hopefully by next year it will run smoother, even if I'm not the one doing it.
By the way I go to take my CDL physical again tomorrow. I guess they only let you go 2 years instead of three when they smack the phrase heart disease on the form. I only have till September 17, before they revoke my license. I hope I don't have to make an appointment with the cardiologist, he took forever to get me in the first time and I must say I was the healthiest person in his waiting room and I took the stairs not the elevator. We'll see, you never know I might have a change coming, but I don't think so.
Such is the soap opera of bus drivers.
I must say it didn't go off with out a hitch, but it could have been a lot worse. Only one miss placed student out of 300, and one irate mom who couldn't understand why I just couldn't make the buses cover her neighborhood, even though she is well off the path. The one miss placed student was at the school. After years of being told "do not talk to strangers", you hand your child to a teacher he or she barely knows, who then hands you off to a bus driver that they've never seen. Then we expect them to tell us their names or raise their hand when we call their names, and oh, even though it's 110 degrees outside and the bus is very warm, don't fall asleep because we cannot see you. We are very careful that everyone is fingerprinted and background checked who is handing off students but we are human and we don't just give other people's children away. That was the jest of it. Thank goodness it was my bus that it happened on. I just let it roll off because we just do our best, and that's all anyone can ask and no, we are not perfect.
By Tuesday all of that had calmed down and we got a little faster and they got a little braver about speaking up. We did have to sic the other students on sleeping students to keep them awake, we can only do so much while driving a 40 foot bus.
Today's Friday and yesterday's stuff happened on the Queen Creek run but they're handling it. All four of my bus runs are getting pretty full, but the students sit and just chat. It is a much better year than last year all ready. I'm already revising the bus forms so we can count and load the right students on the right buses. Hopefully by next year it will run smoother, even if I'm not the one doing it.
By the way I go to take my CDL physical again tomorrow. I guess they only let you go 2 years instead of three when they smack the phrase heart disease on the form. I only have till September 17, before they revoke my license. I hope I don't have to make an appointment with the cardiologist, he took forever to get me in the first time and I must say I was the healthiest person in his waiting room and I took the stairs not the elevator. We'll see, you never know I might have a change coming, but I don't think so.
Such is the soap opera of bus drivers.
1 comment:
every day is an adventure with you.
infultra
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