Beware the orange school bus
September 13th 2006 15:20
Fanning out across the countryside from as early as 7.00am every school day, are bright orange buses traveling out to pick up school children for their day’s education. Up until about sixty years ago, children had less distances to travel as they went to many small one or two teacher schools. True some walked, rode horse, arrived in their father’s old truck or rode their bicycles, but attendance was as valued by the small communities as much as it is today. Now some buses have almost a round trip of two hundred kilometers each day and small children who live far away settle in for an extra hour’s sleep once they are on the bus in the morning. Buses do not have direct routes to travel but must weave in and out among the side roads to ensure each child is within three kilometers for pick-up.
The bus drivers are an important person in a student’s life. The same driver may experience a child’s first day at school, first award, first fight, first rejected love and may see them through to their first graduation from primary school or high school. They are the first adult, apart from the teacher, that the child sees after school and may be privy to that excitement of “what we did at school today” or the unfairness of a punishment they received. The drivers need to be like a mother, a teacher, a policeman and have the best concentration on the road ahead that is possible.
Most trips are fairly uneventful but here are some incidents that happened to school buses in our district.
* There was the bus that had a full sized kangaroo jump in front of the bus, jump through the windscreen, get caught by the tail by the big kids and escorted off the bus.
* There was the bus which had a teacher try to pass it and the car slipped on the gravel and ran into the bus. One embarrassed teacher! (I know - it was me!)
*Another bus had to stop during a horrific thunderstorm with claps of thunder that shook the bus – even the seasoned driver was frightened.
*Then there was the kid who on dress-up day couldn’t fit through the door with his costume, so ended up having to go home again!
*There are always trees across the road so that the drivers have to go many extra kilometers to get around the roads and flat tyres and breakdowns that the kids enjoy, because they are late for school.
The drivers have seen everything, so it is no wonder that many ex-students have fond memories of their bus drivers and parents gratefully thank them for the safe return of their children every day.
Most trips are fairly uneventful but here are some incidents that happened to school buses in our district.
* There was the bus that had a full sized kangaroo jump in front of the bus, jump through the windscreen, get caught by the tail by the big kids and escorted off the bus.
* There was the bus which had a teacher try to pass it and the car slipped on the gravel and ran into the bus. One embarrassed teacher! (I know - it was me!)
*Then there was the kid who on dress-up day couldn’t fit through the door with his costume, so ended up having to go home again!
*There are always trees across the road so that the drivers have to go many extra kilometers to get around the roads and flat tyres and breakdowns that the kids enjoy, because they are late for school.
The drivers have seen everything, so it is no wonder that many ex-students have fond memories of their bus drivers and parents gratefully thank them for the safe return of their children every day.
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