“The best part is the kids, and the worst part is the kids.”
Bus driver Tim Braband’s comment received nods and smiles from fellow drivers in a break room at Hicks Bus Line’s headquarters in Litchfield.
Brian Lawrence, Julie Stern, Dawn Michaletz and Roxanne Godejahn, along with Braband, are just a few of the school bus drivers working for Hicks Bus Line, let alone the state. With several hundred school districts in Minnesota, hundreds of thousands of students get transported via bus every day to and from school.
And for their efforts, they get a special day.
Feb. 28 is the second annual School Bus Driver Appreciation Day in Minnesota. The day is dedicated to recognizing those who drive buses and look out for the safety of children every day that schools are in session.
“School bus drivers transport parents’ most precious cargo — their children —day in and day out, and they do this job humbly and with great pride,” said Minnesota School Bus Operators Association President Josh Schiffler in a news release.
“Bus drivers are dedicated to keeping our children safe, making it possible for parents to know their children are in good hands when they travel between home and school each day,” Minnesota State Patrol Lieutenant Tiffani Nielson said.
The job itself can be tough, but at last, officials are glad drivers can get the applause they deserve.
NO TWO DAYS ARE THE SAME
For school bus drivers in Litchfield, their workdays are consistently inconsistent.
“The route is the same, but it’s not the same thing everyday,” said Godejahn, who has been a driver for 10 years.
The truth in that is familiar with the group. From a broken bus door to an engine fire on Halloween five years ago, the drivers have seen it all. But behind every breakdown, a team of mechanics can put it back together.
“They’re very, very good at their job,” said Lawrence, in his 15th year of driving.
GETTING BEHIND THE WHEEL
“Nobody wants to be a bus driver growing up,” said Stern, in her 22nd year of driving.
Each driver comes into the job for a different reason. For Braband, upon retiring from construction, he wanted to stay busy. For Godejahn, she was a stay-at-home mom who wanted to leave the house.
“I will say this: It’s the job that let’s you see both the sun rise and the sun set,” Stern said.
That comment was the springboard into the reminiscence of last fall’s solar eclipse, when, according to Lawrence, the radios were busy with chatter as all the drivers watched the natural phenomenon.
Among other inside jokes and laughter, the crew at Hicks gives evidence that they’re a team, not just individual drivers.
“There’s really a great camaraderie between coworkers,” Lawrence said.
“Everyone is very helpful,” said Michaletz, who is in her ninth year of driving, said about her fellow drivers. “If you need something, like if you’re afraid that you’re not going to make a stop in time, there are others who will help out and pick them up for you.”
But a word of caution comes with the job.
“Oftentimes, you get looked at like a second-class citizen,” Lawrence said, commenting on how being a bus driver, to some, implies that they have fallen to the bottom ranks of society. Amidst a room full of nodding drivers, Lawrence added, “It takes a great deal to entrust us with your kids, and that shows good character. It comes with a high standard and a great deal of trust.”
Trained in the knowledge of CPR, evacuation methods, unauthorized rider scenarios and more, the drivers at Hicks have undergone a significant amount of training. Monthly meetings keep everyone up to speed on training tactics and updates.
“This job is just not for everybody,” Godejahn said. “It’s part mechanic, part mom, part dad, part therapist. Sometimes you get distracted when a kid in the back yells your name and you have to look up. You can’t just ignore them.”
While the distractions on the buses can be a hindrance, the thing that really grinds their gears is distracted driving from other motorists on the road.
“I don’t know when it became allowed to make a turn without turning on your signal,” Godejahn said, “I must have missed that.”
“When you’re sitting in the driver’s seat, you are six feet higher than everyone else. You can see everything,” Lawrence said. “You can see what people are eating for breakfast, putting on makeup, playing on their phones. You see people not paying attention.”
Bus drivers deal with distracted drivers on a regular basis. For them, the dangers from this are great, since their goal is to get the students safely from one destination to another. The drivers for Hicks revealed that poor driving from others is concerning, and they wish that they could reach out to the public to get their points across.
“There are people who get halfway through intersections and then stop, try to wave you by, and when you don’t accept their nicety, they become angry,” Lawrence said.
“Also, it’s harder for us to come to a complete stop quickly than a normal car,” Godejahn said.
“My thing is, don’t weave behind us! Just pass us; we’ll let you,” Braband said.
“You’re better off in front of us, where we can see you, than behind us,” Lawrence said.
POSITIVES OUTWEIGH NEGATIVES
“You have to have fun at work, otherwise it’s a long day,” Stern said.
The team is inclined to having fun, enjoying each other’s company off the road and during breaks in commuting. And while their laughter together is contagious, they do face moments of seriousness when dealing with the kids on their routes.
“What’s frustrating is the things you can’t control, and that’s the sad part,” Lawrence said of observing students going through personal turmoil.
“You see a lot of great kids who won’t have a chance,” Braband added.
Every driver attested to having genuinely good kids on each of their routes, but said kids without discipline can in turn be a challenge to discipline on the bus. But according to Lawrence, he has noticed that kids without structure tend to like the rules on the bus, where everyone is treated fairly.
The fairness distributed on the buses have created bonds between students and drivers, and the important role drivers have comes early in the morning and late in the afternoon.
“It always comes down to the love of the kids,” Michaletz said.
“If you like kids, like parenting and like making a difference, this is great,” Braband said.
