A school bus can be an imposing thing to drive. Or, at least, that’s what many people think when they look at a standard 40-footer.
But, Ken Stearns, who was a truck driver before becoming a bus driver, calls driving a school bus “easy.” His wife, Carla Stearns, who had no big-rig experience before she started driving a school bus, agreed.
“The mirrors are a godsend,” Carla said of the six exterior rearview mirrors and one long interior mirror. “The mirrors are what makes it easy.”
Donna Carpenter, who had never driven a bus before she got the chance Sept. 22, came to see their viewpoint.
“It was a lot easier than I thought” it would be, Carpenter said.
Carpenter drove a Brookfield school bus at a Drive the Bus Job Fair. With Brookfield, like many other schools, having problems attracting and retaining drivers, Carla Stearns, the district’s transportation supervisor, held the job fair to give potential drivers the opportunity to face their uncertainties over driving a bus upfront. Two potential drivers, including Carpenter, came out.
I took a turn behind the wheel, doing a lap around the school campus. I didn’t back up the bus or work it around a tight turn, but driving it wasn’t much different than driving my SUV.
School bus drivers need to obtain a commercial driver’s license. Brookfield does not pay for a candidate to obtain a permit or take the certification test, but does pay for the training, Carla said.
It takes 50 hours of on-the-road training and 15 hours of classroom study to obtain a CDL. Carla said a student can complete the training in about two months, depending on how quickly the candidate achieves certain benchmarks, she said. Drivers also must pass a physical and a drug test.
Brookfield pays $18.87 to starting drivers.
Drivers work four to five hours a day, get paid in the summer and earn extra money by driving athletic teams to games and for field trips and other special trips, Carla said. Drivers are responsible to clean their buses; perform pre-trip checks of the engine, tires and other parts of the bus; maintain their route sheets; and manage the students they transport, she said.
Carpenter recently left a corrections job because of overwork and inflexible scheduling, and previously had worked 30 years for a major healthcare provider before being laid off. Although she lives in Hermitage, her grandkids live in Brookfield, she said.
Carpenter asked how the drivers deal with the students.
“You build a relationship with them,” Carla said. You try to engage them with positive comments, so that when you have to yell at them they get the message, she said.
In terms of actual disciplinary measures, that’s up to school officials, not the drivers.
“The kids are easy,” said Ken, who stocks his bus with treats and holds occasional pizza parties for his passengers. “If you give them respect, they’ll give you respect.”
Carpenter said she was interested in the job and took an application with her.
Anyone interested in driving a Brookfield school bus can contact Carla at 330-619-5707 or carla.stearns@brookfieldschools.us