Idling school bus engines

The subject of idling diesel engines is froth with superstition and misinformation, a hold over from a time when greenhouse gases and high diesel prices were not issues. The move towards green thinking is however having an impact on what has for years been standard practice. It used to be OK for trucks/buses to sit and idle their engines for extended periods of time. Often times without justification. Today, it is unlawful in several states to idle buses for over three minutes except in certain instances. Obviously we are on the way to modifying our habits. During warm weather I have generally refrained from automatically starting my bus engine before the pre-trip inspections, opting instead to turn the ignition to acc. which allows lights and safety devices to operate as needed. While it may be necessary to let the bus engine warm up in cold weather, it is not necessary when warm weather is upon us. It’s just my small contribution to cutting down on carbon laden exhaust emissions.

“I will remain seated while I’m on the bus.”

“I will remain seated while I’m on the bus.” That is what I asked the fourth grader to repeat for me as she got off the bus this afternoon. I have had her write sentences several times before but that doesn’t seem to have the lasting effect that I had hoped. We will see if saying it out loud while looking me in the eye has any effect. I have watched Gloria Copeland on TV on several occasions and she is a big proponent of 'what comes out of your mouth' as having a lasting and significant impact on behavior. We will see if the same axioms that are said to apply to religion also apply to elementary school student behavior.

It is not easy

Eating on the bus is a complicated issue. Generally I am more tolerant of older students eating on the bus as they are generally less messy. Not always, but generally. On the one hand I hate to send a child into school on the AM route without something on their stomach. On the other hand I don’t like sweeping up cheerios or toast crumbs after each run. This dilemma typifies the decisions that have to be made virtually every day which of course creates opportunities for favoritism, waffling and other inconsistencies that will eventually come home to roost. It is not easy.

Creating another monster

Following an overnight storm in our area, a local hotel under construction was totally destroyed, flattened really, by high winds. It was an impressive four story structure that had been framed with a roof. On the way to school in the morning I decided to change my route so elementary students could view the damage. Well, first of all, within twenty feet of the change in route, they noticed. “Hey, why are we going this way?” Now these are the same kids that pay absolutely no attention most of the time, or at least that is the way it appears. But change the route ever so slightly and they are paying rapt attention to every nuance. So whenever I announced the reason for the route deviation their attentiveness peaked to heights that could not have been surpassed by a trip to Disneyworld. I had created another monster, which of course with elementary students can be accomplished with so little effort that it’s scary, and at times, in spite of best efforts to avoid. Well they enjoyed the little sojourn and by the time we arrived at school they were all primed and wired for the school day. My apologies to the teachers.

Too much excitement

Last Friday I had unusually piqued excitement on the bus. As I was beginning to deliver elementary students to their homes they started jumping around and generally acting as if their hair was on fire. As this behavior was somewhat out of character for these students I was immediately alarmed. “He’s shooting a bb-gun at the bus!” they exclaimed almost in unison. My first reaction was to stop the bus but a second later I determined that being a sitting duck might not be the best thing to do so I kept going. I continued the route through the neighborhood trying to determine the validity of their accusations when they started in again with “he’s shooting at us again!” By this time I felt a little like I was driving through Baghdad. Even though it was reportedly only a bb-gun, it was slightly unnerving. I had the students close all windows and called in for air cover. It was all I could do as the bus is not currently equipped with retaliatory weapon systems.

Setting up a sub for success or failure

Sub driving is one of the most difficult aspects of driving a school bus. And to top it off the drivers that are all too often asked to perform this task are the least senior and therefore the least experienced drivers. But you have a great deal of control of how successful or unsuccessful a sub driver may be on your route. You can either set up a sub driver to succeed or to fail. Too many times they are set up to fail. For example if you have fallen into the habit of sitting in front of a student’s house for them to appear, you are setting up a sub to fail because a sub driver relies on students visibility to trigger a stop. We all sometimes fall into the trap of forgoing protocol as a favor to certain students. Subs will not know about those exceptions and problems will ensue. Deviations from the established route or from generally accepted driving practices not only are detrimental to the general morale of the bus population, they set up a sub for failure.

Sleeping on the bus

Over the years I have had two students fall asleep and fail to get off the bus at their destination. One was an elementary student and one was a secondary student. Both times it was the AM route which means they didn’t get off at the school drop site. Both times the students woke up within just a few minutes and I turned around and took them back to school. Every once in a while you hear about a nightmare scenario where a student falls asleep on the PM route and rides the bus back to the depot where they are left on the bus until found by frantic searchers. No school bus driver wants to be involved in that situation. That's why we always want to remember to walk the bus before clocking out.