Longtime bus drivers love transport role
The pandemic has made things much more uncertain for longtime school bus drivers.
But it's not the COVID-19 virus that worries drivers the most as they take students to and from school.
What really concerns them is other drivers: red light-ignoring, traffic-law-flouting drivers.
Diana Braun, 64, has been driving a school bus for more than 30 years, most recently for W.L. Roenigk Inc.
An incident last winter on Sarver Road as she was dropping Freeport Area School District students off is the worst thing that happened to her.
“Two middle school students, a brother and sister, were in front of my bus. Their father had opened the door and their German shepherd ran out,” said Braun.
“A lady ran the red lights, never stopped, hit the German shepherd and kept going,” she said. “I'll never forget it. It was the worst thing that had happened.”
The dog survived his injuries. The driver was never identified.
Braun said she was just glad the two students hadn't been crossing the road when the car ignored the deployed stop sign, red lights and crossing arm to drive past.After that incident, Braun's route was changed to eliminate the need for students of any age to cross a road.“This happens on a daily basis. We all have trouble. I'm talking about the 13 buses out of Freeport,” said Braun. “I had one woman wave to me as she went through the lights.”Fellow Roenigk bus driver Sandy Adamik agrees.“The other drivers aren't paying attention and watching for kids crossing the road,” said Adamik, 59, of Sarver, who will be starting her 33rd year of driving.Adamik said she likes driving a school bus because it fits in with her schedule.“I am a housewife, mother, grandmother and take care of horses on a small farm,” she said.She starts her run of middle and high school students at 6:45 a.m., gets done at 9 a.m. and then has 20 minutes of free time before starting her run to pick up elementary students.
She says in the past she would meet with 8 to 10 other drivers, including Braun and Ann Revitsky of Saxonburg, at the Buffalo Township Giant Eagle supermarket for coffee.“There's eight to 10 buses parked there in the morning. At that time there are not a lot of customers,” she said.Back to schoolAdamik thinks coffee breaks might be a thing of the past if and when school resumes in the fall. Bus drivers will have to use their down time in carry out sanitation procedures.“We don't know what's going to happen now. Probably, we're going to be cleaning handrails and a frequently-touched areas between runs,” she said, adding the bus drivers will be meeting with the school district in a few weeks to go over the new protocols.Revitsky said, “There's nothing definite yet. It's all still up in the air.”Revitsky said she will be glad to get back to her job, especially because of how abruptly the last school year ended.“March 13 we got word we did not report for work, didn't know how long we would be off,” she said.“After a month, they said, 'That's it. Schools are not reopening.' I didn't get to say goodbye to the kids.“Some of those kids I will never see again. I'm ready to go when they give me a call,” said Revitsky.“I really do miss them. I'm anxious to get back. Three months off is enough,” Adamik said.On the roadAll three women said they have no problems driving a 40-foot bus carrying up to 72 passengers.“I feel more comfortable driving a school bus than my own vehicle,” Adamik said.“You can see well. There's a lot of windows and mirrors.”“Give me a bus over my car any day,” Braun said.All have given some thought to when the road might end.Adamik said some of the students she used to take to kindergarten are married with children of their own now.Still, she said, “I'll probably keep driving until I can't drive anymore.”Revitsky said while she's had other jobs, she's always seemed to drift back to bus driving.“I take my job seriously. I love working with children. If I can make a difference in one child's life, it makes it worth it to me,” she said.Braun said, “I like the kids. They are good kids at Freeport, I have to say.”Braun said in two years she will have be recertified for her commercial driver's license. She said in the past she assumed she would let the license lapse and turn in her bus keys. Now she's not so sure she won't get recertified.“Chances are I will, as long as my health stays. I love this job,” she said.
