School Bus Driver

School Bus Driver

The Bus Driver

15 Years Experience

South, ..

Female, 37

I have been a bus driver since late 2006. I know the inside story, the scoop, the down low dirt of what it takes to be a bus driver, how to handle kids and adults, and how to survive on the "streets" so to speak. I used to have a blog, feel free to browse it or ask me a question here.

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1007 Questions

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Last Answer on February 07, 2021

Best Rated

Is it ok for parents to record the bus driver with her phone every time she arrives at bus stops without the bus drivers permission?

Asked by Tanner over 9 years ago

Well given that most bus stops are in public places, I would venture to say that recording is okay. However that being said, there may be some legality reasons why you should not record anything involving other people's children. Best to check with your local laws.

We were about to go out to our bus stop, but, the bus driver sped by being about 7-10 minutes early. Aren't the bus drivers suppose to stop an wait for a small time?

Asked by redblake66 over 10 years ago

The bus driver should stop at every stop on his or her route, however waiting is left up to the individual bus driver. You may need to adjust your time in going down to your bus stop to ensure you do not miss the stop. The bus driver may have a new stop or has needed to adjust the time of your bus stop in order to make things run more smoothly. Additionally, there might have been a substitute on the bus that was unaware of the stop. I recommend being out at the stop at least 5 minutes ahead of time. If I stop at a stop, I will typically wait 5 seconds before closing the door and moving on. If I see students coming towards the bus, I will wait. However if the student is chronically late to the stop or dawdles and doesn't come directly to the bus in a timely manner, then I am more apt to shut the door and leave the student behind, especially if they have been given a warning about the time they are to be at the stop.

Do school bus drivers look through the seats when there done with their job for the day?

Asked by Jocelyn about 10 years ago

That depends on the individual bus driver but most of us at least do a short walk through at the end of every route to make sure the kids have all exited the bus. Whether they dig in the seats and find objects hidden is dependent on each individual bus driver. Personally, I check my bus, but my kids also know that they better take all their objects with them because some other kids aren't honest.

Today someone called my company to say my kids were not sitting in the bus. I have nothing but problems with these kids and I have wrote up tons of them. This year I have 68 kids on my bus and are 3 to a seat. I can't get them to sit.

Asked by Someone called in on me about 10 years ago

What happens when they get written up? If you are having a problem with overcrowding, you have a few options. The first would be to go to your supervisor. They may be able to rearrange and take some of the students off your bus route in order to alleviate the overcrowding issue. Most any kid is going to have problems sitting three to a seat, especially if they are older kids. A second option is to speak to your supervisor about splitting your route into two runs. I service elementary, middle, and high school students on my bus and due to an overcrowding issue I experienced last year, I opted to do an abbreviated first run in order to drop off approximately 20 students to alleviate the need to have most everyone at 3 to a seat. I still get done at the same time every day, actually about 5 minutes earlier by simply going to two runs. My kids are comfortable and they behave much better because they are not packed in like sardines.

A third option is for you to assign everyone a seat. Anyone not in their assigned seat or standing in their assigned seat will get written up.

What happens when a bus driver writes somebody up?

Asked by Imari about 10 years ago

The citations are usually handled by the school. The bus driver will turn the citation into the proper authorities (principal or supervisor) and the citation will be handled from there. The consequence depends on the severity of the behavior written on the citation. For example: two kids in a fight will get 3 days off the bus but the kid who gets in trouble for using foul language might only get a warning. It depends on your school districts policy.

Our bus drivers in are school district leave children after bus stops, found mouth them and one even drove with the door open in the winter time to school and the school district does nothing about are you going reported the bus driver to CYS in ?

Asked by Jen over 10 years ago

I'm not sure exactly what your question is, but from what I gather, safety is a concern. If the school district isn't doing anything to stop the behavior of drivers, then please report the behavior to the police. That being said, make sure you know exactly what the driver has said or done or you could be accused of filing a false police report. You may have a situation where the driver has been instructed to leave students.

Is there a minimum age to become a school bus driver? I'm 20. Is it a potential job while I myself am in school? Drive 5-8, class 9-12, drive 2-5?

Asked by Matt about 11 years ago

Each state has their own laws regarding the age of bus drivers. I think here in Georgia it is 21 or 22. Other than that I'm not sure. As far as time is concerned, yes it can be worked during a college schedule. In fact I am in college myself and manage my job and college.