More Than Just a Ride: The People Behind the Wheel

There are many important jobs in a school district. Teachers teach, cooks feed the masses, custodians keep everything clean and orderly, maintenance keeps the buildings/equipment in shape, secretaries somehow know the answer to every question, and administrators ensure buildings run towards education. But there is one group of employees whose workday starts before most of us have even thought about leaving the house: our school bus drivers.

For many of our students, the first school employee they see each morning isn't a teacher, principal, or superintendent. It is their bus driver. That makes our drivers much more than the people responsible for getting a big yellow bus from Point A to Point B. They are often the first "good morning" of a student's school day and the last "have a good evening" before that student gets home. They set the tone for hundreds of students each week, all while safely navigating traffic, gravel roads, construction, weather, farm animals, deer, farm equipment, and whatever else southwest Missouri decides to put in their path that morning. 

And let's be clear: driving a school bus isn't exactly like taking the family SUV to the grocery store. Imagine driving a 30-plus-foot vehicle while keeping your eyes on the road, watching mirrors, making scheduled stops, monitoring traffic, and being responsible for dozens of students sitting behind you. Now imagine those passengers are elementary students who all suddenly remember they have something very important to tell you at the exact same time. That takes a special kind of person.

Our bus drivers begin their days early. Before students ever climb aboard, drivers have a responsibility to ensure their buses are ready to travel their routes safely. Then they head out across our district, picking up students and delivering them to school. A few hours later, they do it all again in reverse. But transportation doesn't end with morning and afternoon routes. Our buses and drivers are also a major part of everything we do outside the regular school day. Academic competitions, athletic events, field trips, FFA activities, career and technical education trips, and countless other student opportunities require someone willing to get behind the wheel. Sometimes that means getting home well after dark. Sometimes it means leaving before sunrise. And sometimes it means spending several hours waiting for an event to finish before making the trip home.

The work of a school bus driver can sometimes go unnoticed because, when everything goes as planned, it simply looks routine. The bus arrives. Students get on. The bus arrives at school. Students get off. But there is nothing routine about safely transporting someone's child. Every route represents families trusting us with what matters most to them. Our drivers carry that responsibility every morning and every afternoon, mile after mile.

So, the next time you find yourself behind one of our school buses making several stops along a country road, give them a little patience. They aren't trying to make you late for work. They are doing their job making sure our students get where they need to go safely. And if you happen to see one of our bus drivers around town, take a moment to thank them.

They may not spend their day standing in front of a classroom, but they are absolutely an important part of the educational experience we provide our students. They connect our homes to our schools, our students to opportunities, and our district to communities throughout the area.

To our bus drivers: thank you for the early mornings, late nights, countless miles, patience, flexibility, and commitment to our kids. We appreciate what you do and the responsibility you accept every time you sit behind that wheel.

You do much more than drive a bus. You help get our students started in the right direction every single day, and I mean that both literally and figuratively.

The mission of the Lamar R-1 School District is to provide quality education for each student that will impact his or her life with meaningful purpose and successful direction.