LAPS News:
This week is National Bus Driver Appreciation Week (NBDAW), a time when everyone who rides a bus, including school buses, has a chance to say thank you to bus drivers, bus assistants and those who work behind the scenes in bus transportation.
According to the website, myfourandmore.com, NBDAW was first established in 2007 during National School Bus Safety Week, which has been recognized every year since 1988 on the third Monday of every October for children around America to learn the importance of National School Bus Safety. National Bus Driver Appreciation Week is an extension of National School Bus Safety week.
“I am incredibly grateful to our bus drivers,” Interim Superintendent Jennifer Guy said. “They are the first and last school staff many of our students see each day. They care for our students and set a positive tone.”
Bus operators provide transportation services to more than 2.5 billion passengers annually in America alone. Bus drivers for Los Alamos Public Schools cover more than 800 miles every day transporting students in PreK through 12th grade to four elementary schools in Los Alamos and White Rock, as well as Los Alamos Middle School and Los Alamos High School. In addition, they drive sports teams and other groups to games and activities off the hill.
“We have a great staff who work hard to accommodate all transportation requests,” said Keith Rosenbaum, director of transportation for the district. “We not only cover the daily routes, but drive to athletic events, field trips and other activities.”
And they have some great stories to share. Bus driver Aubrey Brown has a favorite story:
“This is just one of my favorite stories, because when you drive a school bus, it seems you accumulate many stories in just a short time. But this favorite story of mine started out as a not so favorite.
“There was a student on my bus who was having a hard time following the rule to remain seated while the bus was moving. This had happened a couple times already. Well, this time something similar was going on so I had to pull the bus over to ask them to take their seat again. This resulted in the student becoming incredibly frustrated and yelling at me, challenging me in front of all the other students. Yep, very stressful. We finally came to an understanding and got back on the road. At the next stop the kids who got off all told me thank you and what a great job handling that I had done. Two girls had written me a note thanking me and saying what a great job I was doing as a bus driver. It made me feel so good! I couldn’t believe how sweet and supportive all the kids were! It just goes to show we all have bad days sometimes; kids have bad days, too sometimes. But on the other hand, kids can be some of the kindest, most supportive people you will come across.
“So far for me bus driving has been such a rewarding experience. The older kids all thank me just about every day and the little kids tell me funny stories and keep me laughing. I can’t wait to see what they come up with this year to have some new stories to look back on and laugh about.”
“Many people have asked me, ‘You have to drive a bus today,’” Rosenbaum said. “My response is always the same: ‘I don’t have to drive a bus, I get to drive a bus!’ Some of my fondest memories have come while behind the wheel of a school bus.
“A few years ago I was driving elementary students home from school. There were two stops on this particular road in Los Alamos. As I made the turn onto the street, heading toward the first stop, a small dog shot out from a house at the bus and started giving chase. I hollered back, ‘Does anyone see that dog (out of concern that I may have hit it with my back tires)?’ The students in the back of the bus yell back, ‘Yeah, he’s in the road running at us.’
“I make the first stop, students get off, and I close the door; the students yell out, with a more concerned tone, ‘He’s catching up!’ I continue toward the next stop and hear the students yell out even more enthusiastically, ‘He’s still coming!’ As I arrive at the next stop to let students off the bus, I look back in the driver mirror and don’t see the dog. I holler back to the students, ‘Does anybody see the dog (again, still concerned that it may be near the back tires)?’ They yell back, ‘No, he stopped. I think he got tired and is going back home.’
“The students in Los Alamos are some of the most pleasant and diverse personalities you will ever encounter. It has been a joy to be a part of the lives of students here in Los Alamos. As I read through some of the names of this year’s graduates, I realized our buses have been involved in assisting some of those students to attend school from preschool to graduation.”
The LAPS transportation staff includes:
Bus Drivers
- Aubrey Brown
- David Coleman
- Lauren Fields
- Malia Goddard
- Rosalie Hammon
- Deborah Holfeltz
- Rachael Morrison
- Garald Murrell
- Gavin Oaxaca
- Josh Smith
- Mike Thompson
Bus Assistants
- Lyda Davis
- Lori Hayward
- Frank Marshall
- Katie Rosenbaum
Substitute drivers
- Julie Aldersebaes
- Bobbie Jo Anderson
- Sarah Coronado
- Charles Flowers
- Herb McLean
- Connie Montoya
- Lisa Reader
- Jeffery Sandoval
- Jim Steritz
- Ann Stewart
- Doug Weiss
Chris Smith is the Transportation Specialist and Matt Romero is the Transportation Mechanic.
LAPS has openings for additional transportation staff including bus drivers, bus assistants and substitutes. For more information, go to https://laschools.net/careers/.
Bus drivers carry an enormous responsibility when it comes to transporting children from the bus stop to the classroom. Here are a few ways we can say thank you to the transportation staff:
- Make thank you notes/cards for the bus driver
- Send them an appreciation letter
- Clean the bus stop area
- Make a special banner to greet the bus driver with every morning/afternoon
- Make a little bag of snacks and a small thank you card or note, and give it to your child’s bus driver so they have something to eat and a note of appreciation at the end of their shift
- Organize some appreciation day activities at school that involve taking appreciation photos or making appreciation cards
- Help them create appreciation banners for the bus stop
- Say thank you when you get on or off the bus
Take a minute to say thank you to our LAPS bus drivers and transportation staff during Bus Driver Appreciation Week.