School system shows love to bus drivers

Friday, Feb. 5, 2010

They're often the first and last people children see during the school day.

This month, Calvert County public schools are honoring them.

According to a press release from the school system, the fourth annual National Love the Bus program will be celebrated throughout Calvert County in February.

According to the press release, The Love the Bus program was founded in 2007 and coordinated by the American School Bus Council.

The press release said it is celebrated on Valentine's Day and throughout February in school districts across the country as a way to raise awareness and appreciation for school all bus drivers.

So far, Plum Point and Mutual Elementary Schools have been taking part in Love the Bus activities, though Calvert County public schools Director of Transportation Ed Cassidy said all principals were invited to participate, though it is not required.

"I think it's a very worthwhile program," Cassidy said, continuing that while bus drivers are, "nameless and faceless to some parents … they're our unsung heroes.

" … I hope we'll be able to grow the program in the years and really recognize the drivers that help out schools," Cassidy said.

According to the press release, students and staff at Plum Point Elementary School will be serving coffee and doughnuts to the bus drivers when they drop off students at school on Feb. 12. Plum Point students will also be writing thank you notes, which will be placed in special envelopes decorating a bulletin board in the teacher lunch room, the release said.

At Mutual, students served "curbside hot chocolate" to their bus drivers several weeks ago, according to the release.

Randi Smith of St. Leonard said she doesn't need a special day to feel appreciated.

"The schools really do make a concerted effort to let us know that they can help us and we can help them," said Smith, who is on her third year as a school bus driver.

She said that in those three years she has had coffee breaks inside schools; discussed students with teachers; and has received thank you notes from students and gifts from schools without occasion.

"There are students on every run that you get to know very well," said Smith, who continued that the Love the Bus program did mean a lot to her.

"It really does make you feel appreciated and noticed," she said.

Smith is an employee of Titus Bus Services, a company run by School Police Liaison Sgt. Larry Titus of the Maryland State Police and his mother, Eloise Titus.

Larry Titus said that it was started by his late father Benjamin Titus and contracts to the Calvert County public school system.

The relationship between the bus drivers and the schools, he said, does not seem contractual.

"The school personnel basically sees them as school personnel … they see them as colleagues, not as contracted employees," Titus said.

According to the press release, bus drivers receive specialized classroom and behind-the-wheel training in driving a school bus; student loading and unloading procedures; student evacuation; managing student behavior; and security of students.

"School buses are, by far, the safest vehicles on the road, with a safety record confirmed by government authorities to be better than any other form of transportation," the release said.

lbuck@somdnews.com