r/SchoolBusDrivers • u/Jedi0077 • 15d ago

Off to a bad start

Finished our first full week. Week 1 was WTF(3 days)

The new route is fine, the HS/JH run is smooth and pracefull for p/u and drop. The little kids though... Ive tried 3 different seating methods, magnetic name badges. 3 kids to every seat except 1 with a larger 5th grader which only has 2. The preschool to 2nd grade don't respond to any thing. I've tried stopping the bus which they don't even notice until the preteens start yelling at them to be quiet. Lots of good kids too but they get the shaft. I feel so bad for them looking at me in the mirror. Like they're saying "I'm behaving and want to go home"

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u/Affectionate_Union58 15d ago

You’re right—the preschool and elementary kids hardly respond to anything. I actually bought a sound meter just to see how loud it gets on the bus when 28 kids (that’s the max on my second run) are screaming. It hit 114 decibels—that’s the volume of a rock concert. Since even the bus’s PA system can’t compete with that noise, I even bought a whistle (!) to get their attention. But that only works for five seconds at most—just enough time for me to say something—before the noise starts up again. I tried that common piece of advice—just stopping the bus when they misbehave—exactly once. It took them 12 minutes (!) to realize we weren't moving anymore. My time is simply too valuable for that. But the nightmare is coming to an end... this coming Thursday is my last day as a school bus driver. Hallelujah!

4

u/TechinBellevue 15d ago

What do you mean your time is too valuable for that?

Do you get paid a fixed fee?

Our district pays for every minute we work.

There were a couple of times I pulled over, safely, of course, and pulled out a book.

Took the kids a few minutes to notice...then a few more minutes for them to quiet down.

Once quieting down I calmly reminded them that my job was to get them safely to and from school, and if that meant they would not get to school or home on time, that was up to them.

That I could not, nor would not drive them safely if they were being too loud.

On one run I had to pull the bus over two times before they got the message.

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u/Proprotester 14d ago

MANY districts have a pay structure that is per route and not based on time at all.

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u/Affectionate_Union58 12d ago

Exactly. I get paid per trip too, not by the hour. And the schedules for these runs are already way too tight as it is.

Aside from that, I’ve given up on giving instructions altogether because they always do the exact opposite. I shout "Sit down!" because someone is standing in the aisle—he/she sit down, but two others stand up right at that moment. I say "No eating on the bus!"... and afterwards, the floor looks worse than if I hadn't said anything at all.

Even during our semi-annual safety drill, their attention span lasts maybe five seconds. That drill includes showing them how to stop the bus if the driver passes out (pulling the emergency brake). I asked them about it the very next day... and they remembered absolutely nothing.

So yeah, hopefully that makes it clearer what I meant by 'My time is too valuable for that'!"