Today (Wednesday, October 23) has been designated as School Bus Driver/Attendant Appreciation Day by the St. Mary’s County Public Schools. The whole week is National School Bus Safety Week. At the school board’s October 9 meeting the school bus drivers were honored in a special ceremony.
Driver Barbara Snavely, Marnie Markley and Debbie Arnold represented the more than 300 drivers at the presentation.
“School bus driving is definitely a very challenging job,”’ said School Superintendent Dr. Michael Martirano. He noted that school bus drivers have their backs to the children while they are driving yet have to keep order and discipline. “To handle those behaviors you have to have good problem-solving skills,” the superintendent noted.
Martirano said that not only do the drivers have to deal with 25 children twice a day they also have to deal with weather, bus stop safety, parents at the stops and mechanical issues with their buses/
Martirano told the school bus driver representatives that they are an integral part of the education team. All who work in the school system are “leaders of children,” he said. He noted that some drivers have been doing it for many years. “Sometimes it goes back generations,” he observed and he said that experience allows the drivers to build rapport with the students.
Supervisor of Transportation Jeffrey Thompson noted, “We have to recognize that not everyone is cooperative every day…every parent.”
