As the centrepiece of School Bus Safety Week, we want to acknowledge the role of School Bus Drivers and Monitors. At the front line in getting 30,000 students to school daily, Drivers and Monitors are obviously critical in the Ontario Education system. Many students would not get to school, prepared to learn, without them.
More than trained student transportation professionals, these local heroes also:
• Provide security
• Offer advice
• Mediate differences
• Can provide First Aid and CPR
• Tell great stories
• Listen
• Care
• Enable equity in education
• Laugh!
And the list could go on! Each bus route has its own dynamics and the Driver/Monitor has unique knowledge in how best to manage these subtleties.
These professionals are up early (and throughout most of the year in darkness) inspecting their vehicles and getting them road ready. Then they make their way through their route, on sometimes unpredictable road conditions and in all sorts of weather! Their day doesn’t end at the last stop, but after they’ve searched their bus for any student who may have missed their drop off -Yes, it’s happened. Kids fall asleep!
We can’t imagine a world, let alone a ride on one of those big yellow vehicles, without them!
October 18 is Driver & Monitor Appreciation Day. Take a moment this week to acknowledge the adults on your school bus doing important work, and say thanks!
