Tales of a Bus Driver

Can you Sub Tuesdays?

Thursday, August 27, 2020

3:24pm Jim: Can you give me a call when you have a sec? ***WARNING!!! I'm going to ask you to sub some days***

3:46pm Jim: 9/1, 9/15 and 9/29 are all Tuesdays. Would you be willing to sub instead of taking CC?

4:02pm Me: Yes. I cleared my Tuesdays for the month of Sep. Does that mean there isn't a driver for CC?

4:34pm Jim: Pam and Abby could stuff them in a couple of vans and get them there...

4:38[m Me: You may need a third vehicle driver for them. Maybe a parent who is also staff? Their team is really big this year.

8:36am Me: I found the spray you left on #20. Thank you! Also, the city did a fantastic job on the trees on east main. I ran into trees on 6th street between Jefferson and Adams. Can we have those trimmed too please?

XC Practices, Can't Train

Friday, August 21, 2020

11:50am Me: I talked with Pamela and made special arrangements with my Tuesday students. Go ahead and schedule me for XC practices on Tuesdays through September.

11:58am Me: Also, if Wendy is available, it will probably be best to have her do the bulk of the driver training. When I responded yesterday I wasn't even thinking that I'm currently driving family members to appointments at the hospital 4 times a week. That fills the time slot I was hoping to use to work with the new drivers. I'm so sorry. I can still come get Becky familiar with the manual and get her started though.

2:43pm Me: I forgot to walk Becky through time sheets! If you didn't already cover that with her she's going to need that for Mon.

New Driver: Becky Stelling

Thursday, August 20, 2020

12:01pm Jim: We have another new driver! Becky Stelling is going to do the VoTec route. Would you be interested in doing some of her training or should I ask Wendy? I know you already have Bailey so I didn't know if that would be easy or hard to add another:)

12:08pm Me: Oh yay! I just her a few weeks ago. She'll be a great addition! I'm happy to train her too. It's easy to double up and more efficient.

12:09pm Jim: Sounds great. We can always split up driving time if we need to.

12:17pm Me: One thing we've run into with Balie, testing appointments in Hutch are currently being scheduled out in Oct. We're looking into other locations, but I can't get them behind the wheel at all until they have that permit. Then it's two weeks until they can do a driving test. So, we're currently looking at not having licensed drivers until late Oct/early Nov. We may have to be creative with the schedule until then.

2:12pm Jim: Yikes...

2:13pm Jim: Becky will be in tomorrow at 1:30 to fill out paperwork. Would you like to come in to talk about what training will entail?

2:41pm Yeah. I'll come in.

#27 Fluid Leak

Saturday, August 15, 2020

8:01am Me: Bus #27 has a fluid leak of some kind. I let Brad know. He's taking a look at it Mon.

9:44am Jim: Thanks Kimberly

9:47am Me: Balie Gillespie +1 620-278-6587

9:49am Me: Maybe add Clark to your driver group as well.

Getting Ready for Next Week

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

11:38am Me: Hi. Just checking in to see if Bus #20 is scheduled for anything in the next few day (Highway Patrol inspections, etc). If not I thought I'd pull it over to my house and give it a thorough cleaning before next week.

11:39am Jim: It is all inspected and read for you!

11:42am Me:

Thanks! How are you holding up? I watched the board meeting yesterday. You're doing a great job under some pretty intense pressure. I know I shine about being busy and stressed out but is there anything I can do to help carry your load in the bus transportation department?

11:44am Jim: Thanks:) I appreciate that. I think we're moving along. We have Susan Zs replacement learning the ropes so that is helping. I think it is all moving along. We may need some help with rider lists later this week.

11:50am Me: I saw that. I think Amy is going to be great in that role. With rider lists: I've already reached out to Lydia over at the preschool. The last two years we've me together shortly after enrollment to coordinate preschool bus riders. Once that info is available I can organize my route and get a copy submitted to the office.

12:24pm Me: Also, something to consider: Depending on the # of preschoolers riding the bus and where they live, Kaci and I have had anywhere from 5-25 min of downtime between routes. If we end up having more time than not this year, we could feasibly help with some bus cleaning/disinfecting during that space of time.

Replies to Yesterday

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

11:28am Jim: Yes, let me call and make sure things are squared away.

5:12pm Me: Also, yes, I feel comfortable working with Baily. I trained Rick last summer. I'll get in touch with her.