Kudos to School Bus Drivers…

I used to laugh along with the snow day jokes made, at my expense, by family members and friends who are not teachers.  The gentle teasing when weather reports predict even the smallest amount of snow went without challenge.  But the seriousness of the matter becomes very clear when more than 200 children are stuck in school without means of getting home during a snow event in the city of Yonkers, NY.

Yonkers is the 4th largest city in New York State.  It has been compared to San Francisco, by some, because of the steep hills you have to navigate to go from one end of the city to the other.  While the hills offer picturesque views of the Hudson River, they become an absolute nightmare when we get even the smallest amount of snow. 

Over 200 children were stranded yesterday in my school waiting for busses to pick them up.  Parents who have cars couldn’t make it on the streets of Yonkers to come and pick them up.  There were no afterschool snacks to give the students.  All anyone could do is wait and hope that the busses could make it through.  We have students as young as 5 years old travelling on busses throughout the city.  The students were nervous and their parents were rightfully worried.  This scene went on in many of the 39 elementary schools in Yonkers.  It took me more than an hour to get home yesterday (it’s usually a 15 minute ride).  I’m not complaining about my ride home-I’m an adult, I can handle it.

The next time you hear a joke about schools closing at the first sign of snow, think about what you would do or say to the hundreds of children who don’t live within walking distance to their schools about how they are going to get home during a snow event.  Shutting down an entire school district based on weather predictions is not an easy decision. 

It takes a special kind of person to be able to drive a school bus in Yonkers.  I don’t think they get the recognition they deserve for transporting students safely to and from school in inclement weather.

Valerie