6 bus drivers win safety awards

Six Jackson school bus drivers won awards at a bus safety competition in St. Louis last weekend.

Bus drivers Zelda Parker, Tracy Welker and Rick Smith captured first place as a team, the first such finish in the seven years the district's transportation department has participated in the competition, school officials said.

The team trophy was just one of five awards received by Jackson bus drivers, said Carol Woods, director of the district's transportation department.

"We are very proud of them," Woods said.

A second, three-member team won fourth place overall. Members of that team included Kim Barnard, Kai Keller and Ramona Marxer.

Individual winners included Parker, who won first place in the experienced driver transit category; Welker, who captured second place in the experienced driver transit category; and Smith, who finished second in the experienced driver conventional bus category.

The transit category involved flat-nosed buses. The conventional category involved buses with regular front ends, Woods said.

About 60 school bus drivers, mostly from the St. Louis area, competed in the written exam and driving skills competition, she said.

Jackson's six drivers will go on to state competition in June, Woods said.

The awards came only days after a fired Jackson school bus driver complained that some bus drivers in the district were making rolling stops at rural intersections.

Former bus driver Dorothy Eldracher recently raised complaints about bus safety, even videotaping alleged rolling stops made by other bus drivers. Eldracher said she was fired last fall by the school district.

She subsequently videotaped what she said were traffic violations involving Jackson school buses at various rural intersections. The sites included the junction of a gravel road and Route Z in Gordonville near one of the district's elementary schools.

Jackson school officials said last week that they have advised the bus drivers to obey all traffic laws including stopping at all stop signs. But video shot by a Southeast Missourian photographer April 25 showed several school buses maneuvering onto Route Z without halting at a stop sign.

Woods said school officials haven't had any further discussions with the bus drivers since the newspaper story was published and KFVS12 television broadcast a report on the situation.

But as transportation director, Woods said she will continue to monitor the actions of bus drivers. "As director, I sit out and watch my buses," she said.

Eldracher insists she isn't an unhappy ex-employee. "I'm not disgruntled," she said.

Eldracher, who lives near Marble Hill, Mo., said it's a safety issue. "Somebody is going to get killed," she said.

Jackson school officials say the Gordonville junction is difficult for school buses exiting onto Route Z. The buses have to travel up a gravel slope to reach the state highway. "You have the whole weight of the bus and students," Woods said.

She said improving the junction could improve bus safety.

Jackson schools superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson said the district will look at possible options to make the junction easier for buses to traverse. "It is tough terrain," he said.

At this point, no discussions have occurred with the Missouri Department of Transportation, which maintains the state route, or with adjacent private landowners, Anderson said.

"We will certainly get it reviewed," Anderson said of the Gordonville junction. "But it won't be done in a day or two."

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123