`YOU MUST ENJOY THE CHILDREN': FOR BUS DRIVERS, IT'S MORE THAN JOB

JACKSON -- In addition to his job as a Jackson R-2 District school bus driver, Larry Woods, on occasion, has to be a mom, pop, doctor, nurse, teacher, child psychiatrist, child psychologist, arbitrator, human relations specialist, time-keeper, and an administrator.

Woods, 43, says there are times when he needs all of those skills, and sometimes more, to handle the situations that come up each day on his school bus route.

Woods says he wouldn't give up his part-time bus driver's job for anything. He's been doing it now for almost nine years.

The Jackson School District is the largest in Southeast Missouri in area, 550 square miles, and miles, 2,000, traveled each day by the 40 school buses. There are 12 city routes and 25 rural routes that pickup students. The district has 43 regular and substitute bus drivers.

On school days, Woods is awakened at 6:30 a.m. by his wife, Carol, who is also a Jackson school bus driver.

After making breakfast for their children, Larry Woods, Jr., an eleventh grader at Jackson High School, and Kristin, who is in seventh grade, the Wood's have a glass of orange juice and head for the Jackson School District School Bus Transportation Center, next to Orchard Elementary School.

After making the daily pre-trip inspection of his 76-passenger, Bluebird TC-2000 bus, Woods leaves the bus parking lot and is on the road at about 7:12 a.m. His first of 14 morning stops is at 7:19 a.m.

If everything goes smoothly, he'll make each stop to pick up students within seconds of the scheduled arrival time. "That way the kids don't have to stand out in the weather a long time waiting for the bus," said Woods.

Students on Wood's city route range from kindergarten to 12th grade. He makes his first stop to let off students at the kindergarten annex, then the high school, and finally, the junior high school and two elementary schools on the far west side of town. His last stop is about 8:10 a.m., at Orchard Elementary School.

After retuning to the transportation center, Woods fills out the required time sheet and end-of-trip inspection reports, stops by the office for a cup of coffee with the other bus drivers before heading for Cape Girardeau, where he stripes new cars for car dealers in Cape.

In the afternoon, Woods picks up his bus at about 2:45 p.m. for the 45 minute afternoon run.

Driving a school bus is fun, at times, challenging, and never dull, says Woods. During a recent interview, he recalled two humorous incidents that occurred on his bus, one involving a junior high school student, and the other, a kindergarten student.

Because of their sensitive nature, we can't disclose what happened. "For the two boys that were involved, it certainly wasn't very funny at the time, but looking back on it, it's certainly something you'll never forget," Woods laughed. "Both incidents represent some of the unusual things school bus drivers must contend with each day."

Woods says the first pre-requisite to be a school bus driver is to enjoy being around kids. "You have to like kids," he said. "You can't just do it for the money. It's not worth it. You have to enjoy being with them every day, good times and bad."

Besides his morning and afternoon bus runs, Woods also transports the Jackson High School varsity wrestling team to meets around the state. He also carries the schools's girls softball team on his bus, and makes other special event trips, such as debate meets or band trips.

Woods is a native of Scott City. As a youth, he moved with his family to Kansas, then to California.

He moved to Jackson 14 years ago and started his automotive stripping business. The family lives on Highway 34, 3 miles west of Jackson.

Woods started driving a school bus because of his wife. "Jean (Kurre, bus transportation director) hired my wife as bus driver," he said. "I rode with her for a while and liked it, and the next thing I knew I was driving a school bus."

Woods and his wife are also certified school bus trainers, and are qualified to train other bus drivers to take their Commercial Drivers License examination. Each month, they conduct a safety meeting with all of the bus drivers to review safety practices and policies.

Occasionally, there are discipline problems with a very few students. But Woods says the majority of the kids who ride his bus are, for the most part, well behaved ladies and gentlemen. What's his secret?

"There's no secret," Woods grinned. "At the beginning of school, I get all my kids loaded on the bus. We go over the rules that are posted in front of the bus. I tell them there are rules they must follow just as there are rules I have to follow, and if everyone follows the rules, we'll get along fine."

Woods rough, intimidating appearance, and slightly greying beard could have something to do with the student's generally good behavior on the bus. But inside, he's really all heart.

There are two rules Woods will not compromise on. First, students must remain seated while on the bus, and no candy suckers with hard sticks are permitted on the bus.

"If I have to hit the brakes while the kids are standing up, or someone is on their knees in the seat looking back, they could be thrown up against the front seat," he explained.

Woods said the younger, elementary children are usually more active than the older students, so it's always more difficult to keep them in their seats. "If I see a young one standing up, or on their knees in the seat, I catch the eye of one of the older students in my mirror, and the older student pokes the little one and tells him to sit down," he said.

If a discipline problem continues or is of a serious nature, Woods fills out a bus discipline report form in triplicate. One copy must be signed by the student's parents and returned to Woods before the student can board his bus. The other copies go to the school principal and transportation director.

A lot of things can, and do happen, on occasion, to disrupt the daily routine on the school bus, Woods said. "A student gets sick on the bus, kids standing up, fighting, or the weather. Any one of them can throw me off schedule," he said.

During bad weather, such as fog, rain, or snow, Woods arrives early and leaves ahead of schedule so he can make his first stop on time.

Sometimes a younger student forgets to get off at his school. "That happened not too long ago," said Woods. "This little kindergarten boy came up to me after we arrived at Orchard School and said he forgot to get off at his stop. Fortunately, one of the buses ahead of me was going to the Kindergartne Annex, so I walked him up to the other driver and put him on her bus. No problem."

During his morning and afternoon bus runs, Woods plays the stereo radio on the bus PA system. "The older kids really appreciate it. The younger ones are too busy talking to listen," he laughed.

Woods says the biggest problem he has to deal with each day and the greatest hazard to the kids who ride the school bus are motorists who fail to stop while the school bus is picking up or discharging students.

The school district recently installed wire gates on the front bumpers of all of its school buses. When the bus stops and the kids are getting off, the gate swings out to block their path in front of the bus.

Woods says the students are instructed to walk to edge of the road after they get off the bus and wait until he's sure traffic approaching in both directions has come to a full stop. At that point, he retracts the gate and the children cross the street.

Woods says extracurricular bus trips are especially fun for him. "The kids that participate in sports and other programs, such as band or debate, are usually the better kids to haul. They're older and better disciplined and do not cause a lot of trouble, and that's what makes the trip a lot of fun," he said. "Plus, I like to travel myself."

At the start of each school year, Woods, and the other bus drivers, select two students who ride their buses regularly as "bus captains." The students are usually high school or junior high school-age, or even a mature, older, elementary school student.

Bus captains are trained to handle any emergency that may occur, such as turning off the bus engine in case the driver is disabled, calling for help, and assisting the other and younger students in evacuating the bus.

Woods says bus captains proved their worth last year when one of the district's school buses was involved in a collision with a car on a road west of Gordonville. Woods said the captains on the disabled bus and the relief bus worked together to move the other students to the relief bus without incident.

Whenever he's behind the wheel of his school bus, Woods never forgets the lives of 76 other people depend on his professional driving skills. "Driving a school bus is something like being the captain on a ship," said Woods. "When everyone is on board and the bus is moving, "I'm in charge. When we arrive, and the kids get off the bus, the teachers and the chaperones are in charge of the students."

But that doesn't mean that Woods is a mean, Captain Bligh. "You can't be a stuck-up, old grouch, but you can't be so easy and lax that someone gets hurt," he said.

Like the other Jackson school bus drivers, Woods takes great pride in being a professional driver, transporting the most valuable cargo there is.