Driver goes the extra mile for kids who need it
Click for "A Day in the Life of Brenda Love" Slideshow
By Karen Schulz, Editor, MEA Voice
JACKSON – Brenda Love is a bus driver.
And so much more.
Over the course of a 10-hour day, Love crisscrosses the city, driving 160 miles to pick up and drop off students attending several public and nonpublic schools.
From her seat behind the steering wheel, she is a greeter. Consoler. Surrogate parent. Sounding board. Provider of snacks, lunches, clothing and other necessities to needy kids. Nose wiper. Volunteer. Traffic cop. Rule enforcer. Problem solver. Good Samaritan.
“If we just did what we were ‘supposed’ to do, it would be picking up and dropping off,” says Love, a 56-year-old single mother of seven. “We do over and above what people expect us to do. Some people think this is just a piece of cake.”
Spend a day on the bus with Brenda Love - Videos
Take a ride on Love’s bus (you’ll need to get up early because she rolls out of the bus lot at 6 a.m.) and you’ll see one of the committed front-liners in the public education system.
"You’ll sit with students, some who are still sleepy and doze as they travel to school as the sun rises. Others will fire a rapid list of questions or offer interesting observations about the route.
“Did you ride the bus when you were little?”
“I have to have surgery on my tooth because it’s brown.”
“Will I eat lunch at school?”
“That’s a fun playground at the park over there. Do we get to play on the playground at school today?”
“I used to live in that shelter, but now I live in a house. Where do you live?”
Those who know Love, or drivers like her, know that her job is a mission.
“I have something to give,” Love says, modestly. “And they need something given to them.”
A big yellow bus is arguably one of the most recognizable school symbols, yet most of the people behind the wheel go unnoticed, quietly delivering students to school and back home five days a week from September through June.
One in 10 school employees works in transportation services in American schools, including drivers and bus mechanics. Most must meet specific requirements or hold special licensure in order to qualify for their jobs.
Transportation workers are most likely to work part-time, largely because drivers work split schedules. Some drive just one run a day while others may drive several runs.
Love has multiple runs and logs about 35 hours of paid work weekly. With breaks between runs while students are in school, Love’s work day spans over the course of more than 10 hours. In return for services, Love and the other 48 drivers earn between $13.56 and $15.70 an hour.
No job description could aptly describe the duties Love performs with ease:
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Wiping the teary eyes and runny noses of 4-year-olds heading off to preschool for the first time.
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Enforcing the rules. On her bus, swearing, fighting, talking at railroad crossings and the “n” word are prohibited.
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Sharing snacks, and sometimes her lunch, with hungry children.
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Offering to pick up extra students occasionally missed by other buses.
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Jotting down license plates of motorists that fail to stop when her bus is loading or unloading passengers, and following through to report such traffic violations.
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Calming upset parents.
Not to mention the time Love found a toddler wandering in the street in cold weather wearing only a diaper. Or the time she came upon a car submerged in water—and helped rescue the student-passengers.
“She’s great,” says Craig Frazier, director of transportation for Jackson Public Schools. “Brenda is exactly the kind of driver you want.”
After several hours on the road one September afternoon, Love reflected on the work she does.
Bus drivers, she said, are an important part of the education team.
“We strive to give a good education to everybody,” she said.
Updated: February 26, 2009 12:39 PM
