Bus drivers play an important role at PHS and in student’s lives. Bus drivers are often taken for granted but students and parents rely on them daily to bring their children to and from school. In the Potosi school district, there are lots of bus drivers who all have different routes. Bus driver Mikey Kley drives bus 20.
Kley starts his day at 6:00 am. He arrives at the bus garage and does a pre-trip of the bus, this includes walking around the bus and checking lights, windows, stickers, tires, and the oil and fluids. Once he checks the outside of the bus he goes inside the bus and checks the emergency exits. Once the pre-trip is complete he is off to get the kids and take them to school.
After the kids are dropped off he heads back to the bus garage. Once he’s at the garage he helps out and does things like clean up, fuel up the buses, or work in the garage. Then when the afternoon rolls around he does another pre-trip of the bus and heads to the school to pick up the kids. Once all the kids are dropped off he takes his bus back to the garage and enjoys the rest of his evening.
Kley says what he enjoys about being a bus driver is, “Knowing that I can be a positive influence on students.”
Although being a bus driver may sound easy, it does have its challenges. Kley has been driving a bus since the beginning of the school year and he says that one of the hardest parts of being a bus driver is having to be in the driver’s seat and focus on the road while also trying to control the kids on the bus.
Bus drivers are responsible for getting kids to school safely and on time every day. Many kids would not have transportation to or from school without them. Being a bus driver is an overlooked but essential job.
