Appreciation Day Breakfast for Irvine School bus drivers

The first Monday of May is Bus Driver Appreciation Day and the parent council at Irvine School holds a breakfast for the drivers each year.

Valerie Pearson, a representative on the parent council, said “the bus drivers are an integral part of our children’s education. They are super important and are often overlooked, so we decided we will appreciate the bus drivers by serving them breakfast. The parents made the breakfast, and the kids are going to serve.”

The council also created a basket for each driver, which was new this year and Pearson said it was a way to present each driver with something personal. The baskets contained a fresh loaf of bread from the Walsh bakery, a bag of muffins cooked by parents and students, a toque with a rechargeable light on the front from PRPS, along with a bus driver survival kit – ear plugs, lip balm, peppermints, starbursts, lifesavers, bandages and a handmade key chain – along with a personalized mug.  

Students who served included best friends Makinlee and Grace, who both did a great job greeting the drivers as they came into the room before taking their orders for either juice or coffee. Grade 1 student Reid said he enjoyed helping to serve breakfast. Kindergarten student Marrek excelled at slowly carrying an overloaded plate of waffles to the table. He smiled the entire time and quickly returned to take a second equally loaded plate to the other end of the table.

Brian Lambert has been driving bus for almost two months, leaving at 7:15 a.m. each morning to arrive at the school by 8:30 a.m., collecting 10 kids. Having recently retired from being a full-time driver, Lambert said, “this was an easy transition for me. I did that (full retirement) for a few months, but it wasn’t for me. I told my fellow co-workers before I left that I’d probably get a bus driving job and here I am.” He enjoys seeing the country and getting to know the kids, particularly the farm kids who he easily relates to and likes to ask them all sorts of questions.  

Shelley Francis has a much longer route, travelling 25 km past Elkwater each day, with some parents driving their kids an additional 30 minutes to meet the bus there. The bus she drives is the same one she started with seven years ago, which had 10,000 km on it for her first run and now has over 500,000 km. “Every day, I’m like, come on baby, let’s go,” said Francis. She leaves at 5:50 a.m. to get to the school for 8:30 a.m., although when the weather is good, she takes a 10-minute break at the rest stop. “The best part is when the roads are good, they are good but when they’re bad they are bad. This morning they were really good, so I don’t know what it’s going to be like tonight because they are never good both ways, it’s either in the morning or in the afternoon.”

Don Boschee retired over two years ago and decided last October to start driving bus because there always seemed to be a shortage. “I’ll probably keep going for another year for sure. I’m 68 so it depends on how old they let you get,” stated Boschee. “Be about two hours a day. The best part about it is that I’m fond of the kids. They can be trying sometimes, but I’m getting on with the parents. I like kids and I hope they like me.”

Nadine Stimson drives a bus and is also a full-time Educational Assistant at Irvine School. She has been driving bus for three years and collects about 50 kids. The best part of the job is, “the kids, absolutely. They are awesome. It’s nice because I work here too so I have that relationship already. I figured I was driving out here anyways, so why not. I think a lot of times, bus drivers are overlooked, so when they do something like this (the breakfast) it really shows we are recognized and appreciated.”

Principal Trent Rayner came into the room to speak briefly with the bus drivers before he went to lead a class. “You are amongst the most important people we have, you are the first ones the kids see in the morning and the last ones at the end of the day, so you really can make or break their day and for the most part you really do make their day. We really appreciate all your hard work and all the stuff you put up with.”

By Samantha Johnson, Prairie Rose Public Schools Content Writer