South Colonie Central School District hosts a School Bus Rodeo

COLONIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) — It’s National School Bus Safety Week next week and the South Colonie Central School District is trying to recruit school bus drivers. So, what better way to kick it off than by hosting a School Bus Rodeo and getting a hands-on experience to drive a school bus and see what it’s really like?

In the school district, there is a shortage of bus drivers. This can cause an inconvenience because they are important to the everyday lives of parents and students.

“Without our bus drivers, we would not be able to operate successfully,” said Dr. David Perry, the Superintendent of Schools in the South Colonie Central School District. “Our kids come to and from every single day, thousands of miles each week, and they get our kids here safely and on time. So, without it, our school districts don’t function well.”

This is the first year the school district has put on an event for the public to test out what it’s like driving a school bus. They even added real life obstacles that could happen so you can have an idea of what to expect on the road.

“We did a simulated student pickup and then we went through a simulated railroad crossing and then we did a simulated student drop off and then we back the bus up to finish here at the end. So we got a little bit of everything. We got a couple of curves in between with a bunch of cones,” said Brian Sim, the Director of Transportation for South Colonie School District.

To see firsthand what it really takes to drive a school bus, News10’s Tyanna Xavier decided to take a lesson too and get behind the wheel!

It may seem intimidating at first as most people are used to driving a sedan or a SUV type of car, but the trainers did a great job making participants feel comfortable getting behind the wheel and taking it in one step at a time.

Unfortunately, like when any job position has a shortage it leaves other employees having to take on more responsibilities.

“So, like all school districts, we’ve had shortages as drivers, bus mechanics, bus monitors. Our transportation directors and supervisors are out driving everyday. Our mechanics are driving almost every day. So that puts stress on the rest of the organization to make sure that we’re able to do two jobs at once,” Superintendent Dr.Perry.

People eligible to drive a school bus need to be 21 years old.

“We’re going to do open interviews, and then we basically would train you to get your license. It’s paid training and the average person, it takes about 1 to 2 months to get the license and then after that, they’re ready to go drive a school bus with the students,” said Sim!

If interested go to www.southcolonieschools.org or call 518-869-8527 for more information.