Oakdale school bus driver/trainer tops state for 2016

Kari Anderson, a bus driver instructor with Oakdale Joint Unified School District, is the California 2016 Classified School Employee of the Year in transportation.

“It’s a very humbling experience. It’s a wonderful recognition, and I hope I represent all the bus drivers well. It is a passion of mine,” Anderson said, sitting at her spacious desk in the Oakdale school transportation office. She mostly trains and does office work now, but pitches in to sub on a route whenever needed.

Anderson figures she’s driven 50,000 miles or more in the big, yellow little-people movers in her 26 years with the district.

In her nomination, Superintendent Marc Malone and supervisor Dan Casey said Anderson went above and beyond, figuring out routes around road construction, calling in roadside hazards to other drivers and contacting the city or county for fixes.

“Perhaps her most important quality is her love of children, which is her constant motivation to do a great job, keep students safe, happy and learning,” notes the statement.

Born into a trucking company family, Anderson drove big rigs after graduating from high school. She started driving a school bus in 1990, when her children were small. She became the district’s driver instructor in 2008.

The split schedule let her do the morning run before the young family got going, just needing a baby sitter for the afternoon run. “It worked very well for my family,” she said.

Anderson uses the bus drivers’ odd schedule as a recruiting tool, helped by the district’s longer routes that make the job a six- or seven-hour-a-day position with benefits. “It’s a really good job for someone who has a business, or a mom,” she said.

While other districts struggle to fill empty driver seats, most of Oakdale Unified’s drivers have been with the district 10 years or more, she said. “A lot of districts, it’s a four- to five-hour position that doesn’t have benefits. That’s a tough position to fill,” Anderson said.

Drivers have a high bar for responsible behavior on the road and off, she pointed out. “Driving a school bus really does impact all areas of our life, meaning because we carry a special certificate and a (California driver’s license). We have laws that we need to think about on any given occasion. Driving our personal vehicles and things we do in our personal life can have an impact on the license we hold.”

Plus, keeping up with 50 kids on a moving bus takes certain skills.

“It is organized chaos,” she said. “The kids are behind your back. You are a referee, a homework helper and counselor while trying to safely navigate this 18-ton vehicle down the road.”

Those active young passengers have given her a lot of good memories, too. “Something funny happens on a daily basis when you are dealing with kids,” she said, ticking off her favorites: A 7-year-old asked her to marry him. One child brought a kitten in a backpack and another brought a lizard – that got loose.

And then there are the moments that might be better forgotten. “Oh, the things kids will tell you!” she said. Some of her favorite rides were taking sports teams home from winning games.

“I love to see kids helping others,” Anderson said. “Maybe they get to know a special needs student better because every day they ride together to and from school on the bus. They otherwise would not have had the chance to stand up for them when others were teasing.”

Being a driver trainer gives her the opportunity to help keep all kids safe on all buses, she said, but looking back over her career what touched her most deeply were the kids.

“These kids have had an impact on my life, and when I see them here and there and they introduce me to their family or tell me of their achievements, college, marriage, babies – those to me are some of the ones that are very moving and memorable,” she said.

“All of our drivers feel as though the kids on the bus are ‘their kids,’ ” Anderson said. “We love them. We want to protect them at all costs. It would be difficult to endure those years when the kids go through the rebellious times if we didn’t have love for children.”

Of course, being a professional driver has its trying times. Her pet peeves: Drivers who race around buses with amber lights – caution – on, and drivers who feel they should not have to stop for the red flashing lights.

“We get phone calls once in a while saying something to the effect of ‘Your driver turned on the red lights on purpose! They could have waited until all of the traffic cleared first!’ ” Anderson said. “That is not really true. All school bus drivers have a ton of laws they must follow.”

For example, she turns on the amber lights 200 feet before each bus stop, where the red lights come on. “Hopefully the bus will be able to get to the stop and turn on the red lights before that (late) student comes bolting out of the house and crosses the road to get to the bus,” she said.

“If the other drivers could understand that when they see a yellow school bus then they should expect children, they should expect to not be in a hurry. We are invested to keep all safe – that means the general driving public, too,” Anderson said.

“These big ol’ school buses are the safest transportation on the road, and our drivers take very good care of all this precious cargo,” she said.

This story was originally published June 19, 2016 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Oakdale school bus driver/trainer tops state for 2016."