Delivering precious cargo

ST. MARIES – A full-sized, exterior wall painting of the tail end of a yellow school bus welcomes visitors to the St. Maries bus corral, shops and offices on the west end of St. Maries.

Inside you’ll find Cliff Mooney, transportation supervisor, an outgoing man who’s beyond the usual retirement age of 65, but says he’s having too much fun to quit.

Like all his drivers, Mooney wears a forest green shirt with the logo of a yellow school bus on the pocket surrounded by, in yellow letters, “St. Maries School District, Transportation Department.” With pride, Mooney says the drivers sponsored garage sales to pay for their shirts – they cost the district nothing.

The bus fleet has a $600,000 yearly budget, logs 1,061 miles per day on regular routes, and transports 500 students. The farthest stop is 35 miles away at Clarkia, and buses range as far north on State Highway 3 as the Hells Gulch Road.

Driving rural bus routes in a region of mountains, lakes and rivers requires patience and skill, particularly when wildlife enters the picture. Driver Jim Bouwerman talks about stopping to let elk cross the road or waiting on a flock of wild turkeys.

“One time the driver had to follow a pack string of about 20 mules that had gotten loose – until they decided to leave the road,” he recalls.

Drivers also retell the story of “Doug and the duck.” Doug Bromblott called en route for a replacement bus because a duck had flown into and smashed the bus windshield. His supervisor traveled out with a backup bus and drove the damaged bus back to St. Maries, sans windshield.

The district has 26 buses, with one on order; the oldest was built in 1982 and the newest and largest bus was put in service in 2000. It carries 75 students. According to its regular driver, Janice Allen, the bus “… is 45 feet long going on 300.”

After driving the bus for only a week, Allen had to back the behemoth into one of the service bays to wash it. She missed the opening and crunched the wall of the office section of the building, the one painted with the school bus. Inside the office, beside the door, is a crack across which someone has taped Band-Aid strips and written notes to commemorate the event.

Most buses accommodate 65 passengers, except for the stubby, half buses that haul kindergartners. Each bus has two cameras mounted above the windshields to scan the interior.

“We don’t have a lot of problems with our kids,” Mooney says, “but if there is a problem, we have a visual record to show the parents and the child. Often, when the kid sees himself, he realizes he wasn’t doing what he should. And the problem takes care of itself.

“… Our kids don’t leave messes behind. We don’t even have wastebaskets on buses.”

The bus corral has a full-time mechanic, Mike Walters, and a part-time helper.

“We do all of our work here except for a major rebuild of an engine,” Mooney says.

The storage room is stacked with rows of tires. New tires go on the front and retreads go on the back, “because retreads can have deeper cleats that give more traction on our roads in winter weather,” Mooney says. The buses also are mounted with sanders, for sanding slick roads.

When there is ice on the roads, the drivers chain up their own vehicles. Sally Pentland, supervisor of drivers, says the drivers arrive by 5 a.m. and, once the buses are running and warmed up, she can have the chains on her bus in five minutes, if needed.

Pentland remembers only one frightening winter driving incident.

“One time I had the bus stopped dead still on an icy road when a pickup came over the hill ahead of us, turned sideways and continued sliding down the hill until it hit us,” she says. “No one was hurt.”

Drivers inspect their buses before and after each trip. Each bus also has a complete mechanical inspection every 60 days and an annual inspection “… where we take everything apart and put it back together,” Mooney says. Drivers keep daily logs, follow checklists and make other notations on their runs.

While most of the procedures are required for all school districts, St. Maries has won special recognition for its bus fleet. The walls of the office and drivers’ lounge are lined with awards won by the operation, its drivers and supervisors.

In 1999, St. Maries received the award for being one of the “50 Great Fleets in America,” given by the School Bus Fleet magazine. The State Board of Certification selected the St. Maries district out of 115 in the state for the honor. There is a certificate from the state for Best Inspection of the Year in 2003 and Mooney received the Supervisor of the Year award for the 1998-99 year from the Idaho Board of Education.

Pentland, who has 15 years with the district, also received a Trainer of the Year award. She attends workshops and classes regularly to learn better safety measures and techniques for relating to students and parents.

Perhaps the one thing that makes the St. Maries transportation staff so successful is their close relationships – with each other and their passengers. Substitute driver Jim Baker, whom the kids and the other drivers call “Rev” for the former TV evangelist, is described by his colleagues as “the happiest bus driver.” He is a real cheerleader for the undefeated girls’ volleyball team, which he hopes to drive to the state championships. “I love my job,” he says. “These are the best kids.”

Pentland remembers one instance when a driver brought a kindergartner home to discover that the child’s house was on fire: “The driver took the girl back to the school and, because the family had lost everything, she and the other drivers purchased clothing, enough for three days, for the girl and her brother.”

Because the drivers are the first adults the children see in the morning outside their family, the children talk to them. The drivers also take note if a child lacks a warm coat or snow boots. Mooney says, “In one way or another, the drivers find what the child needs. And see that they have it.”

The affection cuts both ways. For instance, a child is allowed to change seats once after getting on the bus when it comes to a full stop, but once is all. According to one story, a small boy changed seats once and at the next stop he wanted to change seats again and was told no. The boy said, “You’re not my friend anymore,” but remained in his seat.

Later, as he was leaving the bus, he said, “But, you know, I love you anyway,” and trotted away toward home.