Like many school districts in the country, Alpena Public Schools this year has struggled with a bus driver shortage. With barely enough drivers to pick up the county’s students, one sickness can mean turmoil at the district’s bus garage, Krajniak said.

Dispatchers, mechanics, and other transportation department staff have taken drivers’ places to keep buses on the road, with canceled runs an absolute last option, Krajniak said.

Bus drivers provide more than a physical connection between homes and schools. The first faces to greet students as they leave home each morning, drivers often become like family to students, Krajniak said.

Lincoln Elementary School fifth grader Esteban Martinez knows his bus driver, Kim Irelan, will save his favorite seat for him.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Alpena Public Schools bus driver Kim Irelan finishes a morning school bus run as new driver Chris Koehler observes on Thursday.

Irelan looks forward to seeing her kids every day and keeping up on her young charges’ lives. She regularly tries to recruit others to consider the job.

“It’s awesome,” she tells them. “Good pay, you take care of kids, and you enjoy ’em.”

SOMEONE SPECIAL

The district’s 24 full-time bus drivers and four subs run 24 routes, logging 1,580 miles per day, some of them on icy, potholed rural roads in the far reaches of the county.

Three relief drivers who have been in training since February passed their qualification tests this week and should be running routes by Monday. Though Krajniak hopes more people will apply for the position, the three new drivers will allow some full-timers to schedule long-postponed medical appointments and time off, she said.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Alpena Public Schools bus driver Kim Irelan finishes a morning school bus run as new driver Chris Koehler observes on Thursday.

Many district drivers crawl out of bed at 3:30 a.m. and don’t return home until early evening.

The first bus of the day pulls out of the transportation department at 5 a.m.. Finished with the morning high school and elementary runs by 9 a.m., drivers have several free hours before sliding back behind the wheel in the early afternoon.

It takes someone special to care about kids enough to work that kind of schedule, Krajniak said.

OUT OF OPTIONS

She doesn’t remember ever running out of driver options before, but this school year, the district has had to notify parents of about 10 canceled runs, Krajniak said.

Before making that call, she puts every qualified staff member behind the wheel.

“You shouldn’t have to have a mechanic in a bus all day,” Krajniak said. “But they’ll do it.”

She’s had to consolidate several in-city runs to compensate for the short staffing.

Where ideally buses would hold no more than 40 students, sometimes bus drivers have to keep tabs on 60 or 70 students while navigating the oversized vehicle through four lanes of traffic.

“It’s not just keeping your eyes on the road,” Krajniak said. “You’re basically a mobile daycare.”

Several bus aides joined APS bus routes on April 4. Krajniak hopes the newly created position will ease the burden on drivers and entice more people to consider applying for driver positions.

‘A LOT FOR A LITTLE’

Chris Koehler, a new bus driver doing a ridealong with Irelan on Thursday morning, wasn’t nervous about crowd control on the bus.

“My voice is louder than theirs,” he said, smiling.

What started as a joke several years ago, when Koehler told friends he was going to retire and work as a school bus driver so he could have summers off, turned into reality this year as he decided to sign on with APS.

Job training surprised him, with more to learn about the large vehicle than he thought possible, including a large panel of switches that operate heaters, cameras, radios, and a strobe light.

“And on top of that, you’ve got to pay attention to the kids,” said Koehler, who failed his driving test the first time around. “You’re asking for a lot for a little, let’s be honest.”

‘I’M THE BOMB’

Drivers get attached to the kids they sometimes get to watch grow from kindergarteners to high school seniors, Irelan said as she dropped off a load of students on Thursday morning.

She looks forward to seeing her riders every day, and she knows which she has to keep a close eye on and when to remind them of her rule of “keep your hands off each other and stay out of my aisle,” Irelan said.

A mandated reporter who knows her charges well, she can alert school officials when students show signs they may need help or when she notices suspicious activity at a bus stop.

Though she’s tough when needed, her riders like her and her dance moves, the driver said.

“When I dab, they’re like, ‘She just dabbed, did you see her?'” said Irelan, who one student recently called “the bomb.” “I’m like, ‘Really, dude? I’m the bomb? Cool.'”

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693 or jriddle@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jriddleX.

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