After two months of sleeping in and waking up with ease, the morning alarm clock must have come awfully early for teachers and students Tuesday morning.
But the first day of school starts even earlier for the members of the Kent School District transportation department, where the day began at 5 a.m.
“The first day of school is always filled with tension,” said Transportation Supervisor Don Walkup.
Walkup explained he and his crew are in early for the first week to make sure everything runs smoothly to get the year started off right, although maintenance on the district’s 144 buses continued throughout the summer in preparation for Tuesday’s opening day runs.
“We try to make sure the fleet is in ship shape and ready to go the first day,” he said.
In Kent, the mechanics themselves are top-shelf. A letter from Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson and the Washington State Patrol congratulating KSD on an outstanding school bus inspection hangs outside Walkup’s office as a testament to that.
Like all districts, Kent buses are inspected every summer and then once during the year, when inspectors arrive unannounced to check 25 percent of the fleet.
“In both of those we have done outstanding for several years,” Walkup said.
Walkup said his drivers also make a pre-trip inspection on dozens of items every day, including the tires, lights, seats and safety equipment to make sure the buses are safe for the more than 11,000 students who ride them each day.
On the first day of school, however, Walkup said the drivers take an extra amount of time, not only with their routes, but also because during the summer, drivers usually get out of the habit of watching for school buses.
The drivers also want to be sure to give parents and students some extra time to find their stops and say their first-day goodbyes.
Walkup said he was incredibly proud of his staff of mechanics and drivers, who together make sure the district stays not only safe, but efficient as well.
According to Walkup, Kent School District is one of the most efficient in the state, measuring the cost of transportation per pupil. Kent is able to do that, he said, because of each driver makes three to four runs each day, across various grade levels. It’s something made possible by staggered bell times, including 10 different start times at the district’s elementary schools.
“Almost every driver runs K-12 on a given day,” Walkup said.
In total, the district’s 118 drivers (and 20 or so substitutes) traveled more than 1.6 million miles during the 2007-2008 school year.
“The average bus goes about 15,000 miles per year,” Walkup said, adding that some do up to 150 miles per day because of special runs and sport routes.
The drivers themselves are all put through 40 hours of training and have to learn dozens of rules, regulations, district policies, Washington Administrative Codes and Revised Code of Washington laws, all gathered in a single, four-inch-thick binder in Walkup’s office.
Even with all that to remember, the first morning went smoothly for district drivers, but Walkup said the real test comes in the afternoon, because many first-time riders are not sure where their stop is.
“The real anxiety happens when we start taking elementary kids home,” he said.
But like most other members of the faculty and staff, the first day of school is just the beginning.
“We’re excited,” Walkup said. “I have such a great crew, it’s really great to work here.”
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