Ride along with a school bus driver in training
SOUTH EUGENE - School buses usually take students to the classroom, but for Rachael Smallwood, the bus is the classroom.
"When I first got on this bus, I looked in the back, and I was like, 'Ohmygosh this is very long," she said.
She's going through a bus driver training course with the Eugene 4-J School District and her lesson for the day is learning how to maneuver around several orange cones. It's her first time behind the wheel and she admits she's a bit nervous.
Close by her side is driver-turned-trainer Larry Johnson who offers lots of encouragement and reins in his sometimes too eager trainee along the way. "So we teach her to spot different points on the bus that'll make sure she can keep the whole bus clear of any obstacles," Johnson said.
Smallwood will have at least 20 more hours of training behind the wheel before she can get her license. In that time she'll do everything from driving on rural roads to student management.
"Safety of the students is the only priority," Johnson said.
Smallwood says, weaving a 40-foot bus around the obstacle course is a lot harder than it looks and her training has given her a whole new perspective. "Now I actually really realize what bus drivers go through and now I have a lot more respect for the bus drivers," she said.
All new school bus drivers have a supervisor riding along the very first time they have kids on board.
"When I first got on this bus, I looked in the back, and I was like, 'Ohmygosh this is very long," she said.
She's going through a bus driver training course with the Eugene 4-J School District and her lesson for the day is learning how to maneuver around several orange cones. It's her first time behind the wheel and she admits she's a bit nervous.
Close by her side is driver-turned-trainer Larry Johnson who offers lots of encouragement and reins in his sometimes too eager trainee along the way. "So we teach her to spot different points on the bus that'll make sure she can keep the whole bus clear of any obstacles," Johnson said.
Smallwood will have at least 20 more hours of training behind the wheel before she can get her license. In that time she'll do everything from driving on rural roads to student management.
"Safety of the students is the only priority," Johnson said.
Smallwood says, weaving a 40-foot bus around the obstacle course is a lot harder than it looks and her training has given her a whole new perspective. "Now I actually really realize what bus drivers go through and now I have a lot more respect for the bus drivers," she said.
All new school bus drivers have a supervisor riding along the very first time they have kids on board.
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