Spreading School Bus Love

New industry campaign to promote school bus driver appreciation to coincide with Valentines week

(Feb. 1, 2007) - A Web site is now available for the American School Bus Council's new initiative promoting school bus awareness that encourages students across the nation to create Valentine's Day cards for their drivers in appreciation of the jobs they perform every school day.

"Love the Bus" is a national awareness program to celebrate the valuable role that some half a million school bus drivers play in keeping children safe, with the general idea being to use Valentine's Day to focus on school bus drivers. Scheduled events and sponors included:

• Feb. 7 - Dallas (Durham School Services and Thomas Built Buses)
• Feb. 8 - Chicago (ISTA-Chicago Chapter and IC Corp.)
• Feb. 9 - Philadelphia (Krapf Bus and Blue Bird)
• Feb. 12 - Ohio (Community Bus Services and Thomas Built Buses)
• Feb. 13 - Amsterdam, N.Y., (Members of the NY Contractors' Association and Blue Bird
• Feb. 13 - Memphis, Tenn.(Laidlaw and IC Corp.)
• Feb. 14 - New York City (Members of the New York Contractors' Association and Blue Bird)
• Feb. 14 - Washington, D.C. (K. Neal International Trucks and IC Corp. and Blue Bird)

"One of the things that the council has learned from research focus groups is that many parents don't know the name of their children's school bus driver and would like to," read an ASBC statement. "Nurturing a relationship between drivers and parents can have a very positive impact on the overall perception of the pupil transportation system from "Mom's" perspective.

The new Web site gives students the opportunity to create and print out a personalized valentine to give to their bus drivers on Feb. 14. The site also offers users the option of posting “stories from the road,” or those touching, funny or memorable stories about students' or parents' favorite school bus drivers.

"Children from across the country are submitting stories about how their drivers are
safety superheroes, true professionals, and mentors and friends to the students they drive," ASBC co-directors Pete Japiske and Donald Tudor said in a statement.

The site also promotes Valentine activities in an Educator's Toolkit, offers safety tips for kids and gives school bus safety facts.