THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 16, 1996 TAG: 9606150114
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Education
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 81 lines
NOT EVERYONE can drive a school bus, according to veteran drivers Ulysses Whitfield and Marie Jones . They figure it takes about three years of driving to see if a new driver has the right stuff to make it a career.
They base their estimate on some very credible experience. Each has been been driving Suffolk school buses for more than 40 years - and they have no immediate plans to relinquish the wheel.
Even more impressive are the safety records each has compiled. Whitfield has driven for 42 years without a preventable accident, and Jones has driven for 40 years without a preventable accident. Jones has been named Suffolk school bus driver of the year once, and Whitfield has earned that same honor twice.
Whitfield and Jones have been driving long enough to recognize students catching their buses as the children of their former passengers. ``We have got bus drivers out here that were on my bus when they were going to school,'' Jones said.
School bus driving entails more than controlling the vehicle in a wide variety of road conditions. Drivers also need to control their young, high-spirited passengers and learn how to deal with impatient motorists who dread being stuck behind a school bus in rush hour traffic.
Drivers are required to keep their buses clean and checked mechanically, completing a 35 point pre-trip checklist each morning. They must attend regularly scheduled training sessions and file daily and monthly reports.
Whitfield was just 16 and a senior at East Suffolk High School when he was promoted from bus monitor to bus driver, carrying a busload of his classmates and younger children back and forth to school, all for a monthly salary of $35.
``I had watched the driver shifting gears before, and that was how I learned to handle the bus,'' he said.
Since then, state legislation has tightened training requirements. Bus drivers now receive 20 hours of classroom instruction and 20 hours of behind-the-wheel training from a certified driver-trainer before they are allowed to transport students. Drivers must also qualify for a state commercial chauffeur's license.
From the very beginning, Whitfield laid down some strict rules - no talking, no eating, assigned seats for everyone - and he expected all his passengers at their bus stops five minutes before he arrived.
Whitfield's rules still stand and have been widely applied by other drivers in the system. Whitfield and Jones find children today generally less respectful and less courteous than they were 40 years ago, but the drivers see earning their respect as yet another challenge of the job.
``Once my children get used to me, they respect me and love me,'' Jones said.
When Jones' oldest son, Calvin, started school at Cypress Chapel Elementary School, she decided to take a job driving the bus. Evey day she drove him, and later her other two sons, to school. She has been driving ever since, with Lakeland High School and Booker T. Washington Elementary School being her current assignments.
Whitfield also drives to Booker T. Washington as well as to Nansemond River High School.
Driving a bus is just one of the jobs the two have held. Jones managed the concession at the old Plantation Drive-In theater and worked at the Chadwick Theatre in downtown Suffolk. For 31 years Whitfield worked as a nursing assistant at Obici Hospital and as a church musician. He is currently the minister of music at Piney Grove Church in Buckhorn.
In spite of decades of driving in ice, rain, and some heart-stopping traffic conditions, both Whitfield and Jones had difficulty recalling more than a few truly frightening experiences. Jones did immediately remember the old bridge on White Marsh Road that used to flood, forcing her to drive her bus through running board deep waters.
Whitfield still remembers (with a flash of annoyance) the tractor-trailer that ran a red light just as he was about to drive his bus across the intersection. ``He never stopped and never even blew his horn,'' Whitfield said, shaking his head.
``Motorists don't respect a school bus, and it is getting worse,'' Jones said. ``Folks are in a hurry and don't want to get behind a school bus.
``What they need to do is always watch for that big yellow vehicle and those precious little ones we have on there.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Both Ulysses Whitfield, left, and Marie Jones have been driving
Suffolk school buses for more than 40 years. by CNB