The Last Straw and I Quit

Bad Relationship Explodes

Over the years, I continued to drive for special events like basketball games and field trips. Since these never involved driving country roads, and were always with students I taught or coached, I became less concerned about driving.

Basketball season ended, and except for an occasional field trip, so did my bus driving. This went on for several years until the day of near disaster

The principal had allowed one of our two drivers to take a week of vacation in the spring. With Gerry driving her route, it meant the only available backup drivers were in Fulton. Well, there was me, but I had said for the beginning, no bus routes.

My principal was in charge of both of the buildings that housed students who would attend Albany for grades 5-8. The students from the Garden Plain building were all country students, and they were in grades 1-3.

The driver for Garden Plain was a farmer. In the spring, he would farm when the weather allowed, but was able to schedule farming around his bus routes. Except this year was a wet spring, and he was late planting. He called in and said he would not be driving his after school route.

My principal decided he didn’t want to use the back-up drivers in Fulton. He came to me before dismissal and told me I had to drive the Garden Plain route. I told him I did not want to drive a route, and that I had consistently told him this. He insisted that this was an emergency and he needed me to drive.

I agreed to drive the route, but told him to get someone else if this happened again. I don’t recall him saying much after that, but I wanted him to know I would not continue to drive.

The next day, the same thing happened. The principal came to me to drive the Garden Plain route. I said I had told him to get someone else. I said I didn’t want to drive, but I drove the route.

The following day he again came to my classroom. This time I was adamant, I would not drive.  He just walked away.

At dismissal time, I decided I needed to check on the status of the Garden Plain bus. I went to the office, and the principal was gone. I asked the secretary who he had gotten to drive the GP bus. She said he had said “You (meaning me) are going to drive it”. I went ballistic and told her I had repeatedly told him “No” .She said, “If that’s what you told him, then don’t drive it”

I was livid and paced back and forth. All I could think about was the little kids waiting at school for their bus to take them home. It was already late and the school had dismissed. I decided I couldn’t leave those kids, so I got in my truck and drove out to Garden Plain.

One of the teachers was waiting with the students, and I apologized for being late. I loaded the bus and headed out. It was a warm sunny, but windy, spring day. I was still upset, but drove carefully. The route had a couple a tricky turn arounds and I had to watch to not back into a ditch.

One of the stops had a two families that lived on the left side of the road. Students left the bus from the right side. For some reason I counted the 5 students who were getting off the bus. The students crossed in front of the bus out of my view. As I started to release the clutch, I happened to count the students across the road. There were only 4. I immediately put my foot on the brake. A second later, a first grade girl emerged from the front. She was carrying papers that had blown out of her hands. She had stopped in front of the bus to pick them up.

 I was so upset I started to shake. One second more and I would have killed her. I finished the route in a cloud of fear and anger. I was able park the bus and leave, but I was still shaking and couldn’t stop thinking about that little girl.

I went to back to school to get my things. I was determined to never drive a bus again. I had a key to the front office, so I went in. I took out my bus driver’s permit and ripped it apart. I took tape from the secretary’s desk and taped it to the principal’s office door.

When I got home, I told Connie that I would likely be fired in the morning. Still upset, I explained what I had done and why. She never questioned my judgement even though it meant losing my job.

The next day, nothing was said. A few days later, the principal came down and said “I don’t suppose you will drive bus”. I said, “I think I made that clear.”

We never discussed it. He never told me to drive a route again.

Post script

Later that year, fed up with 5 years of negotiations and bickering and not really teaching very well, I quit teaching. I  became an engineer that summer for Ralston Purina Corporation in Clinton, IA. I quickly found that I missed education, but that I could function well as an administrator. I had started coursework for administration before I quit teaching. I started back to night school to get my endorsement to become a principal. I completed this and decided I needed to return to education if I was to be considered for a principal position. Fortunately the teaching position at Albany re-opened. I applied, but had to go through a special interview with the superintendent.

The superintendent said he didn’t want to hire me because of my attitude. He said the principal wanted me back, in spite of my past behavior. I told the superintendent I was done with that, realized I wanted to be a principal, and planned to leave as soon as I had a principal’s job. Fortunately I got the Albany job. I have to give credit to the principal for his willingness to put my past insubordination behind him for what he perceived to be the good for the students. I am not sure I would have hired me back.

Returning to teaching meant returning to coaching. Returning to coaching meant returning to bus driving. Because I was no longer certified to drive, I had to repeat multiple hours of bus driver training.

The following summer I took my first principal’s job and reluctantly left Albany. Although I remained a certified bus driver, I never drove a bus again and told no one of my certification.