A modified title to one of my children’s favorite books kept running through my head last week as I drove to the Fox C-6 Service Center in Arnold.
Mo Willems’ tale “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!” kept repeating in my mind as I drove a Fox C-6 School District bus through a course set up in the parking lot.
My internal plea of not letting a journalist drive a bus did lessen as I maneuvered the initially intimidating bus through the course. By the time I had parked in front of the Service Center after a short trip, I was fairly comfortable behind the wheel of the massive vehicle.
Fox C-6 held a bus driver recruitment fair on July 29, and as part of the four-hour event, prospective drivers were able to drive a bus.
I was nervous when I first sat behind the wheel of the classic yellow bus and was only half listening as Branon Sebastian, Fox C-6 safety and training coordinator, started providing instructions on how to drive the monstrous machine.
After focusing, I started my journey through the course.
I slowly pulled away from the building and made my way to where cones were set up. It wasn’t going too bad as I made the first turn without hitting cars parked in the spaces closest to the Service Center.
Then Willems’ title started screaming in my head, “Don’t Let the Journalist Drive the Bus!” as I missed the turn to enter the cones that were set up to lead me through the parking lot.
Sebastian had me stop the bus, and he jumped out to remove a cone to allow me to get back on the course.
I drove the bus back on the path the district wanted me to follow, and I slowly felt more comfortable driving.
Fairly quickly, I became used to needing to turn the wheel a little more than in a traditional car to make turns, and I also quickly learned the air brakes were very responsive and the bus stopped much quicker than I expected.
Granted, I was going very slowly. For a point of reference, if I was drag racing a glacier, I think I would have won the race, but not by much.
Anyway, after driving through rows of cones through the middle of the lot, I made a left to drive along the back of the lot closest to Jeffco Boulevard, made another left onto the entry drive to the parking lot, drove along the side of the Service Center building before making a left turn to drive behind the building and then another left turn to cruise by the side of the Early Childhood Center.
On this stretch, there were two stops due to signage, which I am happy to report I obeyed and stopped the bus without slamming the brakes so hard that you could be thrown through the windshield.
After coming back to the front of the building, there was one more left turn before the final stretch to park the bus where the journey began.
I believe I didn’t completely embarrass myself, and I did feel pretty comfortable at the end.
I am not ready to sign up to become a bus driver, but the bus was a lot easier to drive and control than I thought it would be.
Gary Cross, Fox C-6 transportation director, said the district had held the fair for four years to help combat the driver shortage that most school districts in the county and throughout the country are experiencing.
According to a 2025 report from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that was conducted with HopSkipDrive, a school rideshare company, 80 percent of districts throughout the county have had transportation operations affected by driver shortages.
The Fox C-6 driver recruitment fair gives people, like me, the opportunity to realize firsthand that driving a bus is not as difficult as it seems, and it gives transportation department employees the chance to highlight the benefits of driving a bus.
Cross said drivers are guaranteed to be paid for five hours of work every school day with wages starting at $20.33 per hour. Plus, he said Fox C-6 provides full benefits for drivers, despite not working fulltime hours every week.
“You get great benefits and pay,” he said. “You get health insurance, retirement, vision and dental. You get a whole smorgasbord of benefits, and the hours are great because you are off all summer.”
Cross also said the district trains prospective drivers to get their Class B driver’s license and air brake, passenger and school bus endorsements, which are required to be a bus driver. He said that process typically takes about two weeks.
“We pay for training,” he said.
Cross said anyone interested in becoming a bus driver or wanting to arrange a bus test drive may contact the district by calling 636-296-8000 or the transportation department at 636-296-5331 or 636-282-6904.