By Mechelle Prevoznik
Bus drivers love their jobs
Bus drivers, as a rule, are looked at as being at the bottom at the educational food chain. People tend to think that we are uneducated or unable to obtain another job.
Fact: a lot of drivers are retired from other careers; some hold more degrees than some of the teaching faculty.
We are, in fact, a bit crazy! We choose to work in conditions that no sane person would want to.
Most of us drive buses with no air conditioning in the summer; insufficient heat in the winter.
Drive a lot of children that are loud, and act as if they've had no home training!
We've all had to put up with verbally abusive parents that believe their little Johnny or Susie is perfect.
On a daily basis, I have people pass my stop signs — unfortunately, a lot of them are parents! I see their children strapped in car seats in the back of their cars, as they're texting or talking on the phone; never looking up, just flying through my stop sign.
Or the person that crosses the double yellow line because they don't want to be stuck behind a bus!
As bus drivers, we are underpaid given the responsibility that we have; underappreciated by parents for our job.
Most the duties I do on my bus are no different than what I do as a parent.
So, given everything that I just described about our jobs, someone might ask why we do this.
I'm a bus driver because I choose to be. With all the negativity that goes with the job, there's a lot of positive things. I've been on my route for four years; I've gotten to watch children grow and learn from little guys to young adults.
In an average day from my little guys, I get 167 hugs and several "I love you Miss Mechelle"s — that alone makes everything worthwhile.
Most of us drivers love our jobs and can't imagine doing anything else.
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Comments about bus driver 'made me sick'
I cannot believe how little empathy the people in this area have. First of all, everyone is acting like these are elementary-aged kids, when they were middle school and high school students.
Are they at risk when they wait at the bus stop before it arrives? Do you think some sexual predator or kidnapper would approach 50 teenagers and try to snatch one of them when they would be so greatly outnumbered? Kids that age are allowed to walk to neighbors' houses and to the store. Yet they wouldn't be safe in such a large number waiting for another bus for 30 minutes?
… Second, we don't know how sick the bus driver was … Now many are angry that she was on paid leave. Some are suggesting criminal charges… After I read the comments in the paper (Sunday), all but one just made me sick. Sure, our kids are precious to us, but too many of you were acting like these kids were toddlers left on the side of the road.
… I hope when each of you have a health scare or severe illness that you think back on how cruel your comments were toward the sick bus driver.
Nannette McGowan
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Students can walk to school
When I was in middle and high school, I walked to school. What are you people doing, raising full-grown infants who can't stand on the side of the road?
Guy Gordon
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Challenging Pastor's Perspective column on Kim Davis
Sir, I respect you and anyone else for your religious beliefs. However, if you are in a position of operating under the guidance of law, you cannot pick and choose how to administer those laws.
Simply put, if her beliefs are so strong that it impedes her from lawfully carrying out her duties, she should find another line of work.
Mark Purvis
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Cures are bad for business
If there are cures in medicine, that's bad for business. Sad but true. There is no money in health.
Pharmaceuticals need sick people to stay in business. If there was a cure for cancer, there would be no more need for overpriced drugs.
I'm sure there have been big breakthroughs, but the government won't allow it, or stops it once found. Corporations buy the government and tell them what to do.
We are not a democracy, but rather being taken over by corporations who buy people out to get what they want. Medicine is just one of the many aspects of this.
Daniel Rivera
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Rethinking prescription medication prices
I think the solution for medication is a complicated issue.
The businesses producing medication need to make a profit to continue production, and expenses continue to rise alongside the cost of living as it rises.
We need to reintroduce checks and balances into the economy. Society as a whole has become dependent on loans that not everyone pays back.
Sabrina Knost
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This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: HUBBUB: Bus drivers love their jobs, Comments about bus driver 'made me sick'