The Panda Bus

Val's first look at me was not just dirty...it radiated hate. In a short while with him, I learned that the hate in his eyes; his body posture; the swagger in his steps; the rap music blaring from his headphones; and the power of verbal vulgarity was not direct at me, alone. He hated everything, all the time: school, students, teachers, birds, flowers, me, the bus...the whole darned world. There were no days when all was forgotten or even a moment when civility reigned. I could live with it until the day he took out his hate on his sister, pounding on her while she lay screaming in the aisle of the bus... The most important lessons about driving a school bus are not in the Drivers' Manual, but from the lives of the school-aged riders and the tales of fellow drivers. As a United Methodist Pastor, a former faculty member of the William Glasser Institute and an experienced school bus driver, the author offers stories drawn from fifteen years of driving, that are sometimes humorous, sometimes serious, but always entertaining and instructive. The stories cover range from a high school student, whose life is spiraling out of control, to the bravery of a special needs child...all framed within the context of their fellow riders on the Panda bus, their parents, teachers, and administrators. Each story stands as a parable of life, we all live beyond the Panda Bus.