The Garden City Public Schools Transportation Department had seven school bus drivers participate in the Kansas State Pupil Transportation Association’s Safe Driver Competition held on Wednesday, June 5th, in Derby, Kansas. There were 82 competitors from across the state that participated in the competition.
Jerry Guerrero took first place in the Experienced Transit Driver Division at the competition. He will compete in the National School Transportation Association’s 50th Annual School Bus Driver International Safety Competition in Austin, Texas on June 29th and 30th.
The other drivers that competed from the district were Hilliana Carerra taking 2nd in the Rookie Transit Bus; Kathleen Pepera taking 6th in Experienced Transit Bus; Silvia Villatorro taking 7th in the Rookie Conventional Bus; Elizabeth Nunez taking 8th in the Experienced Transit Bus; Brian Virgil taking 10th in the Experienced Conventional Bus; and Xochilt Fernandez taking 15th in Experienced Conventional Bus.
Joyce Brown and Kerry Garcia were presented the 2024 Heroism Award to for their efforts during a student crisis on a bus.
The competition was part of the Association’s School Transportation Safety Symposium held June 4th - June 14th. The winners at the event were presented their awards at a banquet that was held on June 7th.
The school bus safety competition is designed to recognize excellence in school bus drivers while demonstrating skills needed in their demanding jobs of safely transporting students. The competition consists of a written exam and a series of skills tests.
The written examination tests the school bus drivers’ knowledge in all areas of school bus operations, laws, rules and regulations. This portion of the competition assesses the drivers’ knowledge as well as their ability to comprehend and respond to written instructions.
The driving skills portion of the competition requires the drivers to demonstrate exemplary skills in such areas as law/regulation knowledge, school bus inspections, and bus driving skill maneuvers. The drivers are challenged to maneuver a school bus around obstacles and demonstrate that they know all the ins and outs of operating a school bus.
The Garden City Public Schools Transportation Department has 35 professional drivers and 11 personnel that work to safely transport around 3,000 students per day, as well as 225 special needs students with daily door-to-door service. The school buses travel a total of 3,500 miles per day or approximately 575,275 miles per school year. The department covers 115 routes across the district during each morning and afternoon.