Warm Up The Bus!

Quick! How many busses are operated by the Iron County School District to get students to and from school? We didn't know either, so it was a good thing we had Britton Heaps on the show with us today. Britton works in the transportation department for the Iron County School district and told us, “we operate on 80, 85 busses between Parowan, Beryl and Cedar City. We have quite a few busses with more routes coming this year.”

We may be right in the middle of summer break, but it won't be that many weeks before the yellow school busses of the Iron County School District will be moving on the roads here in the area. And there is a need for more drivers.

Discounting travel for field trips and other school activities, the bus routes furthest away from the district office are out in the western end of Iron County, and transport students from the Beryl area to Escalante Valley Elementary school. That area also sees some high school students being transported to Enterprise High School in the Washington County School District. But we also found out that, “we actually bring a couple of them here...to Canyon View High School,” according to Heaps. There is also a route that brings students from Brianhead to Parowan High School.

Right now there are about “85 to 90” bus drivers working for the school district. But the district is looking to hire more drivers since illness, work breaks and other scheduling conflicts can cut in to the number of drivers available on a day to day basis.

“If you want to drive a bus, if you have a desire to work with children and can deal with children, we'll take you,” Heaps told us. Drivers will need a commercial drivers license, but the school district will train candidates for that so they can obtain a CDL class B license with the proper endorsements.

Most of the people applying to become drivers have had successful careers and work experiences. We were told many drivers had been police officers or were firefighters, but have now settled in to making sure Iron County students can get to school safely.

This year, the school district is celebrating 100 years of providing transportation to area students. “1923 was when we got our first school bus, “ Heaps told us. A secretary for the school district was able to research and provide that information.

And it's not just the drivers who see to the students transportation. Teachers and administration at the schools are available, especially to make sure students are getting in the right bus.

And safety feature have been added and improved over the years. “We actually just got three new Bluebird busses. They have equipped, probably the most safety features you can get....within the Utah standards for ordering,” Britton told us. The new busses have better lighting and come with multiple cameras to catch any incidents that may happen on the bus.

Even though he is a relief driver, Heaps told us that he drives “pretty much” every day, so the need for drivers is there. The starting pay is about $23 an hour. Britton told us that he is a student in the aviation program at Southern Utah University, and that driving a bus works well with his schedule. He also told us, “it's a fun thing to do! I seriously enjoy it!”

Listen to our entire exchange with Mr. Heaps below.