Parsons Readers Back 2 Drivers

After reading Dana Parsons’ column about bus driver Joyce Hana (“School Bus Driver Is Driven to Distraction, Loses Job,� Nov. 13), I knew I had to write. I have been a school bus driver for the Fullerton School District for the past 16 months. I recently delivered a two-week written notice of my intent to resign as a regular school bus driver.

The reasons are similar to those Parsons writes of in his column. First, passengers don’t obey rules of safety, and, secondly, when the bus driver issues a ticket (bus citation), the school does not enforce it.

There are some administrators within the district who are in dire need of training in how to discipline student behavior problems. I must add that of the four schools my bus route takes me in and out of each day, two are very supportive when a bus ticket is issued.

The others don’t quite have a sense of what it is like to drive a 48-foot-long, 2-ton station wagon down the road with 72 children aboard. One student gets away with rule violations, and the others begin to wonder about justice. Soon more and more students want to buck the rule system.

I met Joyce Hana for the first time at the Aug. 28, 1991, bus driver meeting. Over the next 12 weeks we became acquaintances. Hana is a creative individual. She has rules on her bus that are fair and she believes in discipline. Her bus is operated efficiently and professionally. I can’t see one reason why she should be fired.

The district hired 13 new drivers over the summer; I found her to be one of the best. She treated her passengers like gold! But in this day and age, the exceptional employee is looked at with skepticism. The average person looks at an outstanding performance and often begins to look for some hidden agenda.

ZACHARY J. HAHN, Fullerton