Some Jefferson County Public School (JCPS) bus drivers are covering multiple routes and wait times can be longer for students.
To address the problem, JCPS is offering its employees a $6 bonus in addition to their regular hourly pay to cover bus routes.
It was an exciting morning when Todd Henderson cranked the school bus to drive it with no trainers on board for the first time.
He knew students at Blue Lick Elementary weren’t the only kids he’d be helping to arrive at school on time.
“There’s been twice where my daughter, the bus, was coming but it was going to be like two hours late and so I had to take her down there so I figured if I do this, it frees up one person to be able to take those routes,” says Henderson.
Henderson is the P.E. teacher at Blue Lick Elementary School and has worked with the same schools within JCPS for 24 years. He says that’s not common for special area teachers.
“They get moved around a lot. It's not uncommon for them to have 20 schools, so I've been really blessed and only been at two for the most part,” says Henderson.
His two daughters attend JCPS schools, and his wife also works for the school system on a cafeteria team.
At Blue Lick Elementary, Henderson is known as “Mr. T.”
“Sometimes kids who aren’t successful in other places P.E. is their time to shine,” says Henderson.
Blue Lick first grader Paris Thomas knows when she heads to the gym it will be all fun and games with Mr. T.
“We get to do exercise. He lets us play outside and play with the stations. It's very cool,” says Thomas.
In the gym, fun is Mr. T’s number one rule.
“We got the rules. We state them positively and the next thing if you do that, we're gonna have fun we're gonna be safe. We're gonna learn a lot of things,” says Henderson.
Some days, Thomas gets to see Mr. T three times a day. She is one of the riders on his bus route and she knows the rules are different on the bus.
“OK so you can't scream on the bus and we can’t stand up or we can take our mask off,” says Thomas.
Mr. T is an expert in stretches and exercises and after training and testing before and after work and on the weekends, he’s added a new skill to his list by earning his commercial drivers license.
“The first place they took us, roads were narrow, there were people on the street, but now I understand why because now my route is a piece of cake,” says Henderson.
Henderson says he knows the bus inside and out, but he’s still working on memorizing the five pages of stops he has to make.
“When you first get started it’s confusing because you’ll pass a street and you’re like wait a minute,” says Henderson.
His riders make the added two hours to his work day worth every second.
“The kids think it's so cool when you pick them up on the bus. I mean they just think that's the most amazing thing. When they come on and I’m like hey have a great day they love it,” says Henderson. “One of my 5th graders said who’s going to be our P.E. teacher? I said I’m still gonna be your P.E. teacher,” says Henderson.
Henderson has always worked two jobs but driving the bus and teaching go together like jumping and jacks.
“It's enjoyable. It's enjoyable, especially with the benefit of driving your own kids, the kids think you already have a relationship with,” says Henderson.
If the kids think he’s cool now, just wait until he’s driving them to field trips.
The incentive applies to permanent full and part time employees as well as substitutes. Bus drivers received the $6 bonus when the initiative was first put in place in July.