{"id":10212,"date":"2021-10-15T17:38:35","date_gmt":"2021-10-15T21:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=10212"},"modified":"2021-12-10T11:00:39","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T16:00:39","slug":"with-three-generations-of-bus-drivers-beach-family-keeps-family-tradition-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/with-three-generations-of-bus-drivers-beach-family-keeps-family-tradition-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"With three generations of bus drivers, Beach family keeps family tradition alive"},"content":{"rendered":"

–by David Schleck<\/em><\/p>\n

Bus driving is a tradition for three generations of Sherwood Bernard\u2019s family. He, his aunt and his grandmother have always taken pride in their work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want a bus that reflects us,\u201d Bernard said. That means getting to know your young riders and keeping your bus clean.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few days before the end of the school year, I was listening to the happy voices going back and forth behind me as I was driving my bus,\u201d Bernard said. \u201cI remember thinking to myself, \u2018This is what I really meant to do.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/a>The school system needs drivers. Vacancies have tripled year over year, and about 100 more drivers are needed. The transportation office leads drivers through about six weeks of training to get their commercial driver\u2019s licenses, or CDLs.<\/p>\n

The district has 510 drivers but needs a total of more than 600 to smoothly transport more than 45,000 students a day, Transportation Director James Lash said. That amounts to more than 6 million miles driven every year.<\/p>\n

Drivers who work at least five hours a day qualify for benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cContracted drivers receive Virginia Retirement System benefits, both personal and sick leave,\u201d Lash said. \u201cAlso, they can elect to participate in our VBCPS benefits program which has a wide range of offerings, including health insurance, legal plans as well as optional retirement savings plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re hesitating to apply because you\u2019re worried about driving a bus full of wild, noisy children, Bernard has some insight from his eight years on the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids aren\u2019t as crazy as people may think,\u201d Bernard said. \u201cIf you greeting them each day and speaking with them, they usually behave. It\u2019s all about how you approach them and your work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bernard\u2019s family has put in 90 years of bus driving so far, and that doesn\u2019t include his wife, Katelyn, who has been a driver for eight years.<\/p>\n

His respect for the job goes way back. When he was growing up, he remembers his bus driver comforting him when he was having a bad day. His aunt has been a bus driver for 34 years and his grandmother, Ann Bernard, drove from 1968 until she passed away in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember asking her if she was going to retire when she had 50 years of service, and she said no way \u2013 she\u2019d be driving as long as she could.\u201d<\/p>\n

She drove students with special needs, and many of her routes were in the Bayside area of the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was the nicest driver those students could have,\u201d her grandson said. \u201cAnd her bus was always kept super clean.\u201d<\/p>\n

After serving in the Navy, Bernard pursued an education degree from Virginia Wesleyan University. But when he saw the latest requirements for teachers, he decided to pause his schooling and try bus driving.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started this job thinking it would be something I\u2019d do while finishing college, but I kept doing it because I started feeling like the other bus drivers and the kids \u2013 we\u2019re all one big family.\u201d<\/p>\n

With 64 children on his first bus, Bernard quickly noticed that not all his passengers seemed to know the rules. \u201cBut by the end of the school year, I was getting compliments from people saying their kids\u2019 behavior had really improved over the course of the school year. That made me feel really good because I knew that the students were listening to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Bernard and his riders bond over Pok\u00e9mon. He\u2019s young enough to have watched Pok\u00e9mon shows on TV when he was growing up, and the kids say they\u2019re amazed he knows many of the characters.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s heartwarming to wave to other drivers when their buses pass each other on the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a sense of pride to riding these buses,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re big and yellow, they stand out.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re still on the fence about applying, here are some other advantages to the job:<\/p>\n