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First Student staff commutes students safely

Crew enjoys meeting, commuting students on school bus
Posted on 10/10/2024

John Cook Jr. always remembers what his wife said.

“I started driving a school bus and my wife said I wouldn’t last six months. Fourteen years later, I’m still doing it,” said Cook, who start driving a bus after a 40-year career in retail management. “I would go crazy if I just sat home all day.”

Cook is one of 15 First Student employees making sure students are taken safely to and from school on a bus. He is in his sixth year driving Rhinebeck students.

“I enjoy the people I work with. Our crew is excellent. I like the school district and the runs I have because I like the kids I have on the bus,” he said.

Robin Oakes, coordinator for First Student in Rhinebeck, highlighted her entire staff. They include bus drivers Mike Wojnar, Shawna Turner, Rob Koch, Andrew Weaver,  Maurice Fakhouri, Larry Anthony, Ken Hartling, Mark Chapman, Olman Cerrato, Jen Ferris, Simone Chinnici and Cook; and monitors Lourdes Sanchez and Bob Kipp.

“I love the kids. They’re good kids,” said Oakes of her long career as a bus driver. She’s been driving Rhinebeck students for about seven years.

Cook and Oakes said it is important for a driver to greet a student with a smile at the start and end of the school day because a driver may not know if a student had a difficult morning getting ready for school or a challenging day in school.

“They talk quietly,” Oakes said of the students. “A lot of them now have headphones and are listening to something. They are not paying attention to anything else. Respect is one of the biggest things, because if you treat them nicely, they will treat you and the buses nicely, and each other nicely.

“As long as you have an orderly bus, you can pay more attention to the road.”

A ride on a First Student bus may be safer this year as cameras have been installed inside and outside the bus. Drivers have no access to the indoor or outdoor cameras while driving.

The outdoor cameras will catch vehicles going through the flashing red lights, which will result in drivers receiving tickets.

“The cameras are there to assist us if we see things on the road that are dangerous or cars pass us on our reds,” said Oakes.