on the cover / By Sean J. Kearns

School Bus Breakdown

After near-miss, more yellow lights ahead as major cuts loom

(Feb. 9, 2012) A staccato rain hits the metal roof, the heater hums, the engine idles in a rhythmic rumble, and the driver chitchats.

For now, this school bus aside the curb at South Fork High School in Miranda is almost quiet, an empty-seated cavern of calmness on a Friday afternoon.

A SCHOOL BUS DROPS OFF STUDENTS AT REDWAY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. PHOTO BY SEAN KEARNS

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Then … the door swings open and in bounds a roar that’s anything but dull.

As if pressurized by a week of school, freshly released from classrooms and questions, about 60 teenagers ascend the steps in a steady, swift, focused flow. They hit the center aisle, conform to a single file and move toward the choicest remaining seats. Each student seems to carry on at least one loud conversation, some seemingly with themselves.

It’s a cohort based not on aptitude, gender, grade level, family income nor ethnicity, but on a string of geography shared day in and day out. It creates an impromptu after-school study group on wheels for Socialization 101, where children learn about going along, standing strong, flirting, not hurting, conversing, convulsing, enduring a doofus, sharing a seat and more.

As the bus pulls out from the high school, a boy in the back unburdens himself with loud, passionate, creative cussing about a teacher who allegedly targets him repeatedly for unjust persecution. Driver Matt Stark, who knows the teacher and the student, tracks the outburst in the rearview mirror, inquires about its impetus, acknowledges the potential for injustice, and then calls for the plaintiff to quiet down and sit down. A measure of calm comes … on Stark’s second call.

While Stark yields some disciplinary ground, he maintains control. “I consider their time on this bus as their time,” he says. “They’ve just put in a full day at school.”

Though he’s only been driving the bus for three weeks, he knows. He’s one of at least four Southern Humboldt Unified School District drivers who rode the district’s buses themselves as children. He rode Bus No. 40; now he drives Bus No. 6. It’s a temporary stint that fits between his seasonal work with California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, yet he says, “I can see the fulfillment in those who make it a career. It’s the kids. You get to know them. You’re taking care of them.”

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