When school starts again on Jan. 6, Kenny Roberts will get to sleep in, for once.
Roberts, 80, has retired from driving a bus for Brown County Schools after 53 years.
Paul Hardin, who used to drive a bus for Roberts, paused for a moment of recognition on the day before Christmas at Roberts’ home in Gnaw Bone. “I’m proud of you,” Hardin told him, handing Roberts a framed certificate from the families of Gnaw Bone.
Roberts transported generations of Gnaw Bone-area children to and from school each day for more than five decades.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]The school district has an age range of between 21 and “less than 80” for bus drivers during their contract period, Superintendent Laura Hammack said last week.
“The board of school trustees and I are deeply grateful to Mr. Roberts for the many years of service as a school bus driver in Brown County Schools. School bus drivers are a fundamental component of the educational experience,” she said in an email.
“Mr. Roberts has positively impacted a significant number of students during the past fifty years. We wish him all the best and hope that he never has to set his alarm so early ever again.”
Roberts has a lot of memories from his career.
His father also drove a bus for 30 years. Roberts’ wife is also a bus driver and has been for 18 years.
Times were different decades ago. A new school bus cost $9,000 when Roberts started. Now, a new bus can cost about 10 times that amount.
He remembers hearing stories about drivers kicking junior high or high school students off the bus who were not listening. Roberts said he never kicked children off his bus, though.
Years ago, other drivers used to display paddles at the front of their buses as a way to remind students to behave. Those paddles were used on unruly riders, both Roberts and Hardin remembered.
Roberts did remember a teenage boy who jumped out the back of his bus near Crouch’s Market because he wanted to be let off there. The boy did not have a note, and Roberts told him to sit back down. But when Roberts stopped to let other children off, the boy jumped out, landed in a ditch and hurt his leg.
He also remembers when two teenagers began fighting on his bus years ago, he pulled over, let them off the bus to finish their fight, then asked if they were ready to head home.
Roberts said he stayed a bus driver for over 50 years because driving his routes became a habit. “I just got into it,” he said.
The kids he drove for years also helped him to stay, along with having a set schedule.
He hasn’t ruled out being a school bus driver in another district yet.
Hardin said he wanted to honor Roberts for his time as a bus driver.
“Anybody who spends 53 years doing anything deserves some kind of recognition and a thank-you,” he said.
