MFISD bus rodeo tests driver skills before main event
Steven Cooley watches with his scoresheet in hand as Julie Rodriguez maneuvers into a parallel parking spot Aug. 22 in a Marble Falls High School parking lot. Marble Falls Independent School District bus drivers went through a 'bus rodeo' Aug. 21-22 to practice skills before school begins. Staff photo by Jared Fields
JARED FIELDS • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — Preseason practice isn’t only for high school athletes and band members.
Bus drivers need it, too.
That’s what the Marble Falls Independent School District’s “bus rodeo” was for Aug. 21-22.
“Getting behind the wheel and polishing their skills a little bit,” said George Hamilton, the district’s bus supervisor.
Five obstacles, in orange cone form, sat in the visitors parking lot behind Mustang Stadium at Marble Falls High School.
Drivers were scored on the course based on things such as how many cones they hit and how far away from targets they were. Time was not a factor.
For some, an obstacle called “offset alley,” in which drivers had to slowly swerve through a set of four cones, was the most difficult. For others, driving the passenger-side tires over a line of short cones without hitting taller cones a couple of feet away, was difficult.
Also, parallel parking a bus is no easier than it is for most drivers on a busy city street.
Hamilton said the district employees 45 bus drivers and seven bus aides. The district transports 1,800 kids per day.
Driving skills weren’t all that were tested. Drivers also had to inspect a bus, as they do every day before each route, and list everything wrong.
jared@thepicayune.com