Sisters school bus drivers win awards

Two Sisters School District bus drivers, Kathy Levine and Susan Waltoz, brought home trophies from the 1996 Oregon State School Bus Safety Exercise held in Roseburg on Saturday, May 18.

And before anyone thinks this is a small accomplishment, they need to sit behind the wheel and guide 40 feet of school bus, eight feet wide, between tennis balls placed with just three inches to spare on either side of the wheels.

Using only the side mirrors.

Waltoz, a part time employee, has been driving a school bus for only two months. She placed first in the novice division.

Levine, a full time driver for the last seven years, took second in the general transit category against drivers from all over the state, some with more than 20 years experience.

"Sometimes that was very intimidating. Some of the other drivers have been doing this for years and have patches on their sleeves (from earlier competitions)," she said.

But Levine held her own in the competition, which covered more than just driving skills.

"They make you take a written test, and then a portion of a "pretrip," where you check out the bus and make sure everything is running right," Levine said. "Then they send us through a obstacle course. That was very hard."

One of the reasons for the difficulty was that the two women were driving buses with which they were unfamiliar.

"They turn and handle differently, and the controls are in different locations," she explained. "You have five minutes for them to set your mirrors. You don't get a chance the drive the bus."

"We have very good mirrors on our (Sisters School District) buses. They did not have as many on the buses that were there (for use in the state competition). It takes some getting used to," Levine said.

Waltoz and Levine both had praise for Sisters School District Transportation Superintendent Dennis Levine.

"We went out and trained a lot," said Kathy Levine. Waltoz especially said the extra hours were valuable.

Both drivers placed higher in the state competition than they did at the regionals on April 27. Kathy Levine was proud of her showing at state, but was disappointed she didn't take first and the chance to go to the nationals in Minneapolis.