Ganado bus drivers ‘head ’em up, move ’em out’
Spencer Wauneka of the Ganado School District recently took home a first place in the Bus Road-eo Competition in Phoenix. Participants had to navigate obstacle courses and pass procedural tests in the competition, which seeks to better the skills of drivers across the state. The Ganado team took home a first place overall as well. {photo by Brian Leddy / Independent]

By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

GANADO — Driving thousands of miles each year to deliver children from their homes to Ganado Unified School District to get an education is a job that the GUSD drivers take seriously, and one that they were awarded for recently.

The Ganado bus drivers won first place at the School Bus Road-eo March 8 in Phoenix and will be on their way to Canada this summer to participate in the national competition. Maneuvering through complex courses and being tested on their knowledge of minimum standards, the team of drivers beat out other larger, urban school districts to take the state championship.

Nine drivers from GUSD went to compete among the 157 contestants. Winning first place for an individual was driver/mechanic Spencer Wauneka, who has been a bus driver for 21 years.

Pete Yazzie, who placed second in the competition individually and will be traveling to Canada to compete with the group, said that the competition tested them on tasks they perform every day for the safety of students.

“We perfected our driving technique to best serve our children, to have these children be educated” he said. “It’s just what we do everyday that we displayed down there at the competition,” he added. “We have an obligation when we sign the contract that our responsibility would be to keep ourselves physically, mentally, socially fit.”

Everyday, bus drivers are up as early as 5 a.m. to prepare for picking up children and bringing them to school in time for classes. Some bus drivers stay as late as 7 p.m. because of after-school activities for children.

“It’s something we do every day, but to be perfect and to go through this course and score perfect, it took a lot of practice,” he said, adding that the school district puts on its own “road-eo” for schools before the statewide competition takes place.

The goal, Yazzie said, is that each time the bus drivers go out, they provide safe transport.

One of the biggest challenges is dealing with 60-70 pupils from prekindergarten to high school — all with their backs to the children, he said.

Annual training and conferences specifically for the drivers help them learn how to deal with the challenge, he added.
Larina Smith attended the road-eo and her scores helped to put the Ganado team in first place overall. Smith drives a bus for special needs pupils and part of her daily challenge includes data collection.

“Hopefully next year I’ll be where Spencer is sitting at,” she said.

For Wauneka, the biggest challenge he faces is being assigned a different route every day. The school buses put in thousands of miles a day in trips to numerous chapters including Jeddito, Kinlichee, Wide Ruins, Cornfields, Steamboat, Nazlini and going as far as Window Rock.

Freddie Yazzie, another of the drivers who placed in the competition, said that part of the biggest challenge for them is in dealing with other drivers

“On top of that, you’re dealing with kids — kindergarten to high school — all put together, 60 to 70 kids, and you’re not facing them, going 50 to 55 miles per hour and you’re not driving a regular vehicle,” he said.

He added that the courses that were part of the Road-eo were challenging and, “It’s an event we look forward to each year.”

The drivers said it’s an opportunity to brush up on their driving skills and knowledge, which are necessary in their every day responsibilities.

The drivers who participated also included Leroy James, Mike Clark, Alta Shay-Hale, Bretha Quintana, Eva Tsosie, Annie Salabye and Asline Begay.