A local school bus driver who goes above and beyond by decorating her bus to make it fun for kids says it also helps to keep them safe.
Oct. 21 to Oct. 25 is School Bus Safety Week and Oct. 24 is School Bus Driver Appreciation Day. Jonah Wainberg was identified by her employer, Switzer-Carty Transportation, as an operator who goes above and beyond when it comes to keeping kids on her route safe.
“I have always been a bus decorator,” said Wainberg in her Halloween-themed school bus. “And a loophole finder. When I am told I can’t use tape, I find another way like magnets.”
Along with seasonal Frankenstein’s monsters and mummies, Wainberg posts inspirational messages, like ‘you are amazing’ and ‘different is beautiful.’
“Be safe and be kind. Those are the two things I repeat over and over again,” said Wainberg.
Halloween is one of Wainberg’s favourite times of the year and she knows many of the kids share that sentiment.
“Growing up, Halloween was the only holiday I celebrated with my friends because I am Jewish,” she said. “The majority of kids on this bus celebrate different holidays, but they all celebrate Halloween.”
Her route includes a number of children from Grade 6 and younger who Wainberg describes as ‘high energy.’ Wainberg said adding a small library to the front of her bus helped keep things more calm on the route home.
“In the afternoon they can pick up a book or two and start to read instead of play fighting or whatever it is they are doing,” she said.
Wainberg has a background in early childhood education and worked with special needs children and kids with behavioural issues in the past and has applied some of that knowledge to dealing with the kids on her bus.
“If you make the bus a place the kids are happy being in, then they will be happier about listening to you. I see it as a safety thing,” she said.
“I treat the kids the way I would like my kids to be treated. That’s pretty much it.”
To bring the quiet kids out of their shells, Wainberg brought some puff ball ‘snappy guy’ toys on to the bus for those kids to say hi to every day. Sometimes the fuzzy guys would take a little nibble out of the kids’ fingers.
“Then it became a traffic jam getting on and off the bus because everyone wanted their fingers bit by the little snappy guys,” said Wainberg.
She took the snappy guys off the bus for a bit to give them a break.
“To have them go away without it being a punishment, I sent them on vacation and they sent emails from all over the world, including their photos photoshopped into various scenarios.”
“I would read them a letter from the snappy guys from wherever they were in the world,” she said.
All of the books and decorations on the bus are paid for out of Wainberg’s pocket.
“I joke that I do it more for myself than I do for them,” said Wainberg. “It’s only half a joke.”
