Preparing for precious cargo

A bus driver threads through an obstacle course of plastic barrels Friday afternood during an orientation course for district drivers at Nevada Middle School. Barrels are offset to make sure drivers can handle tight situations. Other obstacles include backing into a parking space 90 degrees from their direction of travel and parallel parking.

Nevada, Mo. -- As the Nevada R-5 School District gets ready for the influx of students Cliff Pettibon is busy. Pettibon is the district's transportation director and is responsible for the 47 busses the district owns.

Those buses run 32 routes transporting approximately 1,600 students over the districts 1,200 or so miles each day. Pettibon is proud of his drivers.

"I've got some really good veteran drivers and they do a really good job, after all, they have a pretty precious cargo to haul," Pettibon said.

Pettibon also had praise for the mechanics that maintain the buses as well. For years the district has received commendations from the Missouri State Highway Patrol for the conditions of the bus fleet. In 2005 the district was honored for having a perfect inspection.

"The Highway Patrol inspects the busses every February," Pettibon said. "It's a quite extensive test. If you do 90 percent or better they give you a fleet excellence plaque. We've gotten that for about 10 years in a row."

Nevada R-5 Superinten-dent Craig Noah said the transportation department has long been a source of pride for the district.

"The team of Cliff and the mechanics is great," Noah said. "Their attention to detail is second to none. Their safety procedures are beyond reproach."

Noah said that the drivers and mechanics work together to make sure that the buses are safe before allowing students to get into them.

"Every day the drivers do daily checks to be sure the bus is in good condition," Noah said. "That's a big safety procedure that helps assure safety."

Noah echoed Pettibon's sentiments about why school bus safety is such an important consideration for the district.

"The buses are the most important start to our day, and the most important end," Noah said. "Safety is paramount when the students are in our care."

On rare occasions a bus will have a problem while out on a route. When it does Pettibon's crew can handle it.

"It's not very often that they have problems," Pettibon said. "When a problem happens it's usually some minor thing, a flat tire or something like that. If it's more serious we can send another bus out to finish the route."

Friday Pettibon and his team were at the middle school parking lot.

A group of bus drivers were at the doors to the gymnasium waiting for their turn to tackle an obstacle course of barrels and traffic cones. The course consisted of several obstacles.

One obstacle was a set of barrels set up to make the driver pick the way through a tight right and left turn. Another obstacle simulated backing the bus into a parking space at a 90-degree angle to the direction of travel, and a third obstacle was set to mimic parallel parking.

As a bus completed each obstacle, the driver was scored on performance.

"We have the school bus orientation so our drivers can become familiar with the buses we have," Pettibon said. "We want them to have as much training as they need."