School Bus Competition Could Drive You Crazy North Idaho’S Top Drivers Bring Plenty Of Experience To The Task

Jerry Sparks got his start hauling Olympic teams from Israel, Turkey and elsewhere around the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

Chuck Lane drove busloads of L.A. prisoners between court and jail.

And Pete Clemens handled the wheel as an L.A. Police Department bomb investigator, sometimes driving big buses laden with crucial equipment to disasters.

Now the three are among Idaho’s top school bus drivers. Along with Lori Churchill, a Coeur d’Alene bus driver and trainer, they represented North Idaho Monday at the state’s school bus drivers’ championships.

The high-pressure competition had drivers backing buses carefully between cones, maneuvering them through tight rows of tennis balls and spotting safety problems on a carefully rigged bus.

“I made some mistakes,” admitted Lane, as he walked across a sunny high school parking lot from his driving test. “This is even more pressure than all the kids yelling.”

Behind him, three workers with yardsticks stepped up to measure around a bus that had just completed the backing-in exercise. Inches were counted, angles measured. Notations were made on clipboards.

Lane was an L.A. County sheriff’s deputy before he retired and moved to Sandpoint three years ago. Sparks was a Los Angeles city police officer, and Clemens served 31 years on the same force.

Bill Glasco, a trainer and driver for the Coeur d’Alene School District, said the retired L.A. cops have made great school bus drivers. “They learn PR, how to deal with people,” he said, “and we’re hauling little people.”

Clemens, his eyes sparkling but face straight, said, “Most of the passengers I drove before were nice and quiet.”

Lane has a similar observation. “The difference is, you could chain everybody up inside the bus,” he said with a laugh.

But all three make it clear that their school-bus driving careers are a labor of love.

Arlene Lane, Lane’s wife, said, “He loves driving the bus. I think it kinda takes the place of being close to all the grandkids - having these little guys.”

The Lanes just celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary, and Chuck, 63, is supposed to be retired and focusing on building a sailboat.

“I wanted something to do,” he said. “The opening was there. I got into it, and liked it.”

Clemens, 55, has a son who plays football and baseball at Coeur d’Alene High. “So it’s kind of nice to be able to drive the bus (to games) and see him play.”

For Sparks, 54, it’s an ideal job because when his 8- and 13-year-old kids are out of school, he’s out too.

He particularly enjoys getting to know all the kids on his route by name. If a student acts up, he said, “You just call them by their name. The kids, I find them very respectful.”

Carol Brown, director of transportation for the Coeur d’Alene School District, is pleased that her district had three of the 28 finalists in the statewide competition this year, even though none of them took the state title.

This year’s first-place winner was Gary Sharp, a bus driver with Brown Bus Co. in the Nampa School District.

“This is definitely a training exercise,” Brown said. “Drivers learn the maneuverability of the bus, how to turn corners and back into tight places. It really helps in their daily driving.”

Lane, the Sandpoint driver, sported a belt buckle with a peaceful mountain scene, engraved with the slogan, “Idaho - Where life’s worth living.”

He drives students in the Priest River area. He sees the winter snow and ice, and the often-changing kids’ attitudes, as challenges.

“It certainly isn’t the money,” he said. “The driving is serious and all that, but your attitude has to be fun. You’ve gotta enjoy the kids, and you’ve gotta enjoy driving. If you don’t like either one, you can’t do the job at all.”