After 55 years of steady service, Troy bus driver Barb Gray is ready to retire

Barb Gray of Shorewood isn’t happy that, when she retires as a bus driver in May, she’ll add to the U.S. shortage of school bus drivers.

Gray, 86, has transported Troy students for nearly 55 years.

“I have very mixed emotions,” Gray said. “Personally, my body is telling me, ‘It’s time.’ I’m more tired at the end of the day than I used to be, you know? But I’m going to miss the kids. I’m going to miss the job. And I’m going to miss the other drivers. Will I miss getting up in the morning in December and January with a couple inches of snow on the ground? Yeah, I’ll miss it.”

The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t factor into Gray’s decision. She said bus drivers were trained on how to sanitize buses between routes, she and the students wear face masks, and she has plenty of hand sanitizer.

“I was never afraid,” Gray said.

Driving a bus then - and now

Transporting children to and from school has been a family tradition. Gray’s son David Gray retired as director of support services for Joliet Township High School District 204 – which includes overseeing transportation – in 2019.

Gray’s husband, John Gray (deceased), had worked in Troy’s transportation department before starting his own bus company and asking Barb to drive for him. When John retired in 1984, Troy hired Barb. In a 2015 Herald-News story, Gray said her first lessons were simple and straightforward.

“My husband took me out in a bus and explained the situation to me,” Gray said in the story. “I had a bus that was not automatic, and it did not have power steering. ... I got stuck on Route 6 and another bus had to come get me.”

In that same story Gray recalled taking a driver’s test for the state and a class that mostly covered basic first aid. By 2015, training included everything from appropriate interaction with students to blood-borne diseases, allergies and special needs, Gray said.

The Illinois Secretary of State website said that “any driver transporting Illinois school children in a yellow school bus, requiring a CDL, will be required to have the Passenger endorsement, the School Bus endorsement and the proper class School Bus Permit (SBP).”

During the months of remote learning, Gray said she sat at her computer several hours a day for additional training.

But the real joy of the job for Gray is the children.

“I enjoy seeing my kids on the bus. They’re ‘my kids,’ by the way,” Gray said. “I used to think, ‘I wonder if I’ll get to see these kids grow up?’ and now I wonder how many of these kids are grandparents now.”

Gray said she also always insisted the children called her “Mrs. Gray” – and not the “Crayola Mrs. Gray” she added with a laugh.

“I have a couple of kids riding with me now that are so very well-manned,” Gray said. “It’s always ‘Good morning,’ and when they get off they always says, ‘Good-bye. See you tomorrow.’ A lot of children get on and don’t say anything. They just sit down.”

‘Well-liked in the department’

Troy Community School District 30-C School Board President Mark Griglione had nothing but praise for Gray and said it was “an honor” to “thank and wish her all the best.”

“We at Troy have always had a great bus staff,” Griglione said in an email. “Even in times like we are going through in the nation with bus driver shortages, we have not experienced that concern.”

At least not to the extent of other school districts. In an Oct. 13 Shaw Media story, school districts in Joliet and Plainfield discussed their own bus shortages.

Mark Baumann, director of transportation at Troy, said Troy’s had its share of shortages, but the district adjusted by lengthening some of the routes.

“Our busloads are a little fuller than typically,” Baumann said. “But we’re making do. We have some of the longest-standing Troy employees in our department. Another driver has been here over 35 years and our mechanics have been here, it seems like, forever. But 50-something years is something unique. That’s a lifetime of dedication. In a service industry, that’s pretty amazing.”

Baumann said Gray is “definitely well-liked in the department” and that she’s heavily invested in the families of the children she transports, even attending the children’s graduations.

Jayne Gunder, a Troy bus driver who’s worked with Gray for years, also had high praise for Gray’s character, her driving skills and her ability to “rock” her driving tests.

“She’s amazing,” Gunder said. “She’s a very kind lady and helps people out when needed.”

Gunder said that, although she’s sad Gray leave, she’s also happy because her fellow bus driver deserves a happy retirement.

“Hopefully she’ll come back and visit us,” Gunder said. “If not, we’re going to bother her.”

The National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT), the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) and the National School Transportation Association (NSTA) conducted a joint survey of America’s shortage of school bus and released the results on Aug. 31.

The survey found that every region of the U.S. had its transportation service impacted because of COVID-19.

• Altered service: 79% of respondents in the Northeast 77% in the Midwest, 66% in the South and 80% in the West have altered their bus service.

• School affected: 91% altered service to elementary schools, 90% altered service to middle schools and 83% altered service to high schools.

• Severity of driver service: 51% said their driver shortage as “severe” or “desperate,” 78% said the shortage is getting “much worse” or “a little worse,” 65% said their bus driver shortage is the main concern. Only 1% said the bus driver shortage is not a problem for them.

• Hiring process: The Northeast averaged 17 days, the Midwest and the South averaged 16 days, and West averaged 22 days.

• Recruitment and retention: Multiple answers were allowed. 50% said the rate of pay is a major factor, 45% said “length of time to secure a CDL”, 38% said “availability of benefits” and 38% said “hours available to work”.