Smyrna bus driver Janet Johnson drives the football team in her school bus named "Sunshine". Photo/Kelly Hite
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Rutherford County bus drivers have been hit hard by rising fuel prices, and sometimes students, lately.
But Janet Johnson wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Johnson, 50, has driven Smyrna kids to school for the last 28 years and admits driving screaming students around town can be wearing.
“It is stressful, but in the end, you can see what you have done for these children to make their lives easier or better because you’re the first to see them in the morning and the last in the evening,” Johnson said.
Johnson drives one of 195 buses contracted with Rutherford County Schools. The drivers own their buses, and the school system pays them by giving them a fuel allowance and paying a flat amount per seat filled on the bus.
But Johnson isn’t only a bus driver, she’s also one of Smyrna High School’s biggest fans.
“You don’t hardly catch me in anything – driving the bus or anything – without purple and gold on me somewhere,” she said. “I’m a pretty big fan and dedicated to Smyrna High School.”
Johnson said she’s such a fan because her mother, herself, her daughter and her grandson are all Smyrna High alumni.
“We’re all Smyrna High School people,” she said about the four generations of her family who attended the school.
She’s driven the Smyrna football team to all their away games for eight years and drives for the basketball team also.
She's so beloved, the football team gave her championship rings when they won both of their back-to-back championships in 2006 and 2007.
“I cried both times,” she said, adding she wears the rings every day and goes to all their home games, too.
“I do so much for them, not just driving. I support Smyrna High School in any way,” she said.
It’s the support of the football team and the love of the children that make the job worth it for Johnson.
Johnson said it makes her day when a young child gets on her bus after school
“With a cupcake squished between their fingers and half the icing licked away,” she said with a smile, “and they say, ‘I brought this for you Ms. Janet.’”
Johnson got into driving when a friend told her the county needed a driver and let her borrow a bus to practice with. She drove the bus along the same country roads she drives now.
She even got her daughter into driving and has two cousins who drive for the county, too.
Even with rising diesel prices squeezing her pocketbook, there’s nothing else she’d rather do.
“I love it. I have bad days but then everybody does,” she said “But nothing compares to this. I wouldn’t do anything else.”
Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com. |
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