Our bus drivers and monitors are an essential part of many students’ education, ensuring they get to and from school safely. Drivers and monitors are the first people in the district the students come into contact with daily, and it falls to them to help students have a great start and end to each school day and activity. USD 503 is thankful for all they do.
Throughout this week we will be featuring our wonderful drivers and monitors, and sharing a little about them.
Today we are featuring Robert "Bob" Hoffman and Donna Jay.
Bob has been serving as a bus driver for the district for 3 ½ years. He is retired but does also maintain a small janitorial business. His favorite thing about being a bus driver: “I enjoy the children. I look at them and imagine their potential as the future.”
Something he shared about himself is that he is an FCC licensed amateur radio (ham) operator. “I enjoy using the hobby to talk to people from around the world using a radio the size of a shoe box, a battery and a wire for an antenna.”
Donna Jay is a bus monitor and has been serving in that capacity for two years. She has been retired from other employment since January 2018. Her favorite thing about being a bus monitor is the students.
“Being around the students and them telling me jokes, and conversations with them about their day at school and the sports they are playing, as well as other interests they have like the books they like to read and showing me their art drawings.”
Something she would like people to know about her is that she enjoys making quilts and doing embroidery work. “I also collect antique quilts and vintage embroidery linens,” she said.