Sedalia Park ES bus driver 'Miss Claudette' starts 35th year

Sedalia Park ES bus driver, Claudette Petsch — *“Miss Claudette” Petsch has driven a bus in the Sedalia Park ES community for 35 years. (ECN photos by Wendy Parker)*

As the bus doors open and students climb aboard, the greeting from parents is almost universal:

“Hello Miss Claudette!”

In turn, Claudette Petsch welcomes them and returning students, some by name, before winding Cobb County school bus No. 2232 through the residential streets surrounding Sedalia Park Elementary School.

On Thursday morning, she marked the start of her 35th year driving a bus to and from the school on Lower Roswell Road, picking up around 50 students in all over two routes, before working middle school and high school routes.

The staggered schedule works out so that she can do even more of what she has loved doing for more than three decades.

“I drive children now whose parents I used to drive,” said Miss Claudette, who turned 71 years old just days before the start of the new school year.

She stops at every designated stop, regardless of whether students are waiting or not. Early on, not many students are riding. Running ahead of schedule, she pulls over for around two minutes in the parking lot of Eastside Baptist Church before resuming course.

“I like to be on the minute,” she says, explaining that she doesn’t want to run ahead of students who arrive on time.

As the youngsters head down the aisle of the bus, she nods and gives instructions if she needs to. Some of the kids look confused, seeing adults—deputy superintendent John Adams, school board member David Banks and media representatives—sitting in the front seats.

“This is just for today,” she reassures them.

Sedalia Park bus driver — *Parents in the Tuxedo Estates neighborhood watching their children start another school year.*

While she runs a tight, punctual ship, Miss Claudette chats with parents, and is patient with those who call to their children to turn around and have their photo taken before they get on the bus.

Some kids do turn around, others don’t, but the renewal of relationships is underway for another school year.

Miss Claudette encourages a boy starting kindergarten to sit next to Adams, who tells him, “you’re going to love it! School’s fun!”

Adams, who oversees the Cobb school district’s operations, including transportation, says around 950 buses are out at any given time on a typical school day. He said around 75 percent of estimated 112,000 enrolled students ride the bus.

This is also the first full year the district will be employing the Here Comes the Bus app. It’s a real-time service for parents to track their childrens’ bus route activity, and allows school officials to send notices with important messages, such as delays or weather issues.

Since the app was introduced in the spring, Adams said more than 35,000 users have signed up.

Some changes in Georgia’s stop-arm law also went into effect on Thursday. Adams said around 10 percent of the district’s bus fleet is equipped with cameras that can take photos of license plates of violating vehicles.

He said the cameras are placed on routes that have been shown to have high numbers of violations. “We don’t say which routes, of course,” Adams said, adding that the district is “in a good place” with its ratio of cameras as the school year starts.

Miss Claudette’s first run to Sedalia Park is on time, with around 20 students being delivered around 7:15 a.m., nearly a half-hour after the trip began. Miss Claudette helps with the school staff as the children are given wrist bands with their name, grade and bus route number.

These bands must be worn for two weeks.

With an empty bus behind her, save for the grown-ups, Miss Claudette quickly wheels No. 2232 out onto Lower Roswell Road, then into the Pioneer Woods, Ashton Woods and Weatherstone neighborhoods.

Carpool and work traffic is starting to pick up as daybreak approaches, and the bus is running a little behind schedule. On this route, quite a few children get on every stop, with parents pulling out their phones and waving as the bus rolls on.

When Miss Claudette approaches the intersection of Willow Glenn Drive at Holt Road, No. 2232 is ensnared in traffic. Cars are pulling in and out of the Weatherstone pool parking lot, where the subdivision’s high school seniors gather for class photos.

“It causes congestion here every year,” she said.

After dipping back into Ashton Woods one more time, her bus reaches Sedalia Park again, with carpooling cars ahead of her. She’s able to maneuver the bus into the bus exit lane, then pulls it around and into the drop-off spot a few minutes before 7:50 a.m., when classes are set to begin.

The second route kids get their wristbands and instructions and hop off. After a couple of minutes, Miss Claudette steps back up into No. 2232, off to her middle school route.

Banks continues on with her, and Adams gets off, heading to another school for more bus rides and a cafeteria lunch.