District Administrator's Corner

by Loren Glasbrenner River Valley School District Administrator The River Valley School District is very fortunate to have a team of drivers and the Lamers Bus Service, which organizes the delivery of our students to and from school each day.  We have all grown accustomed to seeing the big yellow submarine on wheels that travels throughout the countryside to gather our students.  Yet, there is a distinct history in transporting students for public education across the United States.   The first public schools in Wisconsin were started in the late 1830’s and early 1840’s.  These first organizations were community based and each student’s family was required to supplement the cost of the building, curricula, and teacher.  However, by 1849, the state constitution required a free public institution for all that wanted to attend (http://dalbello.comminfo.rutgers.edu/). By the 1890’s, a carriage company by the name of “Wayne Works” in the State of Indiana was creating a multi-seated carriage to be drawn by horses to travel through rural areas in order to pick up students who lived too far to walk to school.  This horse-drawn “kid-hack” was the early school bus. Prior to this and continuing, children walked long distances, rode horses, and even moved to live with relatives near a school. With the introduction of the automotive industry, Wayne Works in the early 1920’s, as well as the Ford Motor Company, saw a great opportunity to motorize these carriages and create multi-passenger vehicles to help provide public education transportation (https://thenewswheel.com/history-of-the-school-bus/). The design of the early school bus remained similar to the first horse-drawn wagons, with students sitting along the walls of the bus facing inward. However, with the growth of the country, the closing of the one-room school, the need for more students to be transported, and concerns from parents about how to get children to school safely, led to a turning point in the history of the school bus.  In 1939, there was an organized conference held to create school bus standards, some of which are still in place today. For example, the color yellow was discussed as being easily seen in early morning and evening.  It remains a beacon of safety and transport. Today, the River Valley School District has 24 separate routes to carry 600 students.  They are just a part of the 600,000 children who travel over 82 million miles a year on a bus.  In February, we celebrate School Bus Driver Appreciation Week and want to thank each of them:  Brenda Dickinson, Eric Drachenberg, Dan Ellefson, Peggy Ellefson, Paul Esser, Dale Ewers, Kim Ewers, Charles Gibson, Jesse Gilbertson, Mike Hills, Bonnie Hood, Nick Jennings, Dawn Jensen, Dawn Kabot, Harry Kloth, Mike Kroll, Danny Lambert, Pat Lins, Don Macie, Rich Meili, Susanne Nabbefeld, Ken Nachreiner, Kevin Nelson, Jon Novak, Richard Peck, Nick Ruhland, LaMont Sailing, Tom Slaney, Mike Stafford, Kim Ewers, Marken D’Elene, Jesse Hackl, Brian Steger and Curtis Ziegler.  Your service on cold winter mornings and late evenings after games is appreciated. RVSD has many moving parts to make it a successful rural district; safe transportation is a crucial and valued service that we don’t take for granted.