What keeps one Minnesota school bus driver coming back? The community

CATHY WURZER: With all the attention of the weather, you might not have heard that Governor Tim Walz has declared today, February 22, School Bus Driver Appreciation Day in the state of Minnesota. Today is a snow day for many drivers, but usually, these men and women are out there driving 682,000 students to and from school on country and city roads, through rain and snow, early mornings and even late nights. Today we're going to get to one local school bus driver.

Jason Brumwell is a school bus driver and a small business owner in Red Lake Falls, Minnesota. He's on the line. Hey, Jason.

JASON BRUMWELL: Hi, Cathy. How are you?

CATHY WURZER: I'm great. Thank you. By the way, Happy School Bus Driver Appreciation Day to you.

JASON BRUMWELL: Thank you very much. I think our office manager there was the only other person, I think, that mentioned it today. So that was fantastic. She's pretty awesome, though, too.

CATHY WURZER: All right. I know that you have a family business. You have a tubing and camping operation in Red Lake Falls. But I understand school bus driving is also a family affair?

JASON BRUMWELL: Yeah, it turned out that way. I think, with our operation, we run buses to transport people to and from the river. So the transportation director had an in. He knew that we had our bus driver's license.

And our dad used to drive, mainly for the same reason. He had his license for the business. And in the winter months, he didn't have anything else going on. He had retired, so they convinced him to drive. And he did it for a number of years, just after we got out of high school.

And then, when we came back to take over the family business, as with anywhere-- I think right now there's a shortage of drivers. So the transportation director used to be our basketball coach, and he showed up one day and convinced both my brother and myself to join the team and start driving a little bit for the school.

CATHY WURZER: Did you have any hesitancy at first?

JASON BRUMWELL: I don't know. I had driven, I think, one trip when I was in college for him, I mean, when he got kind of in a desperation mode. And I think I had a little hesitation then.

But after I drove that time, I'm just like, oh, this isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It's one thing-- we have about a half mile trek from our facility to where we drop people off to go on the river for tubing. And I'm just like, it's a pretty big vehicle to head down the highway with everything.

But after that first trip, I'm just like, this is a lot easier than I ever imagined. The kids were a lot better than, once again, I would ever have imagined as well. So maybe I was putting my own self in those seats, my attitude when I was in high school, but they're definitely better than I ever was.

CATHY WURZER: Well, that's what I-- [LAUGHS] I bet you weren't that bad. But--

JASON BRUMWELL: No. Oh, no, maybe.

CATHY WURZER: But I'm wondering, you see on movies and TV shows and that kind of thing that buses look like this chaotic mess. But that's not the case. I mean, the kids are pretty well behaved?

JASON BRUMWELL: I mean, there's days. They're kids, right? I mean, for the most part, whatever we transport in the outskirts out here or whatever are, probably, I would say, like, ninth grade down to preschool. And we have a wide variety of kids on that bus.

It could be anywhere-- kids from ninth grade all the way down to preschool. So you get some kids who-- they've just spent 6 and 1/2, 7 hours in a building all day, especially in Minnesota, where it gets so cold. They don't get to go outside for recess, occasionally, too.

But they're just wired. They're kids, so you could usually get them settled down pretty fast, and especially on days like-- you guys are experiencing snow days down there right now. They're usually a little bit even better. They're pretty good. They understand that it is pretty stressful to try to keep the bus on the road on days like that.

And they're really good. And for the most part, I mean, we run the same road daily. So you get to know the kids, pretty much, like they're little cousins, little kids, whatever-- nephews and nieces. So you develop such a good relationship with them, that once you break out the stern voice, they know it's time to sit down and be good.

CATHY WURZER: [CHUCKLES] So because there is a school bus driver shortage-- and I'm sure experiencing that in your neck of the woods-- what do you think's keeping folks from driving bus?

JASON BRUMWELL: I'm sure a lot of it is-- I mean, you hear everybody talk about kids these days and stuff like that or whatever. But they're no worse than any other generation. If anything, it's parents these days, would be my guess. If the kids aren't being held responsible at home, then they're not being held responsible at school, or it's harder to keep them held responsible at least.

But I'm not seeing that on my buses and stuff. I think all of our kids-- we have a small community. Red Lake Falls is about 1,400 people. And we have really fantastic kids around here, good parents. And I'm sure most small communities can say the same thing.

You have some outliers, of course, but for the most part, the kids are fantastic. And I think people are just-- either they're nervous about driving because they think that kids are bad, or worse than they imagine maybe even, or there's just so much work to be had right now, too, you know.

I mean, you're not going to be rich driving school bus by any means, but-- and that could be an issue. Maybe they need to increase their rates for it. But in our area alone, we have Digi-Key Corporation, we have Arctic Cat, we have Altoz who are three major employers who are offering sign-on bonuses between $2,000 and $4,000 right now.

So to try to convince people to come and drive school bus with the possibility of screaming kids running behind you, or going to work at one of those facilities, it's a little bit tougher. Almost-- I think every one of our bus drivers in our district all are college-educated and wear multiple hats.

One of the guys is our full-time mechanic. Another one is the tech guy for the high school and the elementary school here. We have the physical education teacher who is also our bus transportation director, and then he drives the route.

My brother is a special ed teacher at the elementary school and drives a route. I have a business degree, and we run a couple of businesses in town as well-- I run the taproom, which is like a homework help at the high school. And then, our substitute teachers are the English teacher at the high school and, I think, the third-grade teacher at the elementary. So we don't have a huge staff, but we all do multiple things for the school. And I think that's just small towns as well, but--

CATHY WURZER: Which is kind of their charm, too. So it sounds like the kids are what keep you going. Jason, I've run out of time. Thank you for what you do every day. I know it's not easy, but thank you so much.

JASON BRUMWELL: We appreciate it. Thank you for recognizing bus drivers today.

CATHY WURZER: Absolutely. Jason Brumwell is a school bus driver, small business owner, in Red Lake Falls, Minnesota.