School bus drivers from around Ohio gathered to test their driving skills and knowledge of the yellow school bus in the Regional Road-E-O competition on Saturday.
The purpose of the Road-E-O is the promotion of safety, professionalism, and recognition through the cooperativee ffort of school districts, Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE), Ohio Association for Pupil Transportation (OAPT), Ohio Department of Education (ODE), Ohio Education Association (OEA) and the Ohio School Bus Mechanics Association (OSBMA).
This year’s Southwest region was held at the Lakota Local Schools’ bus facility. Wilmington City Schools had three drivers participate: Dori Ann Allen, Melissa Colley, and Liesha Richardson.
Drivers are scored on a written test on the Ohio Pre-Service Manual, a bus pre-trip, and finally a skills course.
The skills course includes an alley dock, a reverse serpentine, student pick up & drop-off, and a railroad crossing, just to name a few of the course events. Each event is judged by the regional service center and school districts’ OBIs (On-Board Instructors).
WCS’ OBI, Sharon Carter, helped score events this year. The top six drivers from each region move on to compete at the State level two weeks later to compete for the title of State Road-E-O rinner. Not only is this a fun event to show their driving skills; bus drivers can get re-certified (required every six years) if they receive a high Road-E-O score.
