The bus skills start here

As Maria Hernandez backed her school bus into its parking spot Monday morning, swerving left, swerving right and finally straightening out, the ruckus from the back never ceased.

“Turn right! Turn right! No, turn left!” the voices shouted, Hernandez recalled with a laugh.

What made Monday’s situation so unique was the laughing and heckling wasn’t coming from students, it was coming from Hernandez’s fellow bus drivers.

“The bus drivers acted worse than students!” Hernandez chuckled. “No matter what you say they don’t stop.”

The distraction turned out to be the unofficial eighth obstacle of the day for Newport-Mesa Unified School District bus drivers, who participated in their third annual “Roadeo,” where their skills behind the wheel were put to the test.

The district’s 80 bus drivers formed teams of about six, with each participant trying two of the course’s seven obstacles.

“This is what they do out there every day,” said Danny Lesser, the district’s transportation operations supervisor.

With Monday a day off for students, district officials said it was the perfect day to polish drivers’ skills.

“We set the bar a little higher to improve the skills of our drivers,” said Robert Villalobos, a district transportation instructor. “We carry more than 5,000 students every day. It’s the most precious cargo you can have.”

Drivers were tested at the Orange County Fairgrounds on how well they could maneuver the huge piece of machinery into parallel parking spots, into parking stalls and around corners. Each obstacle was worth 50 points, with points being taken away for violations or poor performances.

Officials emphasized that they’re the same skills district drivers use every day.

Drivers said Monday’s drills were more difficult, in a fun way, because their passengers knew exactly what the driver should and should not be doing. It added a competitive, peer pressure spirit to the day, said Sergio Sanabria, a district bus driver for three years.

Sanabria had two of the most difficult tests — parallel parking the 40-foot bus into a 46-foot-long spot and making sure it was fewer than 18 inches from the curb, then backing the 8-foot-wide vehicle into a 10-foot-wide parking stall.

He said he passed both with flying colors.

The results didn’t seem to surprise district officials.

After all, Villalobos pointed out, the district’s drivers placed third last year in a four-county “Roadeo” that had more than 64 teams.

Controlling the bus isn’t the hardest part, officials said. It’s dealing with the distractions.

“They have to be more aware than everyone else in the street,” Villalobos said.