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You can order Therese Mileti's book, "School Bus Sass," at Amazon.com or at her website at http://schoolbusdiary.com/.
Therese Mileti loves her job. She loves her job so much that she wrote a book about it, “School Bus Sass: Amazing Encounters With My Kids.”
The petite Lebanon resident is a school bus driver for the Centerville City Schools, and she said that she considers her job the best job in the world. “Oh, there’s nothing like the smell of diesel in the morning,” she said with a giggle.
Mileti’s background is in retail management, but upon the birth of her son she and her husband decided one of them would stay home with their son. “When my son turned 5, I wanted to return to work on a part-time basis,” Mileti said. “There was just one problem; I only wanted to work while my son was in school.”
Her search for the perfect part-time job ended at the transportation department of a small school district near Cleveland. Mileti received her commercial driver’s license (CDL) and started out as a substitute driver. “They actually give the hardest job to the newest, most inexperienced drivers,” she said. “Only days after receiving a CDL, a sub-driver is given a route sheet and sent out to pick up students.”
Over the 15 years that Mileti has been driving America’s future to and from school she has kept notes of some amazing encounters with her students, or as Mileti calls them, “my kids.” “School Bus Sass” (Author’s Bridge Publishing) is packed with stories dealing with mischievous children, thrill-seeking middle schoolers and tech savvy high-schoolers.
Now her son is a sophomore at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, so Mileti could return to retail, but she can’t imagine doing anything else. “This is a very responsible job … . I’m driving people’s children, and I take that very seriously.”
Mileti applied for and was accepted to pursue her on-board instructor accreditation. She estimates she’s trained 100 drivers over her nine years with Centerville.
Bus driving has changed significantly since Mileti began. “It used to be all you needed was a chauffeur’s license, but now you need a CDL. It’s a bigger deal.”
As for dealing with the students, Mileti says the students know her expectations. “They know the rules we have are all about their safety.”
In her early days at Centerville, Mileti would share various stories or experiences with her friends. After hearing some of her reminiscences, her friends, Mark and Jodi Barnard, encouraged her to write a book. “I began recording my stories on my iPhone,” Mileti said. About five years ago she began the actual writing, and this past December she saw the finished copy. The Barnards supplied the back-cover introduction.
Stories about imaginary mute buttons for certain loud-mouthed students to discussions about pop singer Justin Bieber make “School Bus Sass” a fun read.
Mileti bets that many people can remember at least one of their bus drivers from their school days. “We’re the first person they see in the morning and the last person they see in the afternoon.”
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