Dear Editor,

May 5-9 has been set as "Bus Driver Appreciation Week" in South Carolina by the State Department of Education. The valuable service bus drivers provide is often overlooked and under appreciated. Without bus drivers, students and parents would find that their personal schedules would change. Chesterfield County bus drives transport 7500 plus passengers per day traveling more than a million miles per year. Their day begins before daylight and ends long after the classroom day ends. They are the first person from the school system to greet the students at the start of each school day. Yes, school bus drivers do have a very important role in the total education package for Chesterfield County school system.

Chesterfield County School Bus Drivers have an outstanding safety record. They are entrusted with the lives of their passengers and thousands of dollars worth of equipment. If your children are among those transported on buses, please consider the service provided by our local bus drivers and take a second to tell them how much you appreciate what they do.

From those of us at the Chesterfield Bus Shop who maintain the bus, we thank you for a job well done.

E. T. Redfearn

SCDOE County Supervisor