Picture on Left: Bullock Creek bus driver Craig Gombosi goes through a safety checklist that drivers use before going on a route. (Photo by Dave Shane/For the Daily News) Picture on Right: Craig Gombosi pauses for a photograph in front of his bus outside the Bullock Creek Schools bus garage. (Photo by Dave Shane/For the Daily News)
‘It’s a great job for retirees’; Gombosi finds joy in transporting Bullock Creek students Eight of the district’s bus drivers are age 62 or over DAVE SHANE For the Daily News Many seniors like to work part-time after they retire. If helps pay the bills and keeps them busy. Craig Gombosi, 71, of Midland, thinks he has a pretty good parttime job – that is, if you really like kids. He drives a school bus for the Bullock Creek school district. Gombosi recently talked to the Daily News about his job as a bus driver, something he has done for more than 20 years. It started while he was still working as a Bullock Creek Schools custodian. The district needed another bus driver in a pinch, so he accepted the challenge. “We were short drivers, so I would jump on a bus and do a run,” he recalled. It’s not hard. In fact, Gombosi said 12
in some ways it’s easier than driving your car. Modern school buses can have heated mirrors that won’t ice up in the winter. Drivers sit higher, so it’s easier to see. He even said parallel parking with a bus is easier than with a car. Gombosi said he has never been in an accident while driving a school bus, though he got stuck in the snow once. Bullock Creek Superintendent Shawn Hale said workers like Gombosi are a huge help to the district – as many school districts in Michigan are having a hard time finding bus drivers. The district has 18 route drivers and several other drivers that fill in or do sports trips. Eight of them are age 62 or older.
Hale also said Gombosi is good with children, and that is important. “He builds relationships with the kids and interacts with them,” the superintendent said. “That’s really important for a bus driver. … I have a lot of respect for these guys.” Gombosi said he knows every child’s name, and because he has been in the district for so long, he knows more than that. “I know their parents. I know their grandparents, and I know their great grandparents,” he said. He also thinks he is making a difference with some of his children. “You need to be a good listener. Even kids that come from a rough home, if you show them respect, you gain their respect.”
School districts provide training for new drivers, who can make about $20 an hour for the part-time job. “I enjoy it a lot. I love the kids,” Gombosi said. “You gotta like kids, but it’s a great job for retirees.” Gombosi, whose wife, Theresa, is a retired school teacher, said he actually likes the split shift that drivers have. Work begins early, but drivers have the middle of the day off. “You’re working 180 days a year, and you’re off in the summer unless you’re doing a special ed route.” But for Gombosi, it all comes back to the children. “I can call every one of my kids by name … and I look forward to seeing my kids.” Senior Scope | November 2021
