The University of Idaho Argonaut

Brett Tuning enters a bus every weekday morning. He's up at 6 a.m., boards by 7:10 and arrives at Moscow High School not much later. But unlike everyone else still on board or exiting, he's not a student.
Tuning drives a school bus for Moscow School District. He was job-hunting last summer and came across a listing on the Department of Labor Web site.
The requirements were standard: pass a background check and Department of Transportation physical, obtain a commercial driver license within two weeks of getting hired, and be clear of driving violations over the past three years.
He cleared those hurdles and was hired as a substitute driver. He now drives every school day, but his work begins before the school bus' ignition ever fires.

Tuning's first duty is to make sure his bus, number 14, is safe through a pre-trip checklist. He assures the lights work, the mirrors are secure and the bus has no unsafe items or pools of oil underneath.
At 7:20, Tuning departs the garage and starts Route 104, which begins at Lauder Avenue. After picking up 25, sometimes up to 30 kids on any given morning, he drops them off at Moscow High School and Moscow Junior High School.
Then he waits. Other buses are dropping off his next load. About 30 children who attend Moscow Charter School, Lena Whitmore Elementary, and McDonald Elementary board Tuning's bus at the junior high for efficiency's sake.
“That's so other buses don't have to drop off one student here and other there,” Tuning said.
He does the same thing in the afternoons. The only differences are the route is reversed and kids are going home. Once his bus is empty, Tuning returns it to the garage and cleans it.

"We're given time to sweep off," he said. “Kids are always tracking in dirt and garbage.”
Tuning usually doesn't clean up much more. Usually.
"When I was a substitute driver in the morning (last summer), there was a kid walking down the aisle to get to his school and puked all over," Tuning recalled. "There were lots of kids still on the bus screaming. I could see it in the middle of the aisle and was thinking 'Oh, great.' "
Unpleasant as that experience could be, Tuning found out it was almost a rite of passage.
“All the other drivers laughed and said ‘Now you're a real bus driver,’” he said. “I tried to get them to clean it up for me and they said ‘No. That's your initiation.’”

More often, Tuning's passengers are well behaved. Once in a while, one of the kids will show Tuning an art project from class or other things they're excited about.
Sometimes he has to hand out pink slips to troublemakers or deal with candy-fueled kids on occasions such as Valentine's Day but things usually run smoothly.
Tuning has been involved in only one minor accident during his time behind the wheel.
It was on a Monday morning following a snowy weekend. Tuning was driving on the steep hill where Lauder Avenue turns into two roads. The bus' momentum was lost after stopping moments before, causing the vehicle to spin out, slide downhill, and ram a keep right sign, taking out a side view mirror.
"There was only one older kid (when that happened) and he didn't seem to care," Tuning said.

Tuning also deals with college students. He's taken Washington State University's Army ROTC up to Spokane and the University of Idaho marching band to Martin Stadium.
“I like the longer drives because I'm on the clock longer, I get more hours,” Tuning said. “I was on the clock once and getting paid $12 an hour to watch a football game.”
When not on the road, Tuning works for University Residences as a hosting coordinator, taking charge of overnight hosting events such as Vandal Friday.

“Everything from what you're doing to management mentality is different,” Tuning said, comparing his two jobs. “Every aspect is different. And both of these jobs are different from the road construction I usually do during the summer.”
Tuning graduates with a general studies degree in May. After that, he'll leave Idaho and the bus driver position behind for California. More specifically, Vanderburg Air Force Base, where he'll be commissioned as an officer.
Although greener pastures wait for him, Tuning says he'll look back on his time in Moscow and its school bus fondly.
“This is just like a summer job where at the end you tell you're boss ‘I'm off,’” Tuning said. “The only thing is that this was a school-year job. I was I was staying longer because I enjoy it. I'll miss it.”