WHITEHALL — The Whitehall school board’s regular June meeting placed a spotlight on the Michigan Association for Pupil Transportation 2024 School Bus Roadeo, which took place in May and saw third-year bus driver Joyce Hawkins star in competition.
The School Bus Roadeo brings many MAPT drivers from across the state together for a friendly competition that tests drivers on various aspects of their jobs. Among the events at Roadeo competitions are avoiding obstacles while stopping in offset alleys, parallel parking, a slalom-type course with traffic cones, and staying in a straight line. The latter competition was judged by how well drivers could avoid flattening tennis balls that were placed on the course.
Hawkins placed third at the Muskegon-Oceana-Newaygo district’s regional competition, at Orchard View High School, the first time since 2019 the district had hosted a competition. That earned her a spot at the state Roadeo in Caledonia, where she finished sixth and was named rookie of the year as the top first-time competitor. She was one of only three drivers at the state event to earn a perfect score in completing each step of a safe student pickup.
“I was very surprised, especially at regionals,” Hawkins said of her performance. “I was even surprised at state (to get) sixth place. We had all the best bus drivers here that won at their regionals.”
Hawkins said transportation director Penny Evert was a driving force in getting Whitehall drivers to compete in the event - Evert said she had a great experience assisting at the 2023 state competition, which stoked her desire to get Whitehall drivers there. Hawkins, though, added that once her husband Brandon, also a Whitehall bus driver, signed up to go, she decided to “on a whim.”
“I went in there completely not expecting to place or anything,” Hawkins said.
Evert called competing at the Roadeo “a great team-building activity,” showing slides that included the bus drivers from different districts happily mingling at the event.
Hawkins, who just completed her third year of Whitehall bus driving, said the simple joy of driving a very large vehicle is what attracted her to the job.
“I like driving,” Hawkins said. “I drive a Jeep. To drive something that big on the road, it’s fun for me.”
Hawkins drives for all three age groups - elementary, middle and high school - and said of the three, high school bus riders are by far the easiest to wrangle while on duty.
The board meeting also featured the 2024-25 budget adoption. District business manager Tayler Zweigle delivered the budget presentation for the first time after Steve Aardema’s retirement earlier this spring. She said the district is lined up for an operating millage of 17.9832 mills ($17.98 of property taxes per $1,000 of taxable value). The overall value of non-exempt properties in the district, she said, has increased about $23.5 million from last year, to $227.6 million. The budget accounted for an expected decrease in K-12 enrollment of 35 students, to 1,843 in all, and is therefore down about $155,000 from the 2023-24 budget. The final numbers will be determined when the state budget is finalized later this year. The board unanimously adopted the budget, with the exception of trustee Tim Cross, who was absent.
Superintendent Jerry McDowell said with the district’s current debt-service millage of five mills set to expire after the 2024-25 school year, the district will have to ask the community for a renewal, likely for 10 years, in an upcoming election. He noted that the five mills currently represents the lowest debt-service millage for any Muskegon County school district.
The board also unanimously approved a $66,939 purchase of a new van. The school has two red passenger vans that are the same size, but one is rated for more passengers (12) than the other (10). Because of state Department of Education limits on how many passengers can be rated for a school-owned van, the district has eliminated the van rated for 12 passengers from its transportation fleet and will sell it on the open market. McDowell said the new van will come from Schukei Chevrolet in Iowa and said despite being an out-of-state dealer, their quoted price was around $10,000 less than available options in Michigan. The van should be in Whitehall by the start of the 2024-25 school year.
