DATE: Thursday, June 26, 1997               TAG: 9706250134

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 03   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: THUMBS UP 

SOURCE: BY SHIRLEY BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   82 lines

CHRISTINE BRADSHAW SPECIAL EDUCATION BUS DRIVER OF THE YEAR

There have been days when Christine Bradshaw has stopped her small yellow school bus in front of a home to pick up one of her passengers and no one was waiting for her.

Instead of driving away, Bradshaw has gotten off the bus, walked to the door and inquired about the absent child.

Those extra steps to a child's home are what makes this bus driver for Suffolk Public Schools ``special'' to her young charges and have earned her the Special Education Bus Driver of the Year Award from the Pilot Club in Suffolk.

Throughout the school year, Bradshaw, 39, transports educable mentally retarded (EMR), learning disabled resource, and self-contained students, (those unable to become main-streamed), to four schools in the mornings. In the afternoons, she picks up students from five schools.

If a student's actions indicate that they may have missed taking their required medication, Bradshaw passes the information on to the special education teacher at Robertson Elementary School.

For example, one passenger takes the drug, Ritalin. ``If she doesn't get her pill, I can tell,'' Bradshaw said. ``They have medicine at school for her.''

Bradshaw's concern for her passengers is an extension of the care she gives her 17-year-old son Jonathan. When he was 7-months-old Jonathan suffered a life-threatening bout with meningitis that left him severely handicapped.

Jonathan accompanies his mother on her daily route.

``While Mrs. Bradshaw has been with us, she has made a most positive impression on our staff, students and parents,'' said William P. Krupp, principal at Robertson Elementary. ``She is concerned with the general welfare of her students, considering not only their safety and transportation needs, but personal needs as well. She has become a part of the entire staff, not merely picking up and dropping off students, but taking part in school functions, as well. She is an excellent advocate and representative of our Special Education programs and Robertson Elementary School.''

``I highly recommend driving the children,'' Bradshaw said, smiling. ``I work with the parents and see what kind of home they are coming from. If the children are good, I reward them with a candy bar at the end of the week.''

A native of Portsmouth, Bradshaw grew up in the Deep Creek area of Chesapeake. She and her husband, Paul, have two younger children, Katie, 7, and James Michael, 5.

At the suggestion of another school bus driver, Bradshaw began driving as a substitute in April, 1992. The following September, she took a permanent position.

On a typical school day, Bradshaw rises at 5 a.m., prepares breakfast, feeds Jonathan, dresses both Jonathan and James Michael for school, packs a change of clothes and diapers for Jonathan, and begins her run at 6:30 a.m. Katie rides with her mother even though she doesn't arrive at school until shortly before 9 a.m.

At 8 a.m., Bradshaw drops Jonathan off for his classes at Lakeland High School.

After dropping nine other children off at Forest Glen Middle School, Southwestern Elementary and Robertson Elementary, Bradshaw drops her assistant, Alice Jordan, off at her home. Bradshaw arrives home at Whaleyville at 10 a.m. to do housework and spend time with James Michael. The return jaunt begins at 1 p.m. and lasts until 4:15 p.m.

``Once children step on my bus, they are my responsibility, but once off my bus, they are the parents' responsibility.

``If I have a behavior problem with a child, I try to talk to the parents rather than `write the child up.' If a child has to leave my bus, there's no where else for him to go.''

In spite of her busy days, Bradshaw has volunteered for school functions at Robertson Elementary. She has worked in the ``Santa Store'' and ``Robbie's Store.''

``Every time a child does something good, he or she receives a slip of paper,'' she said. ``Then every other Friday, they can buy small toys with their papers. It's an incentive to be good.''

Although her job is not easy, Bradshaw said, ``It's a great job for parents with school-age children. And you have the summer and holidays off. If I can make one child smile, it means a lot to me.''

Bradshaw and her family plan to spend the summer camping on the Albemarle Sound. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER

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