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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 16, 2016)
News DRIVERS WANTED The Community Transition School is seeking a school bus driver for the fall, roughly 20 kids on the route. Join a small, dedicated staff, helping kids of homeless families get a chance at a stable school experience. We provide door to door transportation to our pre-K to 8th grade students, wherever the families are living. $16/hr., about 4 hours a day, split shift, 4 hour minimum guarantee. The shifts are roughly: Morning: 6:30am-8:30am Afternoon: 2:45-4:45pm The ideal candidate would have the following: CDL with both P (passenger) and S (school bus) endorsements, and a current or recently expired state school bus driver Certificate. Please leave a message for Tom at 503-249-8582. We at the Community Transitional School have been transporting and educating kids in pre-K to 8th grade since 1990. Learn more about us at our website: http://www.transltlonaischool.org CTS, from page 9 been there before, he might say ‘I’m not “Stay focused. gettin’ off here!’” -- “Quiet voice, . If a child doesn’t show up at the morning “Wait your turn. bus stop, Tom or someone in the office will “Be respective. call to find out what’s going on - but if they “Don’t waste others time. ne of the biggest challenges for can’t get through and the child doesn’t show “No messing with things. homeless parents - a challenge that is up for a couple of days, they stop sending “Don’t ask for things you shouldn’t have.” passed on to the School — is simply to get the bus. It’s a painful part of the job; “You Tom embodies these rules so naturally the kids to school and home again. A family get to know the kids, and then they’re and completely that they might have been might have to move quickly over a weekend; things can change in the middle of the day, ’ gone,” written specifically to describe his behavior. Osa described what these families deal He said that what he should have is buses and the child has to be dropped off at a with: “It’s chaotic, a brutal lifestyle. Outside different stop. CTS eases that one stress that never break down, and he’d like to be of school, it’s near-constant instability.” point able to pay drivers better. But he makes do. Once the children arrive at CTS each day, The rule is that parents have to call When a bus does break down on the road they’re safe, well-fed and cared for. For with any changes of location before noon to and can’t be repaired right there, there’s no homeless families, that may seem more get on the next day’s schedule. But Tom can back-up bus waiting at school. Tom has to important than the education the kids are be a little flexible. call on local taxi companies to rescue the getting, she said; many of their parents “Sometimes if they warn me something kids. Yes, it’s expensive, but What else can. didn’t finish school. might happen over a weekend, I can be on he do? The kids are depending on him. “The family culture is survival,” she said. the lookout, and then if it happens to be “Bus situations just kind of keep Even kids who’ve been with us a long time, near one of our normal stops, I can usually happening,” he said. “It’s overwhelming. they don’t understand that education is tj fit it in and let the driver know ahead of But compared to what these lads and their their ticket to a better life.” time. families have to go through ...” He shrugs. Yet at school, “someone is holding them “When it’s not close, and we can’t handle No need to finish that sentence. accountable and believes in them enough to it, then the parents are bringing them in,”' have expectations.” he said. Tom knows to expect tense moments. T ) ehind Tom’s desk, there’s a huge pink Some CTS parents have cars; but it’s not “The situations that the kids are in, it f - U heart made from construction paper. the norm. And even if they do, he said, “it’s It’s decorated with messages, in children’s tends to make their whole family stressed probably a car that often doesn’t work so out,” he said. “Parents might be mad at practiced handwriting - a list of words to well, or if it’s toward the end of the moftth, something else, anti they direct it at us. Like describe Tom: happy, clever, good artist they wouldn’t be able to afford gas or if I say the bus will be there at 7 and it’s not (“Without you,-I wouldn’t have known what something. Then they’re putting the kid on there till 7:10, they’ll be like, ‘How dare shading is”), good with computers, helpful, TriMet to get to the step.” you!’” organized, brave, “helps us with our math Tom may have to figure out where a Tom is understanding about such problems, has a big job.” And thank-you family has moved. Once, when parents outbursts; “They’re doing the best they notes: Thank you for the keys to the didn’t call in, Osa told the chad, “Find an "can.” ' finS bathroom. Thank you for lifting the tables at envelope that has an address on it, and tell The rule, of, thumb, he said, is that about lunchtime, for driving the bus, for bringing us what it says, and then we’ll figure out - two-thirds of each route will be the same > color into our lives. where to go.” Everyday, that second grader every day. Other than that, it’s anybody’s read out a new address, and called in to say one ^ast note: The unsung hero of guess. A parent can’t find her car keys. A where she was. She moved 22 times that bridge is o u t A bus has a flat tire. A kid Tom dismisses any talk of his own year. This past year, one student moved 13 says he’s moving, but the parent hasn’t accomplishments and puts it all on the times in 110 days, and missed only two days called; “Every single stop has its quirks,” children. He doesn’t get them to school, he of school. he said. insists; they d o j t “Usually I’ll figure out approximately One of the hardest things about his job, “A lot depends on the kids’ initiative,” he which bus a child should go on and what Tom said; is finding bus drivers, and their said. “They have to figure it o u t Somehow, route,” Tom said, “but that doesn’t always work is an essential piece of the daily magically, they find a way to get here.” translate into a realistic picture of how puzzle. He’s occasionally had to drive one of things will actually work, and the drivers - It s a remarkable place, and magic doesn’t the runs himself. sometimes they’ll have to decide what seem too strong a word. There’s a kid-written butcher-paper sign makes sense, which side of the street they What would Tom most want others to beside the office door, sporting a child’s can pick up on. If an apartment looks seedy know about the Community Transitional drawing of a cheerful guy in jeans and a they might not want to let the kid off until School? j they see a parent there. Or if the kid’s never green t-shirt and listing office rules of < He answers slowly, pausing to think, and I behavior: finally decides: “That it exists.” said. “They are called ‘the hidden homeless.’” O no ^ hwest ^ r E? ^ Ave- Portland, OR 97230 Free career training for persons with disabilities in janitorial and building maintenance Requirements: • Documented proof o f disability ^ SÈ • ‘ v a iò « ® 0 ® 8 ' . . ' • ................ ^ ncy in understanding and speaking Pass criminal background check Pass drug test D isabilities: Physical, m ental health, intellectual, developm ental, a nd learning Questions ? Please Call: (503) 261-1266 or (800) 874-7917 email: careers@phcnw.com
