Episode 79: Love the Bus Month with Dusty Carlsen

février 28th, 2025 /
Alexander Glaves /

Sup avec le Sup

00:00 / 14:33

Welcome everyone to the next episode of Provo City School District’s What’s Up With The Sup’ podcast. I am Superintendent Wendy Dau. February is Love The Bus month and today I get to ride on a school bus. I will be riding along with one of our drivers, Dusty Carlson, as she drives from our transportation building to pick up students at Provo High School.

We will talk about her experience as a bus driver and a little bit about bus safety. But first, here are our updates.

There are five new policies for review on our district website. Go to Provo.Edu, click on Policies, Forms, and Documents. You can click on Review Draft Policies here.
- You will see a draft of Policy 3500, Students and Extracurricular Activities.
- Draft Policy 5090, Code of Conduct. This is for employees.
- Policy 5160, Employee Religious Beliefs or Conscience.
- Policy 5250, Conflict of Interest Update for Personnel.
- And Policy 5155, Human Trafficking and Child Sexual Abuse Education.
The next school board meeting will be on Tuesday, March 12th. The study session will take place in Boardroom 1, and the business meeting will be held in the Professional Development Center.
- Public comment is welcome during the business meeting.
- Please check the district website for start times and the agenda as the meeting gets closer.
Right now, the Utah legislative session is still ongoing with two weeks left. We do have House Bill 455, which is about the expansion of the voucher system, which provides for the Utah Fits All Scholarship.
- We really appreciate the work of Representative Perucci, who has received feedback from our school board members and from district leaders about how to create greater accountability for this voucher program. We appreciate the responsiveness of our legislators and their willingness to work with us as we strive to make things great for public education.
Continue watching for my weekly video casts. These video casts provide one place for you to learn about important things happening across the district.

And now let’s speak with Dusty Carlson.

Thank you so much for letting me ride your bus. I appreciate this. How long have you been doing this, Dusty?

Dusty Carlsen: Oh, well, so that would take us back to August of 2022. Okay.

Wendy Dau: It’s a while.

Dusty Carlsen: Just follow me. We’re going to go down the middle aisle way here to find my bus.

Wendy Dau: These people are like, this lady doesn’t know what she’s doing.

Dusty Carlsen: It’ll get quieter when we’re, we all come out here at the same time and everybody kind of like rushes to get to their school right away. That makes sense.

When was the last time you guys rode a bus?

Wendy Dau: Oh, let’s see. Probably a couple years ago. I rode a lot of buses when I was a high school principal to take kids to like basketball games and stuff like that.

So, just to help chaperone and things like that. Yeah, it was super fun. What’s the best part about being a bus driver?

Dusty Carlsen: Oh, the kids.

Wendy Dau : Oui.

Dusty Carlsen: Oh, for sure.

Wendy Dau: Are they usually pretty good?

Dusty Carlsen: Yes. We have challenging days, for sure. Yeah. But I mean, you know, you become part of their life.

Wendy Dau : Oui.

Dusty Carlsen: Which is just amazing. And you get to see them every morning.

You know, smile on their face. They say good morning. You see them in the afternoon. They usually have fun stories to tell you.

Wendy Dau: Oh, that’s good. You probably get to hear a lot of stuff that goes on.

Dusty Carlsen: You do, you do. You do have kids that’ll challenge you here and there.

Wendy Dau : Oui.

Dusty Carlsen: But, that’s normal.

Wendy Dau : Oui.

Dusty Carlsen: That’s normal.

My high school kids are amazing.

Wendy Dau : Oh, c'est génial.

Dusty Carlsen: They’re amazing. Yeah, they get a little bit messy. I allow them to eat on the bus as long as they clean up after themselves.

Wendy Dau: Oh, that’s nice.

Dusty Carlsen: And maybe once or twice a month I might find a wrapper or something, but they’re really good.

Wendy Dau: Like they’re usually good. Oh, that’s great.

And you have the stars for your Edgemont kids, right?

Dusty Carlsen: Correct.

Wendy Dau : C'est trop mignon.

Dusty Carlsen: Yeah.

Wendy Dau: Well, when you build a relationship with them like that, and you’re being nice like that, like letting them do that on the bus, and they’re like, well, I’m not going to mess this up, so…

Dusty Carlsen: I think we have a good understanding, you know, in the beginning of the year, I do talk to them. I introduce myself. I say, Hey, we’re going to be with each other for a good period of time here. And let’s just make it the best experience we can. And you’d be cool. I’ll be cool. It’ll all be good, you know? So I think they appreciate that.

It helps build trust with the kids, too. I’d say a lot of them know me by name, and they do. But it’s hard for me, or for the bus driver, because we have so many kids.

Wendy Dau : Oui.

Dusty Carlsen: And I would say, you know, for the high school kids, I probably have 70 percent I know their names. The other ones is like some kids just kind of choose to keep to themselves and be quiet, you know, that’s okay too.

Wendy Dau: Do you see a lot of changeover in kids or is it usually the same kids every single day? I just am wondering like if they’re going to get a ride with a friend or something like that, especially at the high school.

Dusty Carlsen: High school, I see it more where you just don’t know what to expect. Some of them might even start driving, so they just kind of disappear.

But I usually kind of know which ones, because a lot of them talk to me. They said a friend, I know some have jobs where they work at. It’s really cool.

Wendy Dau : C'est vraiment cool.

Dusty Carlsen: Yeah, but elementary is usually the same kids unless they’re sick or they have a doctor’s appointment. They’ll be on the bus.

Wendy Dau: What’s been the weirdest thing that’s happened on a bus that you can actually talk about?

Dusty Carlsen: The weirdest thing? I don’t know about so much weird, let’s see. Just the other day, I had two of my Edgemont kids, you know I have to check my mirrors all the time, and two cute little girls, they’re sisters. You know, all of a sudden I’m checking my mirrors and I see four feet in the middle of up in the air.

Okay. So that’s, you know, it’s a little weird. I don’t really have weird things happen. Just sometimes kind of little funny stories and, uh, you know, the kids like to have fun. It would sure be nice. To have seatbelts on the bus.

Wendy Dau: I wondered that.

Dusty Carlsen: And I know that they say, you know, the bus is very, very safe. Much safer than a vehicle and I agree. It is. But I think it would really help the bus drivers to help keep peace on the bus.

Wendy Dau : Oui.

Dusty Carlsen: If we had seatbelts and the kids couldn’t, couldn’t goof off as much. You know, kind of like our, when our, we test our windows and our emergency doors, they have alarms. Well, put alarms on those seatbelts too, so we know.

Wendy Dau: Oh, somebody is not restrained anymore. Yeah. Um, how long have you had this route with Provo High and Edgemont?

Dusty Carlsen: Since I started.

Wendy Dau: Oh, okay. So it’s been the same.

Dusty Carlsen: Yeah, and sometimes they do need to change the routes. And I was kind of given, I had a heads up last year that it might switch over. It’ll be a little different this year, but it wasn’t.

Wendy Dau : D'accord.

Dusty Carlsen: And that was awesome. It’s exciting, like the first day of school. And the kids are lined up in their little line at their spot, and they’re just waiting for that bus to pull up.

Wendy Dau : Oh oui.

Dusty Carlsen: And the kids that had me last year, they’re like all ecstatic to see me again.

Wendy Dau : Oh oui.

Dusty Carlsen: Dusty! So it’s, I have a lot of fun with them.

Wendy Dau: I didn’t even realize that. I wasn’t even thinking about that, but they would be the same kids. Yeah. Year after year, so when they’re in elementary, you really do get to know them quite well.

Dusty Carlsen: And it builds structure for the kids.

Wendy Dau: Yeah, absolutely.

Dusty Carlsen: Consistency, you know? Yeah. I think.

Wendy Dau: Absolutely. Yeah. I agree.

Dusty Carlsen: I really, really like the holidays. ‘Cause I, I’m a mom and I have grandkids myself and I love to decorate who doesn’t pretty much. Right. And so my first year I was thinking, you know, it’d be kind of fun to decorate the bus. And I’ve done it every year since and every year I do a little bit more and more than the year before. But I’m not the only one.

There’s a few other bus drivers that actually do it too. Okay. The last two years, you guys ever see the businesses downtown where they have the painters come and paint their windows?

Wendy Dau: Yes. Yes.

Dusty Carlsen: So I hired a professional painter to come paint the outside of the bus. Yeah. And the kids are like, are you going to do that all the time?

Just knowing that it brings a smile to their face encourages me even more to want to do it. A full size Santa Claus that I’d put in the seat. That was maybe my first year. But my bus is pretty full, and if you have a full 50 kids or so, yeah, there’s not enough room for Santa.

Wendy Dau: That’s true. Santa can’t fit. Yeah. That’s not happening.

Dusty Carlsen: I have a full size skeleton for Halloween time. Put lights on inside, so it looks like a limo bus almost, you know, kind of, sort of. The kids love it.

Wendy Dau: Yes, they do. That’s amazing that you’ll put in that kind of time and I think that’s really special.

Dusty Carlsen: I wish that we had it within the budget that the school district could like do all the school buses.

Wendy Dau: That would be cute.

Dusty Carlsen: It would be adorable to see all the buses drive around with some kind of fun Christmas stuff.

Wendy Dau: It makes a big difference for kids. It’s amazing. It’s interesting just how, much like even when you go into a school and there’s a Christmas tree or there’s decorations or just the feel of it, right?

It just doesn’t feel so sterile.

Dusty Carlsen: Yeah.

Wendy Dau: So, that’s a big deal.

Dusty Carlsen: The kids walk on the bus and say, wow.

Wendy Dau: But they’re lucky to have you as their bus driver. You’re just really positive.

Dusty Carlsen: That’s nice to hear.

Wendy Dau: Not only do they love their bus, they love their bus driver. That’s the most important thing.

Dusty Carlsen: Well this, that little necklace was made for me. I have this bracelet that was just given to me and it just touches my heart. I feel, it makes me feel if I can be a positive impact on anybody’s life, not just the kids, but that’s very rewarding.

Wendy Dau: Yes, absolutely. Well, and people talk all the time about bus drivers making such a difference in kids lives, and I don’t think people actually realize how much of a difference you guys make.

Dusty Carlsen: Oh, well, thank you. That’s nice to hear. On the other hand, I think some people don’t like the bus drivers don’t like the school buses because they have it in their, their mind. They’re always stopping. They’re too slow. They don’t want to be behind us. Right.

Wendy Dau: So they’re impatient drivers.

Dusty Carlsen: Yes. Yeah. And so if I could change like one thing, I really wish drivers, people would obey the law and stop for our flashing reds and our stop signs because you’d be surprised how many times those get ran every day by all the buses.

Wendy Dau : Oui.

Dusty Carlsen: And it happened to me just last week with my elementary kids and they passed me on the left side Now, when kids are crossing, that’s bad.

Wendy Dau: That’s horrible.

Dusty Carlsen: So, luckily, we have, like, Troy and Michelle and Kurt.

They are amazing. They are great leadership and very supportive. You just report anything to them. And, you know, they did get in touch with the police officers. Oh, good. So, they actually spent a day following all the buses and trying to catch.

Wendy Dau: Oh, nice.

Dusty Carlsen: So, we were all excited. And a couple of them did get caught.

Wendy Dau : Oh, bien.

Dusty Carlsen: So that was productive.

Wendy Dau: That is really good. No, I see that sometimes and it just drives me insane. Or people who blast through school zones and I’m just like, we’re all just trying to keep kids safe.

Dusty Carlsen: Yes. That’s our top priority in this job is, is safety and getting the kids safely to and from school and when things like that do happen, you know, I do lay down on my air horn pretty loud and I’ll stay on it, you know, because boy, do I get upset.

Wendy Dau: Well, they don’t realize what kids are walking out in front of the bus or they have no idea.

Dusty Carlsen: That’s the thing and whether they’re not paying attention. And I think, yeah, I’ve had different reactions.

So some people will be like, Oh, like that, like, Oh, I wasn’t paying attention. I’m sorry. Right. But most people are not that nice and they’ll honk back at me or give me the bird. I’ve had that.

Wendy Dau: I’m sure you have.

Dusty Carlsen: And it’s like, you know, I go over the safety with the kids all the time and you know, I remind them.

So you guys heard that horn, right? Why did I do that?

Wendy Dau : Oh, bien.

Dusty Carlsen: And, uh, you got to be careful. Look for my signal when you cross that road. And so. Kind of gets boring on the bus and you know, I have the radio on, but they play the same thing like over and over and we’re all different. We like different things.

So I told the high school kids, Hey, I know you guys are tired of hearing my music and I’m tired of it too. But if you guys want to be so cool and write down like your favorite artists or the songs that they sing. Then put it in the playlist box. I’ll make a playlist and that we can listen to.

Wendy Dau: That’s awesome. See, just you go above and beyond. That’s awesome.

Dusty Carlsen: Hi Juan. We have some company.

Wendy Dau: Hi. How are you?

Good. Did you have a good day? Oh, good. Well, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to let us ride. All of that is a pleasure.

Dusty Carlsen: Yes, nice meeting you.

Wendy Dau: Nice to meet you as well.

Thank you everyone for joining me for this week’s episode of What’s Up with the Sup’. As always, all episodes will be posted on the district website, YouTube, and anywhere you get your podcasts. If you have any topics or questions you would like us to discuss on the podcast, please email us at podcast@provo.edu. And don’t forget to join us again next week for another new episode of What’s Up with the Sup’. Have a great day, everyone.