Former CCPS bus drivers Cheryl Whalon and Wanda Jarrelle look over student pickup and dropoff information after finishing morning routes earlier this month. ASH DANIEL
As a Chesterfield County school bus driver for more than two decades, Cheryl Whalon was no stranger to the transportation struggles that have plagued the school system in recent years. Low pay, changes to school start times and persistent driver shortages all added stress to a job she adores.
But in August, when Superintendent Merv Daugherty asked parents to drive their own children to school as the district scrambled to fill 100 bus driver vacancies, she knew this time was different.
As more than 60,000 county students returned to classrooms, many for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began in March of 2020, the bus driver shortage caused a logistical nightmare: Students arrived at school after the bell rang and returned home in the late afternoon and early evening. Morning and afternoon traffic congestion at schools worsened, spilling into surrounding roadways, as more parents dropped off and picked up their children.
“This is something that people pay [for with] their taxes,” Whalon says. “They should be able to have their child ride their bus in a timely manner.”
Whalon had just retired on Sept. 1 after 23 years driving buses, but she loved working with children – and she wanted to do something to help. So she and her husband, Daniel, a truck driver, came up with a solution to relieve parents and their children from the driver shortage. The answer was Mrs. C’s Kids Transport LLC, a private business that transports students to and from school in the mornings and afternoons.
Although Whalon’s retirement was short-lived, returning to work was an easy decision for her. Opening the business was a way for her to keep driving without dealing with the extra stress many of the drivers are feeling in light of the shortage.
“I’ve always loved working with kids and my students’ parents,” Whalon says.
Whalon and her husband were able to get the business up and running with help from her late father, who died from natural causes on Sept. 11 of this year. He was a hard-working man who always worked more than one job at a time and demonstrated a good work ethic for his children, Whalon recalls. Before passing away, he gave Whalon and her husband an inheritance and asked what they planned to do with the money. When they shared their plans for starting a new transportation company, he was pleased.
“I want to continue to make him proud,” Whalon says.
With that inheritance, the couple purchased a charcoal gray minivan that could carry seven passengers. The business started in August but has continued to grow, Whalon says. Since then, they’ve hired an extra driver and purchased an additional van and two mini-buses that can carry up to 14 students each.
Similar to her routine as a bus driver, Whalon gets in a van each morning and afternoon and picks up students who need a ride. Students must wear face coverings, as they would on a school bus, and she disinfects the vans after the morning and afternoon routes are finished.
Though getting the business started was easy enough, Whalon and her husband hit a bump in the road with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles shortly after opening. For a short time, they were unable to charge students for their transportation services because they didn’t have the proper permit needed to operate for a fee in the state of Virginia. Now, the business is back to operating for $50 a week or $10 per day.
Parents continued to donate money during the interim, using the service to avoid hour-long waits in school drop-off and pickup lines. Whalon says several parents were concerned about losing their jobs unless they found alternative transportation.
“I don’t want to see anyone lose their job over this,” Whalon says.
Cheryl Whalon wipes down one of her student transportation vans after finishing morning routes earlier this month. ASH DANIEL
Around 18 students currently use the transport company to get to their schools, including Grange Hall, Winterpock and Woolridge elementary schools, Midlothian Middle School and Cosby High School.
“Everybody just thinks it’s wonderful, and the parents are praising the service,” says Wanda Jarrelle, another former CCPS bus driver who’s now driving for Mrs. C’s Kids Transport.
Jarrelle spent the last five years working as a bus driver in the county but resigned in August after working more hours than normal in the first two weeks of school, which she says left her physically and mentally exhausted.
“I felt ill, so I had to leave,” Jarrelle says.
Working for a private transportation company, however, the joy is returning.
Both Whalon and Jarrelle say one of their favorite parts of being a school bus driver was talking with their students and hearing about how their days went. Now, with fewer students to transport, they can get to know their students better, allowing them to forge closer relationships.
Whalon says she loves her students and hopes they know they can always communicate openly with her. It’s clear that students and their parents love Whalon, too: In 2020, she was nominated for and won the goHappy award for the 2020 EXTRAordinary Worker of the Year, a national contest that celebrates frontline workers doing extraordinary work.
The award came with a check for $10,000, a portion of which Whalon used to throw a party for students and their families at her house, to thank them for the award. She says creating Mrs. C’s Kids Transport was another way of saying “thank you” for all of the honors and recognitions her students and their families have nominated her for over the years.
The transportation business also takes students to non-school-related places and activities. On-demand ride services for children, like the California-based family ride-sharing platform HopSkipDrive, have grown in popularity in recent years as a way of providing safe transportation for teens and kids.
Whalon says taking children to and from non-school-related functions could keep her business sustainable if the bus driver shortage is resolved in the next few years, because it would keep her on the road in one way or another. She added that her business could also shift to transporting seniors or other adults in need of a ride in the future.
The bus driver shortage has been a challenge for everyone – particularly the drivers, some of whom are still making multiple back-to-back trips, known as double-backs and triple-backs, to cover all the routes. Many feel stressed and overworked, Whalon says.
“My heart really goes out to them,” Whalon says. “They are really working very hard.”
For parents in need of transportation for their children, Whalon can be reached at 804-852-3698 or mrs.cskt@gmail.com.
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