POUGHKEEPSIE – Hyde Park Central School District (HPCSD) driver Linda Lawlor has been named the recipient of the 21st Dutchess County School Bus Driver of the Year Award, recognizing her exemplary service and safety record transporting students to and from school.
The award, part of the Dutchess County Traffic Safety Board’s efforts to promote school bus safety, is given in conjunction with the launch of the annual Operation Safe Stop Project supported by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee.
“Children are our most precious passengers, and they deserve a safe ride to and from school each day,” Dutchess County Executive Sue Serino said. “We all can learn from Linda Lawlor and her dedication to safe driving, ensuring the students on her bus enjoy safe rides every day of the school year. We thank Ms. Lawlor for setting an example for all of us to follow, making children’s safety a priority when we get behind the wheel.”
The County Executive today presented Ms. Lawlor, who has been a school bus driver for 18 years – including the last 10 for the HPCSD – without a preventable collision, with a commemorative plaque and honored her as the Dutchess County School Bus Driver of the Year at the Operation Safe Stop kickoff press conference.
Ms. Lawlor is the first Dutchess County School Bus Driver of the Year honoree from the Hyde Park Central School District to receive of the award.
“Being a school bus driver has its challenges,” Ms. Lawlor wrote in letter accompanying HPCSD Director of Transportation Tamara Fielding’s nomination of her, “and when you add all the years of bus drivers in Hyde Park, you have hundreds of years of experience, and I learn every day from both veteran drivers and new drivers. It’s a difficult job and the bus driver shortage is tough on all of us, but our job is to get your children to and from school safely. I know that is my goal every day!”
The Dutchess County Traffic Safety Board’s School Bus Driver of the Year award seeks to promote school bus safety through education and enforcement efforts. School bus drivers are an integral part of the safe transportation of school children, and crashes and related injuries are prevented by these highly trained professionals’ experience, skill and daily performance.
