Dispatcher's Archive
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Back on the Road Again...Driving Forward
The rebirth of the diversity bus is about to happen in the next two weeks. Last May our special vehicle of expression experienced an unexpected breakdown in Harvard, Nebraska. The engine, obviously tired from its many miles of travel, took a much needed rest. Unfortunately, it was an eternal rest. At the time of the breakdown two more schools were still expecting to host and celebrate our special bus. Students and staff in Ottumwa, Iowa and Kenosha, Wisconsin had worked diligently throughout the spring in preparation for the arrival of the bus. It was hard not to deliver the bus to these schools. So, just as the little engine that could climbed the mountain, so too the "not so yellow school bus " survived its own challenging climb and was towed to the last two schools. I am forever grateful to the students and staff at Evans Middle School in Ottumwa, Iowa and Bullen Middle School in Kenosha, Wisconsin for their energy and enthusiasm in relation to the project. When told that the bus was without an engine the project’s coordinators were undaunted. People’s spirits and positive beliefs outlived the death of a mechanical engine. And so our brightly colored bus spent the summer months in Kenosha awaiting its destiny.
The survival of creativity and visions became suddenly dependent upon logistics and more importantly, finances. We needed to get the bus home in order to continue a fall, winter and spring itinerary scheduled at nine schools in Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. When I started this project almost two years ago I had no idea that I would become an expert in school bus regulations and maintenance. Summer evenings were spent speaking with mechanics in Kenosha, Wisconsin. My knowledge of rebuilt and new engines increased with each and every dialogue I had with service managers both locally and nationally. Negotiating a new bus engine from across the country was indeed a skill I had never imagined possessing. The engine was the project’s lifeline and as conversations confirmed…our bus was in need of a new one. Six months and eight thousand dollars later (new engines are costly items)…the bus is scheduled to come home.
A Little Help from Our Friends
The vision for the continuation of the project was not a solo endeavor. When the public learned of our financial needs for a new engine, local community members, schools, organizations and businesses rose to the occasion to help raise the funds to replace the old engine. A very special thank you is extended to individuals who made personal donations, the McGee Middle School Parent Teacher Organization, the New Britain Board of Education, The Inter-District Leadership Project in Adventure and Diversity and The Hartford Courant. Your generosity and support help put the "vrrrooooom" back in our bus.
I am indebted to Peter Agostini, President of New Britain Transportation Company, our local school district’s busing company, for his endless hours of advice and wisdom in guiding me through “Everything I’ve Always Wanted to Know About Bus Engines But Was Afraid to Ask.” I appreciated his professionalism and expertise.
At this very moment Andy, my long distant mechanic friend at the Lakeside International Dealership in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, is busy transplanting a new heart into what he refers to as our “Partridge Family” bus. On December 1st, 2000, a driver from Connecticut will fly out to Wisconsin to drive the bus back to the next hosting school, Kutztown Junior High School in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. A year and a half ago Ron Imboden, art educator and coordinator of the project at Kutztown, and I confirmed his school’s involvement in the project. Although the fall of 2000 seemed light years away at the time of our first meeting….here we are. Ron, his students and colleagues have been extremely patient and gracious in waiting for the bus. Thank you for your involvement, commitment and dedication to all that this vehicle symbolizes.
(*Please link to our itinerary to connect with the 2000-2001 schedule of hosting schools. You and your students can communicate with hosting schools through e-mail and the art of written letters. Addresses of schools and coordinators are available for your use. )
OUR DRIVERS
There have been a few new changes and
additions to the diversity bus project.
The original bus drivers, Harris McCabe and Jay
Kubeck, will no longer be ambassadors to the project. Although they
enjoyed their experiences and did a great job in facilitating the project,
they have both moved on to pursue other career opportunities. We are
appreciative of their contributions to the project’s initiation. Presently
each school district hosting the bus will be responsible for providing an
independent CDL (Commercial Driver’s License) driver to transport the
bus from their school to the next.
ARTISTS IN RIDING
On this leg of our journey, we are also fortunate to have several professional artists and art educators, who will be facilitating the visual portion of the project at each school. These "Artists in Riding" are scheduled to spend two days at each school assisting students and staff members with the painting of the bus. No one artist is in residence as they too will move with the bus. *Please see our artist link to learn more about our art educators.
The Journey Continues...
Be
sure to follow the upcoming journey of the diversity bus by connecting to
each school’s address on the itinerary link.
Students, staff members and art educators will be providing our web site with
updated journal entries featuring information about their schools and
their involvement in the project. You can also see pictures highlighting
the visual transformation of the bus as it travels from school to school.
And
so….buckle your seat belts and hang on for a most enjoyable ride as
adolescents from East coast middle schools become the drivers in breaking
down barriers of prejudice and bias. The bus project will continue to
allow today’s adolescents, and future leaders, to celebrate and take a proactive stand on issues related to cultural, economic,
religious, gender, intellectual and physical diversity.
THE BUS IS BACK IN TOWN
Bravo to our bus drivers, Joe Geisler (Art educator at Slade Middle School in New Britain, Connecticut) and Mallory Bagwell (Artist/Educator and bus driver by marriage), for their driving talents and patience in getting our bus back to the East Coast.
On Friday, December 1st, 2000 Joe and Mallory jumped a night flight out of Bradley Airport in Hartford, flew to Chicago, rented a car and drove to Racine, Wisconsin at midnight to reclaim the Town-to-Town C.A.R.E.-a-Van.
Our drivers spent the remainder of the weekend driving our vehicle of expression back home. Joanna Geisler (loving, kind and understanding wife of Joe) and I remained in communication with our drivers via cell phone calls. They arrived safely in Kutztown, Pennsylvania on Sunday evening and were greeted by Ron Imboden the bus coordinator from Kutztown Junior High School. Ron and his wife Betty were wonderful hosts to our drivers who enjoyed their company and conversations. You can read about the C.A.R.E.-a-Van’s adventures in Kutztown on our Itinerary page. You’ll even get to see the beautiful design and transformation of the bus.
At last, the bus journey continues. The bus is being driven back to Berlin this weekend. During the week of December 18 –22,2000 our students will be able to celebrate the temporary return of the C.A.R.E.-a-Van in our own backyard. The bus will also visit Slade and Roosevelt Middle Schools (our urban sister schools during the week). Students form all three middle schools will definitely delight in the new design and creative metaphors. They will also have the opportunity to view Kutztown’s C.A.R.E. Carton , an artifact box containing memorabilia from the hosting school including a yearbook, student/parent handbook, a video tape of the school community and town/city and other objects of interest.
Great contributions and lasting impressions continue to flourish at each new bus stop. We invite you to join the ride by following our website link to journal entries from our hosting schools. You can read responses and reflections as recorded by students, teachers and coordinator’s from each hosting school.
Congratulations and a special thank you to all who survived the temporary roadblocks of our C.A.R.E.-a-Van’s town to town travels. Two roads did diverge and we certainly did choose to travel the more challenging route. In agreement with Robert Frost…that has made all the difference. Vision and determination were team efforts.
Onward to Thomas A. Blake Middle School in Medfield, Massachusetts from January 2-19,2001. May the 2001 new year continue to echo our students’ positive messages of peace and goodwill. My best to all during the holiday season. I wish you good health and the gift of time to enjoy your family and friends.
THE
WHEELS ON THE BUS
MOVE FORWARD...(Despite 24 inches of snow!)
I
have a wonderful view from my office window. The Town-to-Town C.A.R.E.-a-Van
rests peacefully between school
visits on the front lawn of McGee Middle School. The diversity bus has
recently returned from its four week tour in Massachusetts. It is exciting
to see its transformation from school to school. Having survived several
snowstorms this winter, the bus has just returned from Thomas A. Blake
Middle School in Medfield, Massachusetts and
Birchland Park Middle School in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts.
Students and staff from both schools schools
worked diligently for over a year preparing for the arrival of the
bus.
The Bubble Bus
Medfield's
visual metaphor for diversity consisted of hundreds of bubbles adorning
the bus. Every student had the opportunity to create an individual
metaphor/statement in celebration of diversity that was transferred to a
plastic adhesive bubble and placed on the bus. Other activities included
an array of unique lesson
plans designed for classroom use and a school wide assembly. When the bus stopped back in Berlin
before going to East Longmeadow students
from Berlin's elementary schools and our middle school built on Medfield's
metaphor by creating their own bubble thoughts on paper and
placing them in the "Berlin Bubble Box"
which was placed inside the
bus. I would like to extend a personal thank you to Peg Mongiello, the
Principal of Blake Middle School for her
leadership in facilitating this project. As a school administrator Peg has
shared the importance of celebrating diversity with her students and
staff. I am also appreciative of Blake Middle School's staff and students
for embracing the symbolism of the bus with optimism and energy despite
the roadblocks that unexpectedly occurred. Know that your positive efforts
outweighed any challenging or adverse experiences. Their involvement in
the project, and the powerful messages of their bus design, were
representative of their commitment to a very important cause. Bravo!
Medfield did and excellent job!!!
Remember..."We
do BRAKE to celebrate each other! " Be proud of your efforts!
Making "Music" in the Snow
After
a short stop in Berlin the bus was delivered to East
Longmeadow, Massachusetts. The bus did arrive
two days before one of our biggest winter snow storms. (Easterners,
you recall that loooong four day weekend
!) Despite the two feet of snow staff and students from Birchland
Park Middle School came to school on the two snow days to begin
working on the bus. Wendy Lee, teacher/coordinator of the project,
encouraged fellow colleagues and students to endure the inclement weather
and "ride on" with the painting. As a result, hundreds of
musical notes can be seen dancing across
both sides of the bus. "We are all notes on the same page. Separately
we are just notes. Together we are music," is Birchland Park's
written metaphor that accompanies their melodious expression of diversity.
I
delight in watching curious spectators "read" the bus. Although
it is an artistic masterpiece when viewed from afar, up close it is an
eloquent representation of students' insightful thoughts as revealed
through the power of written words. I continue to be amazed and impressed
with the positive messages that today's adolescents have to share with the
world.
The
last two bus stops in Massachusetts have been rich experiences. Both
schools were incredibly dedicated to
the project. The success of the bus continues to exist
because of the energy and creativity of students and staff members.
Next Stop, New Jersey
In
a few weeks the diversity bus will travel on to
two middle schools in New Jersey. Heritage and Mt. Pleasant Middle Schools in Livingston,
New Jersey and Bridgewater Raritan Middle
School in Bridgewater, New Jersey will be the next two hosting
schools. We look forward to their creative contributions as we continue to
celebrate our vehicle of expression.
Outside
of my window the sun's rays dance on the bus. A sense of spring is in the
air. Enjoy the days as they become longer and warmer.
My best to all...
HOME,
SWEET HOME...14 Coats of Paint Later....
"Where
did this bus idea come from???" This is a frequently asked question
related to the diversity bus project.
An Old Car is Worth a Thousand Words
The
idea of painting a vehicle started
six years ago when I was in my first administrative position in another
suburban school district. My
wonderfully creative husband, Mallory Bagwell (performing
artist/educator and volunteer diversity bus driver as needed) donated an
old car as a canvas on which students wrote metaphors. The engine didn't
work...so the car didn't move. After this literary vehicle was decorated
with hundreds of metaphors it was eventually towed and
demolished. I'm assuming its
precious literary metals were recycled for purposes other than
lessons on metaphor writing.
The First Bus
The
following year (1995) I started my second administrative position at
Catherine M. McGee Middle School in Berlin, CT. One of my responsibilities
was to coordinate the
Kids-To-Kids program, a sister school activity with Slade Middle School,
a neighboring urban middle school in New Britain, CT. When
contemplating projects to
work on together it was only natural to consider painting another vehicle
as a joint activity. Needless to say the idea and the
size of the vehicle flourished as we decided to paint a
"school bus". New Britain Transportation, Berlin's school bus
company, generously donated the bus for this adventurous project. Under
the guidance of Joe Geisler, the very talented art educator from Slade Middle
School, students created the very first C.A.R.E.-A-Van. The artistic bus
symbolically celebrated
our students' differences and similarities. The only colors
affiliated with the project were the paint colors on the bus. Students
embraced each other with kindness and appreciation. It was obvious that
paintbrushes and written words were very powerful tools for expressing
their feelings related to
diversity. And so, another successful vehicle
of expression was created. However, the engine did not work and the bus
did not move. More metallic history???
The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round
The
excitement and meaning of this project did not cease to exist despite the
need for another vehicle. It became obvious that we needed a vehicle that
would MOVE our students' artistic and written expressions beyond our own
hearts and local boundaries. Ah
Ha!!! Wouldn't a bus with an engine do exactly that!!! This time around
DATTCO, the bus company for the New Britain schools, kindly donated a bus
with a workable engine. The bus eventually moved beyond our own backyards
into thirteen other school districts across the country. The rest is
history in the making. Fourteen coats of paint later, the Town-to-Town
C.A.R.E.-a-Van travels
onward. The project was indeed driven by the passion and optimism of many
teachers and students. Thank you, again to the following hosting schools:
| Bus Stop #2 | Horton Middle
School Pittsboro/Durham, NC |
Sandi Shover |
| Bus Stop #3 | Discovery Middle
School Madison, AL |
Robin Dauma |
| Bus Stop #4 | Jack Jordan Middle
School San Antonio, TX |
Gayle Koscielski |
| Bus Stop #5 | Court Youth Center Las Cruces, NM |
Irene Oliver-Lewis |
| Bus Stop #6 | L. J. Alleman
Middle Arts Academy Lafayette, LA |
Nelly Arceneaux |
| Bus Stop #7 | Evans Middle School Ottumwa, IA |
Miriam Kenning |
| Bus Stop #8 | Bullen Middle
School Kenosha, WI |
Alvin Owens |
| Bus Stop #9 | Kutztown Middle
School Kutztown, PA |
Ron Imboden |
| Bus Stop #10 | Blake Middle School Medfield, MA |
Peg Mongiello |
| Bus Stop #11 | Birchland Park
Middle School East Longmeadow, MA |
Wendy Lee |
| Bus Stop #12 | Heritage and Mount
Pleasant Middle Schools Livingston, NJ |
Gail Ring |
| Bus Stop #13 | Bridgewater Raritan
Middle School Bridgewater, NJ |
Marianne McGarry |
| Bus Stop #14 | Lawrence Middle
School Lawrence, NY |
Cindy Hecht |
An Expression of Gratitude
I
created the bus project with
the vision of giving teachers and students a "vehicle of expression'
to share celebrate their ideas and feelings related to issues of
diversity. I am forever indebted to an array of very creative and talented
people who embraced this vision with me and made it a reality. In
particular I would like to thank Joe Geisler, Marianne Metcalfe and Kristen
Ramsey for being exceptional art educators. Your energy and belief in
today's youth is contagious. Thank you Carol Janssen, Principal of McGee,
Vaughn Ramseur, Principal of Roosevelt Middle School in New Britain, and
Geri Springer-Brown, Principal of Slade Middle School in New Britain, for
being educational leaders who supported the value of this project. Staff
members from all three middle
schools are to applauded for being exceptional role models to our
students. Thank you students for expressing yourselves so eloquently with
paints and words....You are indeed artists of the heart!!! You have
impacted the lives of thousands of people across America! Thank you, too,
Kate Wakefield for creating this superb website !
One
of my favorite verses of wisdom, collected from Mary's Almanac, reads: "She
didn't know it couldn't be done so she went ahead and did it."
The Bus is Back in Town
So where to now you ask?
I envision having the
diversity bus tour Connecticut
middle schools next year. This moving museum of artwork and written
expressions will be hosted by local rural, suburban and urban middle
schools in our Nutmeg state.
Did
I say envision??? Stay tuned....the journey continues.
My
gratitude and appreciation to all. May your summer be peaceful and
restful...Enjoy the gift of time with family and friends.
Michele Sorensen-Bagwell
The
bus was retired in 2001.