| News - Friday, November 28, 2008
Bus driver recognized for heroism
Pitre always makes sure her students return home safely
by Emilie Doolittle
It was a sunny April afternoon, the kind of day when sunlight warms the skin and relaxes the mind. School bus driver Dena Pitre, 52, was on her usual route, feeling calm and content. Her coarse black hair rested in two low braids; her black-framed glasses accentuated her cheekbones when she smiled.
As always, she smiled when her elementary schools students, part of Palo Alto's Voluntary Transfer Program, boarded to go back home to East Palo Alto. The kindergarteners sat at the front; the older students in back, where they chatted or listened to their MP3 players.
Some of the students ran over to the windows, where they called out to their classmates. Pitre reminded them to stay in their seats, as usual.
But when she drove onto Beach Street in East Palo Alto, Pitre's routine day took an alarming turn: In front of her, a car was stopped in the middle of the road. Then she saw a man lean out the passenger side with a gun and begin firing at one of the nearby houses.
"Get down!" Pitre recalls screaming to the children. "Lie down; all the way down on the ground!"
After what seemed like several minutes of rapid firing, they heard the car drive off.
With some of the kindergarteners crying, Pitre walked up and down the bus reassuring them they were safe and could return to their seats. Then she called her dispatch to report the incident and continued on her route. Later that day, she filed a police report.
This month, the district's Superintendent Kevin Skelly recognized Pitre's heroism at a board meeting. The California Highway Patrol had awarded Pitre for her outstanding performance as a school bus driver for the district in October.
"I'm like, 'This is cool,'" Pitre said. "I found this letter from the superintendent in my mailbox when I got in. I was like, 'Wow!' They told me how they appreciated me."
Pitre is one of 26 bus drivers in the transfer program bringing students from Ravenswood City School District to Palo Alto Unified. The program was created in 1986 after the San Mateo County Court ordered that students, mostly minorities, from the Ravenswood school district be allowed equal rights to education. Now more than 500 students are in the program.
Pitre, who has driven a bus for the transfer program for six years, said she loves her job because she gets to work with children and drive. Before this job, she worked in food services for the district, delivering hot lunches by van.
Her affection for the children shows. Last week, when "the Davids" (two kindergarteners named David) boarded the bus, she joked with one of them, "David, you aren't going to fall asleep on me again are you?"
"What? No! I don't go to sleep," David Serenez said.
Full of energy, he crawled under the seats and slithered on the floor. Some of the students didn't notice, but Pitre does.
"Let's stay on the top of the seat. That is safe," she said.
Sometimes, she breaks up fights by pulling bullies aside and reminding them to think about how the other student feels.
On other days, she pretends the bus is an airplane. When their destination nears, she tells her students to prepare for landing by sitting in an upright position.
As a bus driver, she is charged with ensuring her students return home safely — a responsibility she takes seriously. On a typical bus ride, she picks up more than a dozen K-5 students from three elementary schools.
She will walk the younger students home if a parent does not pick them up.
"If the child shows any signs that they're afraid, we don't leave that child alone," she said.
Pitre raised her own children in East Palo Alto and chose to send them to schools in Palo Alto through the transfer program. She wanted a better education for her children, she said, especially after she saw students fighting at schools in East Palo Alto.
"In Palo Alto schools my kids meet different people that don't live in the area," Pitre said. "Parents get to know other parents. They have the best education possible.
"I don't think it's the case for every kid," she continued. "I think some kids have problems that they have to deal with and then they transfer it to Palo Alto schools and teachers have to deal with it. Some of these kids have only one parent. They have it harder."
Parents appreciate the program — and Pitre.
"The Voluntary Transfer Program is very helpful because I work the graveyard shift," parent Tupou Hafoke said. "Sometimes I make it (to pick up my child), and sometimes I cannot. Dena's great. She's on time. She's helping the kids."
After almost 45 minutes of drops-offs last week, Pitre approached the last stop with the Davids, her only remaining passengers. They were sound asleep.
"This is my favorite part of the day," she said. "It's quiet."
Staff Writer Emilie Doolittle can be e-mailed at edoolittle@paweekly.com. | 
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