On April 23, ten North Royalton bus drivers participated in the Ohio Department of Education North Region School Bus Road-e-o at Solon High School. The competition included a 100 question written exam and a Road-e-o course to test the 133 driver’s skills. After the nine hours of competition, the North Royalton team of ten drivers and ten judges/helpers tied with Wadsworth for first place for the best decorated area/team spirit. The North Royalton team had a total of four drivers in the top 25. Drivers Anne Marie Scharfenort, Karin Wolford, Jerry Niemira and Bruce Abbott finished in a tie for second place team in the team competition and Bruce Abbott finished in sixth place overall which qualifies him for the State Competition on May 7 in Columbus. This is Bruce’s second year in a row qualifying for the State Competition.
On Saturday, May 7, 48 of the best School Bus Drivers in Ohio met in Columbus to compete for the State Road-e-o title. North Royalton bus driver, Bruce Abbott, finished second overall and finished as the top conventional style bus driver in the state. Abbott has now qualified for the International School Bus Road-e-o to be held July 16th and 17th in Greensboro, North Carolina. He will be competing against the top two bus drivers from each state and Canada. Abbott and his five teammates from the Ohio Department of Education North Region, were also crowned State Team Champions.
“The drivers practiced and built props for our team area on their own time,” said Transportation Department Supervisor, Joe Marcinowski. “The drivers and volunteers always have a lot of fun with this competition.”