Soon enough, you won’t be seeing those glossy yellow school buses carrying young students with bright minds and curious imaginations on the roads for a few months, with summer break nearing.
The end is near for the academic year, and it’s time to recognize the school bus drivers who safely take the area’s children to and from home each day.
One of them was named the area’s Bus Driver of the Year by the Dutchess and Ulster County Traffic Safety Boards on May 28.
The Hyde Park Central School District’s nominee, described as the epitome of dependable, was not only noticed by district staff, but the county traffic boards, too.
Each academic year, according to Hyde Park Central School District’s Head Bus Driver Linda Lawlor, the bus garage’s staff, from the supervisors to the bus shop mechanics, come together and nominate one of their bus drivers.
The decision comes down to “who’s gone above and beyond for us,” Lawlor said, and it was an easy choice for the 2025-26 academic year.
Stephen Cutler, a school bus driver with the district for over 10 years now, who has two kids in Hyde Park schools, is this year’s School Bus Driver of the Year.
About Cutler: How this job ‘fell into place’
Cutler had no idea he had been nominated.
It was a surprise when, on May 28, at the garage tucked behind Ralph R Smith Elementary School, the district’s transportation staff, along with his family, shared the news that he had won the award.
“My family was hiding out in the back room,” Cutler said.
Before the award, when the job began over a decade ago, Cutler said it “just fell into place.”
Cutler previously had a landscaping job in Wappingers, with grueling 10-to-14-hour days while his son was only a baby. His father-in-law used to work in the district and suggested Cutler apply for the bus driver position and benefit from the better hours.
He’s been driving the bright yellow, 40-foot, 40,000-pound vehicle on school routes ever since.
Lawlor, a 12-year district employee who received the award two years ago, said no matter the ask, Cutler is ready to help, and is a “super sweet, nice” and outgoing person, who just about everyone knows and likes.
Cutler’s the school bus driver ‘taking care of everything’
District Supervisor of Transportation Nicole Arteta said they struggled a lot this year with school bus driver attendance, but with Cutler there, those absences didn’t feel as heavy.
“Stephen was willing to take on whatever routes that we needed and always has a smile on his face,” Arteta said. “Whatever he can do to help the department, he’s always right there.”
That includes keeping his bus, number 529, clean, maintained and “taking care of everything,” including the other buses he’s in and out of while covering other routes.
Cutler’s got his regular bus routes every morning and afternoon, but school trips, travel for sports and taking on routes when other school bus drivers are out have kept him well-connected to students.
His routes allow for some extra wiggle room during the day, but Cutler’s day always starts with the high school students, then he shuttles the younger Haviland Middle School students or the littlest Universal Pre-K students and afterward picks up North Park Elementary students.
From the district’s youngest students to the oldest, Cutler will chat with the kids, always making sure to greet them as they get on and off the bus. He also hopes to be the person to listen to all the things they’re up to when they need.
He takes safety seriously, and with this job and the responsibility that comes with it, he takes it to the “fullest,” like anything in his life.
“(The students) know that he’s going to take care of them — they’re going to get where they need to go safely,” Lawlor said.
From the work environment to the kids’ smiling faces, he’s glad to be a school bus driver
Cutler enjoys being helpful and being the person people can rely on. Even if he can’t help right away, he always offers to be there another time when the transportation team needs it.
Around the bus garage, he’s been lovingly nicknamed “Cutlet,” and it stuck. The work environment and the people he is surrounded by at the bus garage are some of his favorite parts of his job.
“The school district’s great,” he said.
It’s a fulfilling job for Cutler, getting to see the kids’ smiling faces during pickups and drop-offs each day.
But as time goes by, and the kids he first started driving are now graduated, starting their own lives, he’ll see them out and about every so often, and they’ll tell him, “Thank you for driving me,” he said.
“That kind of appreciation,” he said, even while the kids are now in college and moving on with their lives, is “rewarding” for him to hear, as much as the Bus Driver of the Year title.
“I’m glad I stuck with it,” Cutler said.
Nickie Hayes is the Breaking & Trending News Reporter for the Poughkeepsie Journal and focuses on how to make the most of what the mid-Hudson Valley has to offer. See her most recent articles here. Contact reporter Nickie Hayes: NHayes@poughkee.gannett.com, 845-863-3518 and @nickieehayess on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: A decade of dependability leads to top award for Hyde Park bus driver
Reporting by Nickie Hayes, Poughkeepsie Journal / Poughkeepsie Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Nickie Hayes, Poughkeepsie Journal | USA TODAY Network
