A longtime school bus driver received a heartwarming surprise from Star City School District in Arkansas when the transportation building was named after him.

Eighty-seven-year-old Brames Jackson has dedicated most of his life to serving his community in southeast Arkansas for decades. STN discovered a family connection when reaching out to Star City Transportation Director Kenneth Jackson. Brames is Kenneth’s uncle, and their story reveals a family legacy of outstanding student transportation service.

Brames Jackson became a school bus driver in 1964. He was on the district’s custodial staff, when he was asked to cover a route for a driver that was involved in a school bus crash. He shared that he continued to drive that bus for three months unpaid, simply to make sure that the students on the route got to school. The oversight was corrected, and he was officially put on the transportation payroll.

“When I got on that bus, I asked the Lord to take care of me and the children. And He did that. I didn’t want any child to get hurt and, I didn’t want to hurt any child,” said Brames.

He shared his entire 61-year-long career as a driver is accident free. The only maintenance he said he had was when he got a flat tire while on a route. He also shared that his route was often hard to navigate with lots of mud and rural roads. He proudly shared that he never got stuck, even during extreme weather conditions.

He relayed a story of waking up one day to snow but reported to work and drove his bus to the first stop on his route. The student informed him that she had just been told that school was cancelled due to the snow. For Brames, his focus was always dedication to the students, even in bad weather.

His nephew Kenneth Jackson said that his uncle has always been a source of inspiration to him. Kenneth began driving a school bus in 2009 and was made the transportation director in 2022, leading a fleet of 16 route buses and 22 drivers. Brames shared the advice he gave to Kenneth when he started in his new leadership role which was to focus on doing his job well and to connect with students and district staff. Those relationships with teachers, superintendents and other district leadership, the drivers and especially with the students are what create a lasting and positive impact.

A key mindset Kenneth said he shares with his uncle is the unwavering dedication to student safety, as students on the bus are “precious cargo.” As Brames said he sees the students as “pure gold” to their families and parents and that as student transporters, it’s crucial to see the students in the same way.

Both uncle and nephew said that they treat the students as if they were their own. Brames shared that he often sees adults who rode his school bus as young children and is happy to see them doing well in their lives. While he says he rode the school bus as a child and didn’t give his driver any trouble, he often encountered students having difficult behaviors. He stated that his goal was for students to not get taken off the route but rather address the behavior and keep them on the bus.

One day, Brames discovered a student smoking on board the bus. He told the student he would have to write him up, to which the student responded with a threat. Brames still took the boy to the office, despite the fact that he was armed with a knife.

Many years later, the former student approached Brames and hugged him. “’You made a man out of me. You don’t know how much I love you,’” Brames recalled the man told him. The boy had to go before the school board before he could ride the school bus again, but that moment was a turning point in his life. He later went to college, married a teacher and is successful in his work in the trucking industry.

“I felt like I helped that young man and I felt good over that,” said Brames.

The Arkansas Association of Pupil Transportation honored Brames as the 2025 School Bus Driver of the Year in June.

When Kenneth Jackson learned his uncle was retiring, he went to Superintendent Jordan Frizzell to ask if the school district would rename the transportation building after him. Kenneth said Frizzell enthusiastically accepted the idea and the district shared on its Facebook page last month that the Star City Board of Education officially named the transportation facility as the “Brames Jackson Transportation Building.”

“His commitment, integrity and care have made a lasting impact on generations of students and families,” said the post. “We are deeply thankful for his unwavering professionalism and the encouragement he offered to countless children through the years.”

When asked about his reaction to the news, Brames tearfully said, “I thank God. My nephew, the superintendent, I thank God for the school and the staff.”

Both true family men, Kenneth said that his uncle is well known for throwing the best family cookouts for the 4th of July. Brames, Kenneth continued, is a humble man who doesn’t like to draw attention to his achievements, including the adoption of multiple children over the course of his life.

Kenneth also stated that Brames is remaining active in his retirement as a full-time minister of a local church and president of the local usher board. He said that growing up with his uncle, he fondly remembers Brames’ favorite saying is “By the help of the good Lord.”

Related: School Bus Driver Knits Beanies to Spread Warmth, Love in Oklahoma City
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Related: Superintendent Snapshot: Fully Staffed Arkansas District Focus’ on Employees

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After finishing his afternoon route on Sept. 10, 23-year student transportation veteran Julio Ospina saw a young child walking along the roadway wearing a harness. He immediately relied on his training and intuition.

Ospina, a two-year driver for Wylie ISD located northeast of Dallas, stopped the bus and contacted authorities. He soon learned the child had been reported missing from a neighboring school district that morning. He stayed with the child until police arrived, ensuring the student remained safe and calm.

“Trusting his instincts and training, Julio quickly realized something wasn’t right,” said Martiza Valentin, national account manager for occupant and wheelchair securement manufacturer AMF Bruns America. “That little boy trusted the man in the school bus.

“Thanks to his swift action, the child was safely transported into the care of law enforcement and eventually to relieved family members, preventing what could have been a tragic outcome.”

Valentin continued that stories like Ospina’s are the type AMF-Bruns wants to share.

It was Ospina’s extraordinary moment of heroism that prompted the company to name him its National Special Needs Driver of the Year. The award honors transportation professionals who demonstrate exceptional dedication, professionalism and compassion in serving students with special needs.

AMF-Bruns sponsors the award each year to “highlight outstanding contributions to the safe transportation of people with limited mobility.”

Liz Ospino, Julio’s wife, nominated him.

“This act wasn’t part of his job description, but it is exactly who Julio is,” Liz said. “His attentiveness, quick thinking, and compassion turned a potentially dangerous situation into one of peace and safety.”

Julio Ospino told School Transportation News that winning the award means more to him than he can put into words.

“I am truly humbled. I don’t do this job for recognition, I do it because I care about the children in my care and this child was definitely not in a safe place,” he said. “Knowing that others see value in what I do is incredibly meaningful. I am fortunate to work with an amazing district with the best people.”

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He said having his wife nominate him “means everything.”

“She knows my heart better than anyone, and the fact that she recognized the care I have for these students makes this award even more special,” he added, noting her nomination was a surprise. “Knowing that she believed my actions were worthy of recognition makes this experience incredibly special to me.”

Valentin added that drivers play a vital role in supporting students outside of the classroom.

“The relationships [they] build impact each child’s journey, both academically and personally,” she said.

A celebration in Ospino’s honor was held on Dec. 4, when he was handed a $1,000 check.

The post Texas School Bus Driver Wins AMF Bruns Special Needs Driver of Year appeared first on School Transportation News.

FRISCO, Texas — Jennifer Fugate arrived at the Transporting Students with Disabilities (TSD) and Special Needs National Conference ahead of the annual roadeo competition and asked out loud, “Hey, are you Pinkie?”

Pinkie Roland responded, “Yes, are you Jennifer?”

Fugate, a school bus driver for Mansfield ISD located about an hour south of the conference hotel Embassy Suites Dallas-Frisco, signed up for the roadeo event but didn’t have a teammate. Neither did Roland. The event, organized by the industry group Women in Transportation., or Wit., usually attracts set teams of bus drivers and attendants but allows individuals to register and later be teamed with another lone participant.

Fugate and Roland were a logical pair, unbeknownst to them. They discovered ahead of Saturday’s competition held at nearby Prosper ISD, that they have a lot more in common than arriving solo.

Both are employees of Manfield ISD but their paths had never crossed. The school district has over 200 drivers, they explained at the roadeo banquet on Saturday night sponsored by Q’Straint/Sure Lok, moments after their names were called as winners of the competition. The competition is comprised of navigating nine hands-on stations — a pretrip inspection, wheelchair loading, wheelchair securement, student behavior management, car seat securement, railroad crossing, serpentine, rear alley, and emergency evacuation — as well as a written exam.

It was the fifth consecutive roadeo win at TSD Conference for a team from Texas.

Roland obtained her CDL three months ago and is driving for Mansfield after working as an attendant for the previous two years. Fugate is also a driver for the district and has been for the past couple of years.

Fugate, who played the role of the driver during the roadeo, said the most eye-opening aspect for her was the proper securement of children in a car seat as well as wheelchair securement. Roland, the attendant, agreed that the car seat competition was the most difficult for her along with managing student behavior.

“We’ll be back,” Roland said when asked if she and Fugate will try to defend their title next year.

Fugate’s and Roland’s training at Mansfield ISD paid off with a cumulative score of 947 points out of a possible 1,000. Second place went to the team of Elizabeth Berninger and Sheri Peterson, representing the Washington Association for Pupil Transportation as the state’s special needs roadeo champions from Kent School District. Andwain Coleman and Mohmed Omera of Plano ISD near Dallas, Texas, finished third.

Related: New Roadeo Scholarship Offered for TSD Conference, Applications Open
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Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

Interstate truckers in the U.S. are required to read and speak English under guidance by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (MCSAP). 

The federal register states that interstate drivers must read and speak enough English that they can “sufficiently converse with the general public” and respond to official inquiries. English-speaking regulations for drivers first came into effect in 1937 under the Interstate Commerce Commission. In 2016 the Obama administration relaxed enforcement, but in April the Trump administration rescinded that directive.

Enforcement of the rules vary from state to state. The U.S. Department of Transportation claimed in a press release that California, Washington and New Mexico have failed to enforce English requirements for commercial drivers.

On Aug. 26, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the federal government would withhold all MCSAP funding for these states unless they “adopt and enforce” English requirements within 30 days.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Federal Register: Driver Qualifications; Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Applicability of Language Requirement to Drivers Who Do Not Meet the Hearing Standard
• U.S. Department of Transportation: Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy to California, Washington, and New Mexico: Enforce English Language Requirements or Lose Federal Funding
• Honigman Law Firm: Executive Order Revives English Proficiency Enforcement for Truck Drivers

Are US interstate truckers required to read and speak English? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

News always travels fast, but it is not always accurate, which led to a Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District (Cy-Fair ISD) bus driver being incorrectly accused of driving erratically while transporting students via a local news station. The district’s superintendent released a social media statement setting the record straight.

On Monday, KHOU-11 published a news article reporting that the unidentified Cy-Fair ISD bus driver was pulled over by police and administered a field sobriety test after a receiving report from a bystander claiming they “saw the bus driving erratically.”

Cy-Fair Superintendent Doug Killian released a statement Thursday defending the school bus driver and clarifying the events.

“On Monday morning, one of our new drivers hit a curb on a tight turn to avoid a vehicle in the opposite lane,” Killian stated. “A community member reported this to Harris County Precinct 5 Constables. Our team reviewed the video of the route multiple times and can definitively say the driver was not driving erratically, as it was reported.”

Killian confirmed the driver was given a field sobriety test twice by law enforcement, as was shown by KHOU-11, and both tests came back negative. The school bus driver was then taken to a clinic for drug and alcohol testing, per district protocol. Killian confirmed those tests also came back negative.

The school bus driver was reportedly back on route Friday.

In the statement, Killian expressed his disappointment in the “click-bait report” that was released by the news station and said that the district is requesting an on-air retraction and apology to the driver.

“The media story created unnecessary embarrassment for this driver and was released prior to the completion of our full investigation. It painted a negative light on the true professionalism of our CFISD bus drivers and transportation staff,” he said.

He continued that while he does not hold out hope that the retraction and apology will happen, he felt it was his duty as superintendent to publicly release the facts of the incident and that he “cannot in good conscience sit by and watch a staff member be attacked or presented in a poor light when their actions were not poor or negatively impactful to kids.”

He explained that after the school bus driver was pulled over, the students onboard behaved well despite the delay, which he attributed to the “quality of our drivers and the high expectations they set for our riders since the first day of school.”

Killian thanked the driver involved for their service and said he encourages the media to report on positive news stories throughout the school year.

On social media, Kilian’s statement was commended by the community for defending the reputation of the driver. One Facebook commenter noted that following the release of the story, “There were so many hurtful and ugly negative comments,” illustrating how a story shared on social media can quickly garner a strong public reaction, even if the facts have not been verified yet.

“This was truly a fantastic example of leadership, accountability, and standing and speaking directly to the people and FOR the people you serve,” said another Facebook comment.

Meanwhile, KHOU published an updated article Thursday noting Killian’s response and the school bus driver passing all drug and alcohol tests, adding, “That criticism came despite the fact that we reached out to Cy-Fair ISD multiple times throughout the day ahead of our story Tuesday night and shared the district’s statement that noted the driver passed two field sobriety tests and an alcohol test, but had been placed on paid leave pending drug test results.”

The news station also reported it asked Cy-Fair for access to the video exonerating the school bus driver, but the request was denied.

Related: NTSB’s Alcohol Impairment Detection Recommendation More Nuanced for School Bus Drivers
Related: Update: Feds Withdraw Oral Fluid Collection for CDL Drug Tests Rule
Related: FMCSA Resources for Implementing Upcoming Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse

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