Cyndi Karner has been driving a school bus for 36 years, 22 of those years for Colonial Intermediate Unit 20. She also serves as a CDL trainer for the Transportation Department.
Cyndi brings the same level of enthusiasm and professionalism to her role on the CIU 20 team every day. She describes her time on the bus as "my happy place, I call it my office on wheels." She realizes that she plays an integral part of the day for the children that CIU 20 serves, works to engage them, and bring normalcy to their lives during the pandemic, "We still say good morning, we still laugh, we still play the letter game with items we see along our route...we still sing."
Safety remains a high priority for Cyndi. She reinforces COVID mitigation strategies like social distancing, masking up, and keeping her bus clean and sanitized. Cyndi values the lasting impact that she's had on the lives of countless students, "I absolutely love the fact that many students I transported from long ago still reach out to me after they are grown and have kids of their own."
Her advice to a new bus driver starting out is simple, "Safety first, schedule second. Be consistent, be fair, put on a happy face, and please don't argue with parents."