Title
Presentation/Recognition of Camp Crabgrass Staff.
Summary:
On June 12, 2019, on the way home from Typhoon Texas, bus 935 pulled over on the side of I-10E because of smoke coming from the front of the bus under the hood. It was immediately evident that there was an issue with the bus. Staff in the lead bus around 700 feet in front of bus 935 that pulled over on the shoulder. A staff member, Jacob, carefully backed the bus up on the shoulder as close as we could get to the other bus, this took about 3-5 minutes to carefully and slowly reverse the bus back. Once close to bus 935, another staff member, Ben, popped the hood of 935 and smoke was pouring out of the hood. For the safety of the children on the bus, Kristen Villalovos made the decision to transfer the kids and staff to the other bus, 936, that had back up ahead of bus 935. There were 35 kids and 9 staff on bus 935 and 30 kids with 9 staff on bus 936. The buses were on the shoulder against a cement wall with only about 2-3 feet of space and with an entrance ramp on the other side where cars entering the freeway about 1,000 feet in front of the buses. Kristen had to speak with staff quickly to let them know what they needed to do to move the children as quickly, calmly, and safely to the other bus. Staff then built a wall using themselves as a barrier staff began unloading bus 935 and taking kids in groups of 4/5 kids at a time to load them onto bus 936, this took less than 5 minutes.
"I cannot say enough about staff, they kept calm and collective during this entire process. We had kids crying, scared and one that had a panic attack. Ben and Jacob did the best job I could have expected from them. We quickly got the kids sat down, staff on the bus, but we had to leave 6 staff behind on the bus because we did not have room for them on bus 936. Ben Stereff, Luis Floyd, Angela Gonzalez, Michael Aragon, Jonathan Rivera and Max Vicinanza all stayed behind on bus 935." Stated Kristen Villalovos afte...
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