“I am so proud of Tonya,” said Louise Mayhew, Assistant Director of Support Services over Food Services and Transportation. “She kept her cool; she used her school bus training to keep all the students and coaches safe while her bus was on fire. Her favorite bus.”
Tonya Pennington was recognized as a transportation hero. Pennington, a school bus driver for AUSD, was celebrated for her quick thinking when she was driving the Atascadero High baseball team home from a game in Morro Bay on April 2. While driving, she heard a loud pop and pulled the bus over on Highway 41, told the baseball coaches to evacuate the team, and then went to the engine compartment with a fire extinguisher, where she found the engine on fire. She delegated emergency calls, moved the students away from the bus, and even went back into the bus to retrieve the players’ gear.
Christianna Marks / The Atascadero News
|