Charles Brown watched from behind the wheel of his school bus as little kindergartners became young adults.
For 32 years, the bus driver’s smiling face started and ended each student’s school day.
On Thursday, Brown will retire from Atlanta Public Schools after a career dedicated to transporting children to and from the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf in Clarkston.
“It’s almost like kids grew up on my bus,” said Brown, 68.
Just like he grew up in APS.
Brown is the son of two longtime Atlanta school employees. His mom was a social worker and a principal. His dad taught health and coached track. Brown recalls tagging along with his father when he made home visits. His dad would stop by to check on students and sometimes eat dinner with their families.
In 1970, Brown graduated from Frederick Douglass High School as a member of its first senior class.
He worked in retail and did freelance photography before seeking a job with the school system. He remembered his parents had good health insurance and a tight-knit group of coworkers who gathered often to play bridge or share a meal.
“I didn’t know anything about driving,” Brown said. “I just wanted to work for APS.”
The district offered a training program, and Brown got his commercial license. It was 1988, and Brown had recently married his wife, Suzette, with whom he has adopted nine children.
“He’s been married to me one more year than he’s been married to Atlanta Public Schools,” she said.
Credit: Ben Gray
Credit: Ben Gray
In his three decades of service, he’s left a mark.
His bosses and coworkers celebrated his retirement on the last day before the winter break by arranging for Brown to ride in a big yellow bus to the Metropolitan Parkway transportation center. There, scores of other drivers lined the driveway to clap and cheer as his bus, horns blaring and lights flashing, pulled in.
Later, Brown teared up as family and colleagues offered well-wishes during a virtual retirement party.
The APS transportation department declared that day, Dec. 18, as “Mr. Charles Brown Day.” Employees are encouraged to mark the occasion by performing an act of kindness in honor of Brown, whose picture is the first posted to the APS Transportation Walk of Fame honor wall located just inside the office’s front doors.
“I’ve never caught him in anything but a cheerful moment,” said John Franklin, the district’s executive director of transportation. “He’s just a special, special man.”
Brown built trust among parents whose children attended the school for the deaf. His route took him all over the city, from Buckhead to southwest Atlanta, and then to the state-authorized school that enrolls children from about 30 Georgia counties.
At the beginning of the school year, he’d drive his bus to each student’s house, stop, get off and introduce himself to the families. He made sure they had his cell phone number. He learned to build those relationships by watching his father interact with parents.
He picked up a bit of sign language, and he and the children read each others’ lips.
Marrie Tronolone, the school’s special education coordinator, got to know Brown during her 27 years at the school. He was a mentor to dozens of drivers who transport students from as far away as Gainesville and Macon.
When children stayed late for after-school activities, Brown was the first person to pick up the phone to make sure they had a ride home.
“It will be weird to go to school but [have] him not be there,” Tronolone said.
In recent years, two buses have transported Atlanta students to the school for the deaf. Sheldon Braswell drives the other bus.
Instead of being handed an official route sheet in the fall, the two drivers got a list of children who attended the school. They divided up the names and figured out which driver would pick up which child. If they ever had trouble on the long drive, they helped each other out.
One of Brown’s most memorable work days happened in 2014, when a snowstorm snarled traffic and stranded motorists. He got his students home safely, but once he arrived at the transportation center he realized he wouldn’t be as fortunate.
That night he slept on the office floor.
Credit: Ben Gray
Credit: Ben Gray
Since the pandemic closed school buildings, he’s spent his work days delivering meals to Atlanta students as part of the district’s food distribution program.
In retirement, Brown plans to devote more time to his photography business and support his wife in her work with foster and adoptive families. Over the years, the Browns welcomed children from infants to school-age kids into their home, expanding their own family.
Throughout his bus-driving career, Brown woke up before his 3:30 a.m. alarm. It’s a habit that continues even on holidays and weekends, his wife said.
“He will wake up, and say, ‘I’m late for work,’” she said. She’ll reply: “Charles, calm down. It’s Saturday.”
But, he was programmed to “work, work, work.” And worry about the children that needed him.
Nobody expects that to change just because he’s retired.
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