(L-R) North Colonie bus aide Audrey Vallee, bus driver Keving Henault and Superintendent Randy Ehrenberg. Vallee and Henault were honored for their quick thinking to ensure a student's safety.

January 29, 2009 - Bus driver Kevin Henault and bus aide Audrey Vallee were honored by the North Colonie Board of Education recently for their quick thinking when a student would not wake up on their bus.

Shortly after 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 13, Henault and Vallee had trouble waking one of their students. After a few attempts, they realized something was wrong and sprang into action. Vallee checked the child's pulse and made sure he was breathing, while Henault radioed the district's transportation headquarters that the child was not responsive and that they should call 911 immediately.

While Henault, Vallee and the boy's mother waited for the ambulance to arrive, the emergency dispatch center radioed them with instructions on how to put the boy in the best position to breathe. Less than five minutes later, emergency personnel arrived and transferred the boy to the ambulance, where they were able to awaken him and then take him to the hospital with his mother.

Once the ambulance left, Henault and Vallee were free to go. Because of the frightening nature of the incident, John Myers, the district's transportation coordinator, thought the driver and aide would be shaken and would rather have another bus driver and bus aide finish their route. In fact, Myers had a bus waiting in a nearby parking lot, but Henault and Vallee said they were OK to finish the route and did so.

The pair was honored by the Board of Education at its meeting on January 26.

"A bus driver's and bus aide's worst nightmare is for something bad to happen to one of their passengers," Myers wrote to the board. "Kevin and Audrey should be recognized for their calm and professional demeanor during this event."