New school bus hub named for slain ‘hero’ driver. Here’s how Pasco students will benefit

Nancy Lenhart’s nails are polished school-bus yellow and turquoise as she holds a bushel of blue and white ribbons close to her chest.

The number “4” is painted on one of her fingers, a nod to the route number her slain husband drove for six years as a driver for Longfellow Elementary School students.

“It’s very emotional,” says Lenhart, 75, standing close to four generations of her family nearby. “It’s a bittersweet, wonderful thing that’s happening today. The tribute that the community, the bus association — I mean, everyone that’s been involved in this has just honored us in ways that we can never repay it.”

Thursday was another stop on the Lenhart family’s journey to seek justice for Richard Lenhart, the beloved Pasco bus driver and family man who was attacked and killed while picking up students one day in September 2021.

The Pasco School District and the Pasco Chamber of Commerce organized a ribbon cutting event for the community and family to christen the newly built Richard L. Lenhart Transportation Center.

The new state-of-the-art facility and shop will be home to the Pasco-Finley transportation co-op. Pasco district officials say the new building will keep students and staff safer, save down time on buses, and allow them to start serving students with electric buses next school year.

‘Committed to the students’

Nancy Lenhart and her family unveiled a plaque honoring the life of Richard that will hang inside the new transportation center.

Superintendent Michelle Whitney said Richard embodied “selflessness, compassion and a deep commitment to the youth of this community.”

“Richard is a hero,” she said. “The dedication of this building in his name will serve as a lasting reminder of his bravery, sacrifice and service to his students. The students on his bus were ‘his kids,’ and Richard did not hesitate to put their safety and well-being before his own.”

Richard “Dick” Lenhart, 72, was picking up students outside of Longfellow Elementary School the afternoon of Sept. 24, 2021, when he was stabbed by Joshua Dian Davis.

Davis, 35, had reportedly driven his truck to a neighborhood near the school and parked it about 3 p.m. that day. As Lenhart was about to leave with a bus full of kids, Davis ran toward the bus and prompted Lenhart to open the bus doors in anticipation of a question.

Davis reportedly stepped onto the bus and asked if it went to Road 100. When Lenhart said it didn’t, Davis pulled a knife out and stabbed him, court documents allege, and then left the bus and waited for nearby police to arrive. Lenhart died later at a hospital.

The incident sent shockwaves through the Pasco community, and sparked an outpouring of support for Pasco’s nearly 100 bus drivers as well as the slain bus driver.

The incident turned Nancy Lenhart, who had been married 40 years to Richard, into an advocate for bus driver safety.

“My family and I are truly humbled and honored by the tribute that is being paid to Richard today, and it will last forever,” Nancy Lenhart told Thursday’s large crowd. “Our family thanks you for all of this, and we pray on all the school bus drivers and all the children who were affected by this. We love you guys — and we stop for the red panels,” she said.

Davis is currently awaiting trial in Franklin County Jail. The courts are currently awaiting a report on his mental health examination.

A trial date has not been set yet. A review hearing is set for next week.

New bus facility

The new Richard L. Lenhart Transportation Center will play host to 170 Pasco buses and 22 Finley buses.

The new two-floor, 30,000-square-foot facility was paid for by $3 million in local funds earmarked in the school district’s 2017 bond package and $7 million in capital funds from the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

It replaces the old facility — a pair of portables located at the same lot near 3412 N. Stearman Ave. in Pasco — and features new offices, staff training space, nine shop bays and a charging station to accommodate three new electric buses Pasco that have a range of 120 miles.

The new facility is decades in the making, Whitney said, and was only made possible because of the state funds made available through their transportation co-operative established with Finley School District.

“Over the last 20 years, our district has almost doubled in size. And while we think about that in terms of needing more schools, more students also means more buses and vehicles that we need to maintain,” Whitney said.

Pasco School Board President Amy Phillips said serving students with safe transportation helps fulfill one of the district’s key “outrageous outcomes” to establish meaningful connections with students.

“Bus drivers can really help to make connections with kids and sometimes those kids who don’t make connections with teachers,” Phillips said.

Jessica De La Mora, Pasco’s interim transportation director, said the new facility also centralizes their dispatch unit, increases their classroom capacity for new drivers, expands the number of lifts and triples the number of bays for mechanics to work on buses in the shop.

“That’s nice because with only have three bays before, mechanics had to work outside and couldn’t get anything done. Now, everybody has their own bay and that’s going to be really nice to have,” she said.

Pasco is currently hiring bus drivers, and pays for students to earn their commercial driver’s license.