In nearly four decades driving a school bus for Panther Valley, Bob Piscelli has always safely delivered his students to school.

But one morning last month, Piscelli had to stop and evacuate the students from his bus when it started filling with smoke from a mechanical problem.

Piscelli’s quick thinking earned him the school’s “employee of the month” award, which he received on Tuesday. It also earned him the respect of the students on his bus, Panther Valley Junior-Senior High school principal Patti Ebbert said.

“They said, ‘Mrs. Ebbert, Bob the bus driver was the greatest. He saved our lives,’?” Ebbert said.

Piscelli, of Lansford, has been driving a school bus for Panther Valley for 38 years, through rain, fog and winter weather. Sept. 14 was the first time where he had to cut his run short.

Approaching Panther Valley Junior-Senior High School with a bus full of students from the Coaldale area, he saw smoke filling the back of the bus. He looked for a place where the students could exit safely, and told them to get out the front door.

“It was a trying moment,” Piscelli said.

Other bus drivers helped get Piscelli’s students to school. He drove the damaged bus back to the garage, and got behind the wheel of another bus to do the intermediate school route he also drives every day.

Back at the school, the school nurse checked out the students before they returned to class. While they waited to be checked out, the students told Ebbert about how their bus driver helped them.

“The kids’ statement was ‘he needs a raise, he needs a promotion,’?” she said.

She recommended that he receive the Employee of the Month Award. The previous month’s award winner chooses who gets it, so the students told seventh grade teacher Patrick Crampsie that he should choose Piscelli. He took their recommendation.

“His calm demeanor kept the students at ease,” Crampsie said Tuesday.

Piscelli loves driving a school bus because of the students, and because it keeps him active. Tara Goho, Piscelli’s supervisor with the district’s bus contractor, Kistler Transportation, said the feeling is mutual.

“The kids love him, he loves the kids. We couldn’t ask for a better driver,” she said.