Llano Independent School District bus driver Kalyn Kothmann in the front seat of her bus. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
Kalyn Kothmann has worked with special-needs students in the Llano Independent School District for 26 years, and for the past 15 of those years, she has also been their bus driver. She was voted Favorite School Bus Driver for the Kingsland/Llano area by The Picayune Magazine readers and KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune listeners in the 2025 Locals Love Us contest.
Kothmann pulls double duty for Llano ISD, driving students to school in the morning, working as an administrative assistant in the Special Education Office during the day, and then running back to the bus to take students to their respective homes when class lets out.
“(The kids) are all my babies,” she said. “I have one on my bus that I have had since he was 3, and he’s 18 now.”
Kothmann said she was surprised to hear about her Locals Love Us win because of the confidentiality normally associated with special education workers. While she said she was honored to win, her relationships with the students and their families are her biggest motivators.
“I’m still friends with most of the parents. I still keep in touch with a lot of the kids who are out of school,” she said. “I don’t know why (I was drawn to work with special-needs children). I never thought I would be, but I am. I love them, and I want to make sure they have as good a chance as the rest of them.”
She had been in the LISD Special Education Office for 11 years, working as an administrative assistant, but when her sons were both in college, she took on the role of school bus driver to help pay the bills. Even after her sons graduated, she continued that work.
“This is actually my favorite job, the driving,” she said. “We have kids on our buses, all of us do, that have emotional issues or behavioral issues, and if we can keep them regulated when they go to school, then we’ve done our job. Hopefully, we can make a difference between if they’re going to have a good day or a bad day.”
