He wears many hats at one of California’s tiniest schools, including hero bus driver
Your morning catchup: California’s best bus driver, inside the arrests of several L.A. Iranians and more big stories
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Perrin Turney started driving the big yellow school bus in the teensy Humboldt County mountain town of Kneeland when he was just 19.
He’s 24 now, wizened by five years of steering the Bluebird 34-seater up steep, twisting roads, through snow storms, over ice and through the North Coast’s ever-present fog. In April, the California Department of Education named him the state’s transportation services employee of the year.
Turney’s honor is huge news in Kneeland, an unincorporated community that consists of an elementary school, a rural fire station and a clutch of homes in the forest.
“Everybody I’ve ever talked to in my whole life has been reaching out,” Perrin told me with a laugh, adding that he’s a low-key guy who’s a little awkward when it comes to accepting compliments.
Low enrollment has long put Kneeland’s school at risk
I first met Perrin and his boss, Greta Turney — the Kneeland Elementary School superintendent, principal and sixth-through-eighth-grade teacher, as well as Perrin’s mom — in 2022. I was writing about how the COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly saved the school, one of California’s smallest.
In 2020, Kneeland Elementary was on the verge of closure because enrollment had dropped to 12 students. During the pandemic, it was allowed to quickly reopen for in-person learning because the tiny student body had lots of space to spread out on the grassy 2.5-acre campus.
It became a refuge for kids from bigger towns who struggled with online learning. By 2022, enrollment had nearly tripled, to 33 students. The school got more funding, hired a new teacher and built a new classroom — a bright spot amid the state’s steep decline in public school enrollment.
Today, Kneeland has 25 students in transitional kindergarten through eighth grade. Perrin buses more than half to class. State funding is tied to average daily attendance, and without that bus, the school likely would lose so many students that it would again be at risk of closure, Greta said.
“We would go under if we weren’t able to get those kids to school,” she said.
Perrin’s contributions go beyond his bus-driving heroics
A slender young man with a mop of curly brown hair, Perrin is a math whiz who graduated high school in Arcata at 16 and has been working at Kneeland Elementary ever since. He started as a custodian and planned to keep working at the school for a year or so while he studied math at College of the Redwoods. But he keeps sticking around because he adores the kids, and they adore him right back.
Greta told me in 2022 that Perrin is mature beyond his years because he has overcome a lot. He was born with single suture sagittal craniosynostosis — a condition in which skull bones fuse too early in infancy, potentially causing problems with brain growth — and had six major surgeries by age 10.
Perrin now wakes at 5 a.m. each day and is at the bus yard by 6:50 a.m., he said. His hourlong route up the narrow mountain roads includes hairpin turns and no room for error.
“I know all the blind corners, and I know where you can look through the trees to see if there’s oncoming traffic,” he said.
He takes the route slowly, even when impatient drivers ride his bumper. When the roads get too dangerous in the winter, he personally makes the call to cancel class.
A few years ago, he was driving uphill when the front tires hit ice and the bus started to spin. A jokester in the back seat called out: We’re not facing the right direction!
“I remember ... looking at all those kids and thinking, ‘if your training’s going to kick in, it’s got to kick in right now,’” Perrin said. “I turned the wheel exactly how I was taught to turn it, and luckily, we ended up perfectly fine.”
He always stays calm, he said. If he’s calm, the kids are calm.
Like everyone at the school, Perrin “wears many hats,” as they say. He is a math teaching aide as well as a certified water operator who does all the treatments for the school’s water system. He recently created a “Maker’s Space” where the students do 3D printing, laser engraving, cardboard table saw cutting and sewing.
Greta said that when Perrin learned about his big award, he sent a screenshot of the announcement to the text chain that includes every school staffer — all eight of them.
“The mom in me is just bursting,” she said. “As his boss? I’m still super, super proud.”
Today’s top stories
Inside the arrests of several L.A. Iranians
- As the war in Iran continues, the U.S. State Department has detained five L.A. area-based Iranian nationals — all of whom are green card holders — and moved to strip them of their residency.
- The arrests have exposed a rift in the Iranian American community, which has grown increasingly polarized in recent years, leading to online smear campaigns and at times violence.
The D.C. gala shooting
- Cole Tomas Allen, the 31-year-old Torrance man charged with trying to kill President Trump at last weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner, will remain in federal jail pending trial.
- The case reveals Secret Service failures that could have led to tragedy at the D.C. gala.
Lucas Museum unveils inaugural exhibitions
- The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens Sept. 22 with about 20 inaugural exhibitions curated by George Lucas, spanning more than 30 galleries in Exposition Park.
- Despite expectations, only one exhibition focuses on “Star Wars”; the $1-billion collection celebrates diverse narrative art including comics, manga, children’s books and paintings.
What else is going on
- “Chonkers,” the massive sea lion, is drawing crowds at San Francisco pier.
- Singer D4vd dismembered a teen girl with a chainsaw and tried to cover his tracks, prosecutors allege.
- Failed plane and bus trips: How ICE can’t bring back a man wrongfully deported to Mexico.
- A SoCal man laundered millions for “crypto kids” who used stolen loot to live lavishly.
- Foreign investment in California rose last year despite trade disruption.
Commentary and opinions
- Fox loses it when Elmo learns Arabic, writes news and culture critic Lorraine Ali, but can’t find the words for Saudi prince’s stake in U.S. media.
- The future of Latino politics just played out in Whittier, columnist Gustavo Arellano writes.
- James Conlon begins his final L.A. Opera stretch as music director with a mission, writes classical music critic Mark Swed.
- Broadway’s strange season gets a boost from 7 acting powerhouses, theater critic Charles McNulty writes.
This morning’s must-read
FIFA is promoting its commitment to environmental sustainability ahead of this year’s World Cup. It also signed a sponsorship deal with the largest oil and gas company in the world, Saudi Aramco.
Another great read
- Amid backlash over World Cup parking and transportation, L..A. Metro offers a solution.
For your downtime
Going out
- Tours: Small spaces surprise and shine at the 2026 Pasadena Showcase House of Design.
- Festivals: Here are the 20 Netflix Is a Joke shows we’re most excited for this year.
- Restaurants: Why L.A.’s best rotisserie chicken may be at this former gas station in Pasadena.
Staying in
- Music: At 85, Ringo Starr has just released his second country album in less than a year and a half.
- Art and Fashion: The Met Gala, fashion’s biggest night, is around the corner. Here’s what to know and how to watch.
- Recipe: Here’s a recipe for creamy fruit tart pie.
- ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games.
Question of the day: What’s your favorite California-themed book?
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
And finally ... the photo of the day
Today’s great photo is from Times feature columnist Todd Martens at Disneyland, where Darth Vader set foot in the park’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, Fast Break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.
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