TUSTIN : Picture This: a Bus Full of Child Artists

Special education student Jacob Wagtal said it would be a million years before he would fasten his seat belt on the school bus.

In years past, that remark would have earned him a citation for bad behavior. But bus aide Wilma LeMon has discovered another way to get students to buckle up, be seated, sit still, pipe down or otherwise keep them under control.

LeMon, 72, swaps good behavior for crayons and paper and a chance for students to have their work displayed in the Tustin Unified School District’s main office.

“My hope was to help turn the experience into something positively rewarding,” said LeMon, who rides the bus daily with up to two dozen students in grades kindergarten through 12 who have a variety of disabilities. She said that once students learn good behavior on the monotonous bus ride can be traded in for a chance to be creative, they opt for the crayons just about every time.

This year’s bus art is on display at the school district’s office at 300 S. C St. The works are a smorgasbord of brightly colored cartoon and storybook characters, as well as pictures of animals such as alligators, sharks and spiders. One student, Andrew Perry, drew lifelike pictures of Michael Jackson, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robin Hood throughout the school year.

Like Perry, other students now have fine-art portfolios instead of a stack of citations, LeMon said.

“Most of these kids that are excellent artists are the ones who would really give me a hard time,” said LeMon, who has worked as a bus aide for 16 years.

Aside from making her job easier, LeMon said she hopes students get a better sense of self-esteem from her bus art program. She admits that in the beginning it was difficult to get students to participate.

“They were afraid of failure. Many thought they failed if they colored outside the lines of a drawing, or made the whole picture black,” LeMon said. In time and with her coaching they became more enthusiastic, she said.

“These students can’t always do academic work . . . and they forget things,” she said. “They need to know that they are important. They may not be academically (adept), but the world is made up of much more than that.”