BCAT News

The Burlington School Committee Tuesday voted to name the school entrance road after beloved Burlington school bus driver Dottie Bartlett Yeadon, who passed away Dec. 5, 2022.

The idea to name the school entrance road after Yeadon first came from Burlington Select Board Member Joe Morandi and was approved by the Select Board on Feb. 13.

“I think there’s a lot of kids in this town that would be there for the ceremony of flagging it and opening it up,” Morandi said.

“Everybody knew Dottie, everybody,” said School Committee Member Christine Monaco. “For all the kids she drove around, for my children that she drove on all kinds of sports around, and grandchildren she drove to all kinds of sports events, I think this is a wonderful idea.”

The road is not an official State of Massachusetts road, so the town is free to put up a sign without additional approvals.

Morandi said the Highway Department is willing to create the sign.

The naming touched Victoria Kirchner, Yeadon’s youngest daughter. “After my mom’s diagnosis and after she passed, we heard story after story after story of kids that she impacted,” she said. “She was a bus driver and she made such an impact, so you don’t need to be famous and have a special title, you just care about kids and about people, and you get a street named after you I guess.”