54 School Transportation News Magazine September 2011 STN EDITORIAL


A Date with Destiny By Ryan Gray It can be rare these days to come across someone


who exhibits the utmost passion, conviction and pro- fessionalism not only at work but in their personal lives. Sometimes the two are one and the same. My


date with destiny came in the spring of 2001. Several months later, of course, all of our lives would change when the two


commercial jets were flown spinelessly into the World Trade Center towers, and a third was flown into the Pentagon. If not for the unimagineable cour- age of a group of passengers onboard Flight 93 above Pennsylvania, Sept. 11 would have been even worse. I, like most who recall that day’s events, remember exactly where I was


and what I was doing. I was sleeping, until the phone rang at about 5:45 a.m. I soon found myself in a state of shock as I sat in front of the televi- sion set watching live news reports from lower Manhattan. At the time I was a freelance writer working for several publications in the Los Angeles area, including School Transportation News. In February of that year, my employer, a sports Internet company, suf-


fered the dot bomb curse. Suddenly confronted with no job, and still marinating in the entrepreneurial juices of a startup, I was in no rush to return to corporate America. I began to market myself as a freelance reporter, and soon I was writing regular pieces in local newspapers and magazines on everything from sports to music to arts and culture. A friend called one day that spring to tell me of an opportunity at a


trade magazine company located about five minutes from my apart- ment in Redondo Beach, Calif. Te business owners were fair, I was told, and they paid an honest wage. Tere was but one catch, my friend added. I’d be reporting on school buses. School buses? You mean those smelly, loud things I rode on as a kid to and from field trips and high school sports events? What could possibly be the story there? Being the professional journalist I am, and always up for a challenge, I


figured, what the heck? I’d give this guy a call to find out more. After all, I didn’t have to take the job. I called the number I had been given, and Bill Paul answered on the other end. Te rest is history. Ten years later, I find myself somehow trying to fill his extremely large


shoes as editor in chief. Four years into succeeding him after his retire- ment, I am still amazed at the impact he has made on not only my life but also on the lives of countless numbers of student transporters na- tionwide. I won’t list the names of these people in this space, but their combined knowledge and experience are truly mind boggling. Tis month’s special “throw-back” edition is a tribute to both Bill and


Colette Paul, who threw their life savings behind a dream to report on and advocate for one of the most noble (and under-appreciated) careers that exist in this country. It is also my hope that our readers, too, feel a part of this special “tabloid” version of the magazine, whether or not they were in the industry back in 1991. While Homeland security, the economy and even pop culture have


taken a 180-degree turn over the past two decades, what remains the same is the dedication and passion exhibited by hundreds of thousands of student transporters nationwide who awaken before sunrise each morning and often don’t get home until well after dark in support of tens of millions of student riders and their parents. It is often a thankless job, and that’s one of the reasons why Bill Paul


took the chance that he did. He believed and continues to believe in this community dedicated to child safety. For that, I hope you can all join me in a hearty thank you. ■


An On-Going Media Journey in Search of Accuracy, Fairness


By Tony Corpin Tere’s an age-old saying in the news business that goes something like


this: “Doctors bury their mistakes, lawyers put theirs in jail and journalists publish their mistakes on the front page.” Looking back 20 years, it is so easy to focus on the evolution of


School Transportation News magazine and all the positive growth we have been fortunate enough to experience. Our first issue was in newspaper print as a tabloid-sized magazine, similar to this special anniversary edition. Having said that, I want to look back in history and poke a little fun at


ourselves and some of the interesting blunders that we have published over the years. One of the biggest typos I can recall was in the 2006 edition of our annual Buyers Guide. On the cover we misspelled our slogan: “Te Most Requested Reference Directory in Pupil Transpotation.” Read that line again. Even more ridiculous, we spelled Olympics “Olumpics” on the cover of our November 1996 issue. On the not-so-funny side, we have published articles that have needed


additional fact checking, or have not provided the entire story. Two of the articles that immediately come to mind have been published within the past 12 months. First, in the March 2011 issue, we published an article announcing STNSOCiAL, which can be accessed free of charge at www.stnsocial.com. In the article, we talked about how great we are for developing the


concept, and framework, of this industry networking site. What we did not mention was the fact that Heavy Duty Bus Parts was not just a sponsor of the site but a vital partner on developing both the idea and the actual site. Te company spent what ended up being hundreds of man hours to bring this tool to the masses. Truth be told, STNSOCiAL would not be around today without the support and hard work provided by several staff members within that organization. Te other article that came to mind was an online blog published this


past spring. It pointed to a New York Times article that discussed the differences between SCR and EGR to reduce diesel emissions per EPA regulations. Tis topic has become increasingly polarized over the past couple of years, and our blog included information that seemed to support SCR as the better of the two technologies. Unfortunately, these assertions were based solely on a few reader opinions from a recent survey. Also, the article failed to give the perspective of the engine manufacturers, which have invested millions of dollars into these technologies. Both of these examples alienated important industry professionals,


and quite frankly, they should not have been published in the form that they were. We need to remain fair and balanced and let the readers make the choice based on the facts. Why highlight the fact that we have made mistakes over the years that may


(or may not) have been caught by the readers of School Transportation News? It is quite simple: if we continued to move on without addressing and learning from our mistakes, we might continue to make them. As the president of STN Media and the publisher of School


Transportation News, I want to make it clear to our audience. We know when we mess up; we take errors seriously here in our office. We strive for perfection from month to month, and while no one is perfect, we will always take whatever steps necessary to correct our mistakes. We have done this for the last 20 years, and rest assured, we will continue to do so in the future! ■


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