FIRST TAKE A Breath of Fresh Air? WRITTEN BY RYAN GRAY
our branding. Te magazine had just celebrated its 20th anniversary the previous Septem- ber, and frankly the current design was getting stale. So, one afternoon, we visited a local bookstore to peruse the magazine rack. STN will never have a home there, but certainly there are a plethora of consumer magazines that could be considered trade publications albeit for much broader audiences— for example, Forbes, Fortune, Inc., Success, etc. We purchased these magazine titles and others to make notes on what we liked about
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them in an effort to help drive our new vision. Te pages you find before you are the result. Many readers will recall the original launch of STN by founder Bill Paul in 1991 as
a tabloid newspaper. After several years, the magazine changed to more of a newsletter design to differentiate itself industry-wide. Tat was the magazine’s identity when I first began reporting for Bill in March of 2001. I had long advocated for a traditional magazine with a four-color cover to bring what
I felt was more legitimacy to the publication when, by the summer and fall of 2004, we finally had in place a production team that could make this dream a reality. For the next several years, the magazine enjoyed previously unknown growth as, finally,
the editorial was perfectly matched with an eye-catching layout, complete with more in- teresting photography. Te boon was helped by an economy that had fully recovered from the recession that hit after 9/11. Or so we thought. Just like at school districts and private companies, STN became sluggish as we all
found ourselves mired in economic uncertainty. Very few people or companies have been immune to a downturn that, while things have improved somewhat over the last couple of years, continues to threaten businesses and municipalities alike. But one thing has not changed: the compelling stories to be shared each and every month. With that in mind, we decided that a new package for the content was much needed. Te result, which many of you might have first noticed back the November 2012
edition, was a subtle tweak here and a slight change there as we marched toward our new identity. We ramped things up considerably in January, and during the last couple of months we feel we have a stride. Today’s STN harkens back to yesteryear when Bill Paul first decided on the magazine’s
title, so in these pages you’ll find a renewed focus on news. From our monthly Top Story through the rebranded Industry Connections and our Special Report, we plate the most compelling news articles for the benefit of your operations. We think this nicely sets up our featured editorial articles that focus on each particular month’s theme. Te articles in this month’s issue are especially of interest to superintendents and other
school administrators, but they also apply to student transporters and their operations. But enough about what I and our editorial and graphics teams think. We want to hear
from you! How does the 2013 version of School Transportation News stack up to those of years past? Email me at
ryan@stnonline.com.
ou may have noticed a couple of months ago that the pages of School Transportation News took on a decidedly new look. With little fanfare, we unveiled a new layout design in January that we think communicates a more professional air to our arti- cles. I’d like to hear what you think, but first allow me to share the backstory. In early 2012, I sat down with Managing Editor Sylvia Arroyo over lunch to discuss
10 School Transportation News April 2013
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