INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS
lost in transportation — if you can’t access student data when a crisis is occurring in the field, that is a very big problem.”
IT’S ALL ABOUT SHARING In addition, IT works to reconcile data
STRONG CONNECTIVITY
Student transporters note that open lines of communication with the IT department bolsters information flow, teamwork and productivity
WRITTEN BY MICHELLE FISHER
utilizing new technology for information management remains a complex process in the business world — and school transpor- tation operates much like its own business, said one industry veteran. Pete Meslin worked as a transportation
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manager 11 years ago and served as IT manager at the San Diego Unified School District for three years before becoming student transportation director at the New- port-Mesa Unified School District, also in Southern California. At San Diego USD, he learned that the
best IT specialists become experts in the business of their customers to not only streamline their day-to-day operations but also to anticipate problems and put solu- tions in place. “We view the student services and special
education departments as customers. Te only way to really serve your customers is to understand their business because they likely won’t be able to speak in technology terms that you can understand,” Meslin said. “IT departments that meet regularly with
hile the term “informa- tion technology” may be understandable to some kindergarten students,
customers provide better service because, over time, they acquire an understanding of where the holes exist in the business system and what the customers really need.” Te most common need of school
transportation professionals, he noted, is the ability to access data about the students they serve. Besides their home address, they need to know about students’ medical or behavioral conditions and their discipline history, since they can affect bus routes, seating charts, onboard equipment and other needs. Meslin said Newport-Mesa’s IT
department works to ensure that new, vendor- produced software will integrate into existing hardware and software platforms. Tese staff members also keep the infrastructure and hardware working within the transportation department and facilitate the sharing of transportation information with appropriate school staff. Last, they make sure that vital information has been backed up just in case the computer system goes down. “Now, transportation departments offer
far more on-demand customer service than other education departments,” Meslin ex- plained. “One hour of lost computer time in student services is not the same as one hour
22 School Transportation News September 2013
among different systems. For example, Mes- lin said the transportation department has to transfer bus pass information from its data- base to the district’s general database. Also, various school departments record videos, especially those related to student discipline, and post them on a shared site. It’s the job of IT to ensure each video is software-secured so only administrators have access and it doesn’t end up on YouTube. “Tat allows us to work together on student discipline issues much more effec- tively,” continued Meslin. “Te transpor- tation people rely upon input from other departments, like attendance and special education, every day. If a student no longer needs special-ed. transportation, we’d expect to hear from the special-ed. department but that doesn’t always happen … So, our IT department sends us a weekly report of students who have de-enrolled from the school district.” Greg Akin, transportation director at
Volusia County Schools near Daytona Beach, Fla., greatly relies on support from two departments, IT and Exceptional Stu- dent Education, but he said IT is the one that has to be your best friend. “I definitely have to work with IT to make sure new technology works with what I have to meet our specific needs. Tey are very knowledgeable about the programs that are out there and what it takes to run them successfully,” he said, adding that TimeClock Plus and Access have helped him to simplify employee-information management. In the past eight years, Akin has seen his
department swell to 462 employees, 228 route buses and approximately 25,000 stu- dent riders. He said he remembers the days when staff members used nails and yarn to lay out school-bus routes. For seven years they have used AVL (automated vehicle locator) GPS, and recently began using the cloud and Microsoft Sync. “We actually have someone in IT assigned
to us. Anything new we have, they help us integrate it into the system … It’s teamwork. We are all in it together,” he remarked.
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