talking to students when they first come to school, entering the class and talking about the buses, the rules and what it means to be a “grizzly,” a play on the district mascot. “From administration to teachers and staff, we have a positive behavior program that
everyone teaches. We give claw cards for any good behavior and let the student know when they have done something wrong,” said Hartless. And that partnering can also include districts and their contractors. Dawn Hill-Fleury,
the office manager for Mountain Transit in Milton, Vt., works directly with the school district’s business manager to resolve any and all conflicts that may arise. “I handle them immediately,” said Hill-Fleury. “If something arises that cannot be re- solved, the two of us will sit down with the superintendent and work through it.”
Handling phone calls from the public
can sometimes be a little tricky, though, with most calls beginning with “I just wanted you to know…” These callers rarely leave their names, making it more difficult to follow up. She also stresses to the drivers the importance of learn- ing road courtesy and the realization that they are very noticeable to the public in general and “any foolish thing they do on the road will be noticed and usually reported.” “They also need to know they will be
blamed for other drivers’ shortcomings and how to let it go,” added Hill-Fleury. “If they did something wrong, correct it, if not, you need to encourage them to let it go. This is sometimes easier said than done.”
Nothing is Perfect, Though But, for some, good customer service
can be an uphill battle, one that not everyone is winning. One Midwest trans- portation director sees this as an internal problem of sorts. Although there are many drivers on staff that love their jobs, there are those who “don’t see good customer service as being their charge.” “In an ideal world I would suggest
more training, but before we get to that, I know that as a supervisor we have to be more selective in our hiring process,” said the director, who requested to re- main anonymous. “Te challenge with that is most public bus operations have limited staffing. Many supervisors are do- ing everything, i.e. hiring, training, driving, dispatching. Unfortunately, some things are allowed to slip through the cracks.” She added that the unions sometimes
share the blame, supporting members even when they are in the wrong and arguing that other drivers were not repri- manded for the same behavior. “As a school system and community
we must decide just how important school transportation is and commit to invest the necessary resources to do the job well,” she added, suggesting that dis- tricts involve drivers in open houses and at certain assemblies on school safety, evacuations, stranger danger, bullying and sexual harassment as a way to strengthen their credibility with the students. ■
42 School Transportation News Magazine August 2010
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