transformation of Shannon Evans the school bus driver to Shannon Evans the transportation leader truly began. She said she finally understood how she could help
facilitate communication with parents, so that they could understand the expectations of service and also come to rely on it. At the same time, Evans could help them see that the district cares about getting students to and from school safely and as efficiently as possible. All this was not lost on the district’s administration team. As she was preparing for that fall’s routes, the transporta-
tion director called Evans in and advised her that she need- ed to start thinking about doing more in the department, that she understood transportation and had the ability to calm parents down by explaining the rules and regulations. In short order, she read the district’s transportation
procedural handbook and learned all district regulations. She began to learn everyone’s job function, and she watched interactions between supervisors and drivers. One day, she told herself, she could be the director. “All I needed was that little seed to be planted,”
Evans said. She soon became Clark County’s field investigator in
1996. She evaluated the best placement of bus stops to ensure none were at a busy intersection or in the middle of a curve. She monitored construction and road closures to update the new routing network, and she physically measured the walk zone to ensure parents requesting service weren’t living with the walk zone. “Parents to this day challenge that they are less than 2
miles from the school,” she said. She also continued to drive routes and field trips as a
sub, but she also had an eye on the next rung in the career ladder. From 1997 through 2006, she served as a field supervisor, overseeing driver training and hiring. Tat included expanding the district’s driver training program and restructuring the driver in-service. In 2000, she oversaw the creation of the Clark County School District Bus Safety video, and three years later, coordinated the full implementation of Zonar’s electronic vehicle inspections and payroll module. At the same time, she went to school at night after
working all day, all in order to obtain her bachelor’s degree in business administration and to make herself eligible for promotion. Working at a school district, she was told further career advancement was predicated on achieving a higher education. “I was determined to take that next step,” she said. “I
think a lot of people have that same story.” In 2006, the district promoted her to bus operations
coordinator, an administrative position she longed dreamed of. It meant more pay and more hours and with it greater responsibility. Drawing upon her training background,
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