Grisham, center, speaks with school bus driver Krista Fleming as Fleet Manager Charles Smith fuels one of the district’s 42 gasoline school buses.
Y
ou might be surprised who considers you a leader. Rick Grisham, executive director of transportation for Cobb County School District (CCSD) in Georgia, certainly was. When he was notified that he had won the 2017 School
Transportation News Leadership Award, Grisham recalled, “It was humbling and kind of surreal.”
“My faith is at the core of everything I do—it keeps me grounded, humble, and focused,” he added. But, as demonstrated by his jour- ney from the solitary world of tennis to heading up a nationally-rec- ognized school transportation team, he not only strives for a higher standard but leads others to it as well. Unlike most in school transportation management, who tend to
start as school bus drivers and work their way up the chain, Grish- am has moved among three passions that all involve education. But whether it’s helping schools develop tennis programs on behalf of the United States Tennis Association (USTA), teaching science and physical education, or implementing school bus safety measures for Cobb County’s 98,000 eligible student riders northwest of Atlanta, his approach is the same. “I strive to be an example of a servant leader and put forth the
effort to influence others on a daily basis,” he explained. Taking the principles from Jim Collins’ seminal business book
“Good to Great” a step farther, Grisham’s mantra is “good to great to premier!” And he is certainly leading in many areas. He was invited by the USTA to work with Texas’ most elite tennis players.
32 School Transportation News • NOVEMBER 2017
He is an award-winning teacher. Each student transportation department he’s directed has been recognized as one of the best in the state by the local department of education. He was nominated as the Region 2 director for NAPT (and was running unopposed at the time of this writing).
Amid all the accolades, he insists that “my people, with me and under me and above me, have helped us all be successful and get rec- ognized.” He considers success to be “a bunch of pieces that do well, work well together, look good, and help with the overall goal.” Grisham’s influence is more pronounced than he knows. For example, he had no idea the impact he made on an associate’s professional life, which was documented recently in a LinkedIn blog post. “Try the best you can; you never know who’s watching and listening,” he remarked. Grisham’s student transportation story first began 38 years ago
in the Broken Arrow Public Schools system southeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma. He taught science, health and physical education while also coaching football, wrestling and tennis. An added responsibil- ity of being coach was driving the teams to competitions, which
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