SPECIAL REPORT
Building the Bridge Between Administration and Transportation
Written by Taylor Hannon
taylor@stnonline.com
O
ccasionally, transportation directors can feel as if they are on their own island when it comes to school district operations. While some superintendents know the challeng-
es transportation face and help come up with potential solutions, others rarely communicate with transpor- tation personnel unless there is a disciplinary issue. Because transportation departments are often housed away from district personnel in their own facility, some- times the only time building staff see the drivers is for a brief time during pick off and drop off at school sites. Or as one transportation employee said, the superintendent only sees the drivers at the start of each school year to say, “Welcome Back.” While the pandemic may have highlighted challenges transportation departments face, especially the severe driver shortage nationwide, some transportation em- ployees still feel that their greater administration doesn’t fully understand the role of transportation and the back- ground of the employees. “I know the superintendent understands the needs of our drivers and of our department, I just don’t think
24 School Transportation News • APRIL 2022
they have as much knowledge about transportation as I would like them to have,” shared a West Coast student transporter, who asked to remain anonymous due to the nature of this article. The commenter explained that because only about 25
percent of the district’s students are transported via the yellow school bus, the superintendent has other press- ing concerns, which can often relegate transportation to the backburner. “It’s not that the superintendent doesn’t think we’re valued,” the source said. “It’s just that we’re not in the forefront of their mind.” Like many districts nationwide, the district is strug- gling with finding drivers, keeping drivers, and the training that’s involved in hiring drivers. “The drivers take on so much responsibility,” added the source. “A lot of educators don’t see that and understand that. They just assume we’re ‘just drivers.’” The student transporter, who has spent over half
of their career at their current district, said they have worked under a half-dozen different superintendents, adding that the current one does have the desire to work with transportation. The person, however, noted that the
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