School Transportation News asked the National Superintendent of the Year finalists to share their thoughts on the importance of student transportation.
Dr. Quincy Natay, Chinle Unified School District on Navajo Nation, Arizona
STN: Please describe the current bus driver shortage at
your district. What are your solutions to the labor shortage? Natay: Chinle Unified has been short 15 bus drivers, 25
percent of my 59 driver transportation staff, since we re- opened in person in August 2021. For regular day school routes, my drivers log 6,000 miles per day on mostly un- improved roads providing transportation for nearly 80 percent of our students. Families living in poverty often lack personal resources to commute to and from school, so pre-pandemic we also ran full bus routes for students attending after school programs and athletics. The greatest impact has been felt by our students needing these after school programs because staffing shortages prohibit us from providing transportation for these routes. Consequently, our children who are most in need of eliminating pandemic induced learning opportunity gaps, also cannot take advantage of crucial tutoring options. We have increased our salary schedule to become more
competitive locally. Through grants we are providing recruitment and retention stipends, paying applicants to attend on-the-job training, paying all expenses associat- ed with successfully obtaining the mandatory CDL, and providing mileage reimbursements for parents to trans- port their children. Everyone with a CDL currently drives a bus—even the department secretary. We can meet regular school day needs for transportation only because 26 percent of our 3,472 students have chosen to remain enrolled in virtual learning. Legislation and policy changes are sometimes needed.
For example, a legislative challenge in Arizona is that we can’t use 11-15 passenger vehicles on regular routes. Being able to do so would increase the pool of appli- cants by eliminating the CDL requirement for the driver. Involvement in a recent grant process allowed us to raise awareness of this challenge. Now, SB 1630 is being considered and would lead to reforms such as allowing school districts to utilize 11-15 passenger vehicles on regular routes and generate funding for those miles.
STN: Why is it important to have a working relation-
ship with the transportation department? Natay: In our district, nearly 80 percent of our chil-
dren depend on the transportation department to get to and from school. Clearly, the people who make up this department play a crucial role in the education of chil- dren, and this is clearer than ever in the midst of the bus
32 School Transportation News • APRIL 2022
99% of Chinley Unified students are Navajo.
Source: 2020 U.S. Census
driver labor shortage. It is important to have a working relationship with this department because we need to know the challenges they face, and they need to know the value we place on their presence every day.
STN: Are there any projects that transportation is cur-
rently working on implementing? Natay: In addition to the bus Wi-Fi project, the Chinle
Unified transportation department has executed other resourceful projects over the past several years. In 2016, [transportation] initiated a marketing campaign for student enrollment by placing magnetic signs promot- ing Chinle Unified on our 59 buses, essentially creating mobile billboards out of the highly visible school buses. This was one of the strategies that helped us meet our marketing goal of a 15-percent increase in student en- rollment over the 2014 baseline year. Finally, during the end of the school year 2020 and throughout school year 2021, the transportation department partnered with food services and schools to become the delivery system for paper packets for distance learning and school breakfast and lunch in remote areas of our district. The ability of this department to innovate continues
this year. In November, we were awarded a grant that is going to fund the purchase of three 80 passenger elec- tric buses and charging stations. This will put us on the cutting edge for northern Arizona rural/remote districts using this clean energy for school transportation.
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, ARIZONA
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