At left, the previous 1,200-square-foot home of the Fayetteville Public Schools transportation department in Arkansas and, right, the front of the new 5,000-square-foot facility.
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n the grand scheme of things, as humankind uses technological advancements to fuel its relentless quest for perfection, sometimes it is the simplest of answers left undiscovered or not arrived at
quickly enough that can fell the mightiest of empires, just as surely as the woodsman’s sharpest axe can fell the forest’s mightiest oak. It’s the same question that has a different answer each time. “Where’s the restroom?” This brings us to the future of student transportation.
How? Despite the evolution of technological advance- ments in the industry, the safety of every school bus relies upon people—namely school bus drivers and mechanics. This is not lost on Michael McClure, trans- portation director for Fayetteville Public Schools in Arkansas, located near the state’s northwest border with Oklahoma. After being stuck for far too long in an appar- ent time warp that placed his office staff in a converted gas station that has since been demolished, Fayetteville recently completed construction of a long overdue transportation facility on the same site. The new facility finally places staff needs on at least an equal footing as the mechanical needs of school buses. Lamenting that six staffers were crammed into three
small offices, McClure said workspace was still not the main concern. “The biggest issue was that we had only one men’s [rest]room and one woman’s room for about 80 people,” McClure recalled. “You can just imagine the backlog when routes would end at about the same time. “I cannot emphasize enough how important the bath-
rooms are because many of our staff are older, and for older people, when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go,” McClure continued. “The fact that we now have multiple stalls is huge for us. It’s very important for our employees
28 School Transportation News • FEBRUARY 2021
to be able to use the restroom when they need to.” McClure, who also drives a route, included himself in
that number of anxious drivers. “Whenever I would finish a two- or three-hour route, I wouldn’t say anything to any- one,” he said. “I would just go stand in line. But, no more.” The lavatories aside, McClure explained that the at- mosphere of the temporary quarters his staff occupied since last July, while the new facility was being built, was hardly conducive to a student transportation operation. He quipped that the temporary housing was dubbed the “Pink Pearl” by Assistant Superintendent Megan Duncan. “The building we were temporarily housed in was used
to store prom dresses, jewelry, shoes and other items that young ladies might borrow for the prom,” McClure explained. “The interior of that place was a Pepto Bismol pink. That describes the color perfectly. They will proba- bly move the prom dresses back in now that we’re gone, that is if we have a prom. Our new facility feels like the Taj Mahal, something much nicer than I and my staff are accustomed to.” McClure is by no means alone in his advocacy for
creature comforts and the difference they can make in staff morale. T.J. Crockett, transportation director for Salem-Keizer Public Schools in Oregon, enthusiastically agreed, saying he yearns for the space and other staff amenities that will come with a new facility. “We defi- nitely need more plumbing and bathrooms are going to be a big thing,” Crockett said. “We have 200 staffers here in the main lot and we’ve only got eight toilets in the building and three urinals.” Though Salem-Keizer is the second largest school
district in the state and Crockett estimates it transported about 20,000 of the total 42,000 student enrollment pre- COVID-19, he said staff are in cramped surroundings in
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