SPECIAL REPORT
OUR PARTS LIST IS EXHAUSTIVE
Doing More With Less
Flagler County Schools in Florida underwent several departmental changes to better utilize its resources coming out of COVID-19
Written By Taylor Ekbatani |
taylor@stnonline.com D
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ontarrious Rowls, the director of transportation and fleet services for Flagler County Schools on Florida’s Palm Coast south of Jack- sonville, focused on his routing inefficiencies and did more with less resources by incorporating several different initiatives into
his transportation department. Rowls became the director of Flagler in 2021, after serving as the assistant
director of transportation at nearby Osceola County Schools. [Editor’s Note: Read more about Rowls’ road to director at
stnonline.com/go/ei.] He recalled that when taking the position, he reviewed the core values and mission statement of the transportation department. This led him to recreating various aspects of transportation and focusing on his “strategy to success.” One of those strategies was the transition to inclusive student transpor-
tation, which transports students with disabilities on standard-route school buses alongside students in general education. “We have been practicing that inside our brick-and-mortar schools inside the classroom,” he said. “So, why wouldn’t we extend that same opportunity to our children on the bus? And it not only gives the students with special needs or disabilities the opportunity to feel included, but it also educates our [general education] students with the opportunity to have that relationship and learn more about students with special needs.” He said because the school bus is an extension of the classroom, an
inclusive environment creates a space where a student with special needs shouldn’t feel different because they’re riding a smaller bus with six or seven other students to school. “Having a major focus on inclusive transporta- tion gives students the opportunities to be cohesive with one another,” he explained. He said this isn’t the solution for every student with disabilities or special needs, as some may have challenges with high levels of sound for example, but he said that the option is offered and being addressed on a case-by-case bias. So far, in the first year about 19 percent of the districts special educa- tion population is being transported through inclusion. “As the first-year pilot continues to be a successful addition to our stu-
dents’ development, we have every intention to double our percentages in the 2023-2024 school year,” Rowls noted, adding that currently about 48 students with special needs out of a total of 249 total special needs students are in the program. Another change for this school year was adding more full-size Type C school buses into its fleet and replacing the Type C low-capacity, short chassis variety. He explained that the 80-passenger conventional buses are more inclusive and provide for greater versatility in maximizing district
16 School Transportation News • FEBRUARY 2023
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