Durham School Services that contracts with Ann Arbor Public Schools in Michigan. But getting the best results can be difficult. “Proper training is a big challenge,” she said. “Training
is rarely thorough enough, which gives a larger span for error, misuse and not utilizing the equipment to its fullest capacity.”
Issues Are Inevitable Even with the best efforts
to avoid them, equipment challenges and bugs are a certainty. “Technology fails, equip-
ment gets dropped, screens crack,” Pickel noted. “Warran- ties are necessary in covering all types of defects and damages.” In some cases, it doesn’t
take long for problems to emerge. “There’s a period a few
months after initial imple- mentation where you find the problems with the technol- ogy you’ve just purchased,” Feldhan noted. “Vendors always promise a lot, but no sales representative under- stands [everything that is] unique about your operation. And that uniqueness of your operation is where you find problems.” He acknowledged that
different types of warranty provisions depending on the type of equipment, including leasing arrangements. The district’s current AVL and tablet-based navigation vendor leases the hardware as part of a monthly service fee, and this service fee includes warranty replacements. “We’ve needed to send quite a few units back due to failure, so this has been valu- able,” Feldhan noted, adding that with video surveillance systems, failures have been infrequent, so warranties haven’t been as important. “Warranties are good in
Proper training is a big challenge.
Training is rarely thorough enough, which gives a larger span for error, misuse and not utilizing the equipment to its fullest capacity. -Renael Pickel, Durham School Services
customer references can be helpful, but every transpor- tation department operates differently, and what works for one department may not translate the same way in another operation. That became obvious when problems surfaced with newly purchased navigation tablets. “They were sold as fully compatible with our routing system,” Feldhan said. “But after a few months of usage, we found that the tablets couldn’t correctly display di- rections to bus stops that needed to be made only on the right side of the road.” Transportation staff worked extensively on the issue
with the vendor, which has provided good support, Feldhan affirmed. “But ultimately the solution requires additional work on our district’s side, rather than the vendor,” he added. Over time, Beaverton staff have taken advantage of
40 School Transportation News • MARCH 2025
case of a slip in quality,” California’s Reynolds said. “For video equipment, we usually have a head-to-head comparison of units and pick the ones that provide better picture quality along with usable software.” In selecting equipment,
Warren and her staff at Northshore include warran- ties as key criteria. “We do not want to spend our budget on items that are not covered unless we have no choice,” she said. “And we always keep a close eye on things if they’re still under warranty.” Warranties, not to mention
fewer formal assurances of robust customer service, are not foolproof. In a worst-
case scenario, failing companies may no longer be able to meet their commitments. In fact, when a vendor restructures or goes out of business, it can create a huge mess, noted Maggie Massengale, assistant director, facilities and transportation for Five Town Community School District in Camden, Maine. “We are dealing with this now,” she said, explaining
that the company, Lion Electric, provided a recently pur- chased bus but had yet to respond to requests for service amid its bankruptcy protection and auction. “The bus doesn’t have any heat on it, which is a huge issue when you’re in Maine.” For districts that have outsourced the transportation
function, one avenue, if covered in contractual agree- ments, can be having a third party assume responsibility for keeping equipment up to date. That’s the situation at
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