wages, benefits and paid training. “He left no stone unturned in the
research that he did, and was able to present clear evidence on why the drivers did need more [money],” he said. Beaver obtained an almost 30
percent pay increase for bus driv- ers. The rate now starts at $24.32 an hour and increases to $30.81 based on years of service. Russell said that while the pay
increase created a lot of interest among applicants, behind the scenes it pumped up existing employee morale. “I think that the drivers really understood that Craig really does care about them, and he wants them to make a livable wage,” Russell said. “He wants them to have guaranteed benefits because that was a change that Craig made as soon as he came in.” Now, Russell added, every em-
ployee is guaranteed benefits as soon as they pass their CDL test. No waiting period is required. “We always continue to hire,”
When you have staff people that in previous years were driving 90 to 100 times during the course of the year and you shrink that down to 20, how’s their morale not going to go up? Because now their work isn’t piling up
Russell continued. “One of the models that we have here is, when you think you have enough, you keep hiring because every driver role is so important to us. If you lose one, maybe it’s okay. But when you start losing like four or five at the break due to retirement or whatever, that then puts strain on the operation.” He said another benefit of getting more drivers in the
while they’re out driving.
-JD Russell, Operations Supervisor
cut any services, run relatively on time,” Feldhan said. “That is probably his biggest achieve- ment, and it really is a game changer for our department. Our first year after he got the that pay increase, we were able to add 70 drivers in one school year. It was monumental.” Additionally, Beaverton drivers
are unionized. Russell shared he believes transportation has a great working relationship with the union. “I think that they un- derstand the duties that we have and when we schedule things with the union for discipline purposes or something they know it’s legit,” he said, adding that something he prioritizes is not talking discipline to a driver without a union representative present, unless they agree to it. Looking at this school year,
a big initiative was bell time changes. Feldhan noted that Su- perintendent Gustavo Balderas expressed his desire to change bell times and implications re- sulted. He noted that Beaverton has a lot of option schools that other districts refer to as magnet
programs. He said Balderas hired a consulting group to develop model bell-time changes, and Beaver developed one of his own. The administration selected Beaver’s model. “He had a good vision for what it should look like,”
door is limiting the number of office staff that must drive every single day. “When you have staff people that in previous years were driving 90 to 100 times during the course of the year and you shrink that down to 20, how’s their morale not going to go up? Because now their work isn’t piling up while they’re out driving,” he explained. “They can do the tasks that they’re supposed to be doing. And then in turn, they feel more value. Our dispatch teams don’t have to worry about filling as many holes which means they’re less stressed. They then can pro- vide better customer service, not only to the drivers but the people that call in. So indirectly it has a ton of effects to totally boost morale.” Feldhan added that while neighboring districts had to
cut bus routes due to driver shortages, Beaver’s priority to pay drivers competitive wages got more applicants in the door. “As these other districts were drowning in shortfalls, we were able to not cut any programs, not
42 School Transportation News • NOVEMBER 2024
Feldhan said, adding that while it wasn’t a finalized vi- sion, it served as the framework for how bell times would be updated. Additionally, Beaverton also runs five tiers. “It allows us to be very efficient for the number of stu-
dents we serve and the number of programs we serve,” Feldhan said of the tiers. “That’s the only way that we can offer the services that we do.” Operations Supervisor Rusty Bingham added that the
district has some of the best routers and routing coordina- tors in the industry, due to the complexity of the district’s routes. “You have to really look at the whole picture,” he explained. “You just can’t take it by individual schools and say, ‘I got to go from A to B.’ It doesn’t work that way.” Instead, Bingham said, it’s a giant jigsaw puzzle that can be put back together multiple different ways. “It’s a lot of work and requires a very high skill level.
But there’s a shared understanding between district leadership and our department that transportation really
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
