Igor Petrovic Transportation and Fleet Director | Adams 12 Five Star Schools in Colorado
Igor Petrovic’s family immigrated to the U.S. from Serbia when he teenager, and he immediately set out to learn English. Fast-forward to his first year as transpor- tation and fleet director when he overhead a new family in the district speaking Serbian, and struggle to commu- nicate with district staff. Petrovic helped the parent communicate and gave them his personal cell in case there were more challenges. He started his career in 2009 with a
national public transportation company, which allowed him to move around and manage contracts in states nationwide. He spent one-year managing pupil transportation in New York City. He accepted several other positions to gain experience, ultimately moving home to Colorado, where his return to pupil trans- portation was happenstance. “After several years as operations manager for a public transportation contract in northern Colorado, I saw a posting for a school district a mere mile from home,” he recalled. “I never knew there was a bus yard so close, and that intrigued me to apply. After going through the inter- view process, I immediately bonded with the leadership team and the larger vision of the school district, which solidified my coming onboard four years ago.” He said his typical day includes collaborating with other departments on current and future initiatives. “I have never planned my career in stages but instead focused on the here and now while welcoming new opportunities as they arise,” he said. “This line of work is
incredibly gratifying but not at all linear. If I had asked myself in 2009 what the future holds, I could never have wrapped my mind around the extraordinary experienc- es, different places I’ve been, and people I’ve met.” Pat Hamilton, Adam 12’s chief operating officer, said in his nomination that Petrovic is an inno- vator, a problem solver, and committed to students. He noted that Petrovic acted on the staffing shortages being seen around the country. “The first step was going through a
route optimization process unlike any the district had taken on before. The route optimization had to work within our three-tiered route system and could not increase our walk distances,” Hamilton explained, noting that Petrovic started by identifying routes that could be served by smaller buses, ultimately implementing
the non-CDL route program at Adams. “Many of our driv- er assistants signed up for the program and went through the training required for our non-CDL drivers. Through- out the school year, as drivers left our system, many of our non-CDL drivers applied for the CDL driver positions because of becoming more comfortable with transporting students.” Hamilton said that because of the route optimiza-
tion and non-CDL driving program, Adams 12 Five Star Schools never suffered from the driver shortage. “All students who wanted or needed transportation
received it,” he said. “That is a rare thing in the current hiring drought.”
Kristi Harden Executive Director of Transportation | Cumberland County Schools in North Carolina
Kristi Harden joined the pupil trans-
portation industry as a school bus driver in 2000, while working on her undergraduate degree in business administration. “I have been doing this work for 22 years now, and I am just as excited about school buses today,” she said. Harden was hired for the executive
director position in the summer prior to students returning to school full time during the pandemic. During this
38 School Transportation News • OCTOBER 2022
time, she had to recreate all bus routes. Joe Desormeaux, the associate super- intendent of auxiliary services, said in his nomination of Harden that 30,000 students were assigned to 434 buses, 70 of those buses transport 1,300 ex- ceptional students. He added that since becoming
executive director, Harden implement- ed additional driver instructors and increased access and hours to driv- ers’ education instruction to reduce
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