Teton County School District
encompasses more than 3,500 miles of rural Wyoming, including national parks. Director of Transportation Colby Stevens moved to Jackson, Wyoming after college and took a job as a part-time school bus driver 12 years ago. “The rest is history, as they say,” he shared.
Gillian Chapman, superintendent for
Colby Stevens | Director of Transportation Teton County School District #1, Wyoming
the district, said Stevens has “developed a team of drivers and service technicians that have a passion for the service provided to our school district. The students have the opportunity to start and end their day with a driver who knows and cares about them deeply.” She explained that when a parent calls
and says their child has left a stuffed animal on the bus. for example, Stevens and the driver of the route immediately know the name of the stuffed animal. “They care deeply about the kids on their routes and it shows,” Chapman added. “Colby is creative and finds ways to serve the community.”
Chapman added that Stevens started a
walking bus route for the students who live around the town square in Jackson Hole. She noted that as a tourist destination, motorists are not familiar with or paying attention to the fact that children may be on the route. “Colby developed a walking route where bus drivers instead of driving a bus walk the route with their student riders,” Chapman said. “The winters get pretty cold around here, but that doesn’t mean the route stops. If the buses are
rolling, so are the walking bus drivers. They keep on with their route and ensure that students get to school safely.” Like most of his peers across the nation,
Stevens said his biggest challenge amid school startup is the driver shortage. Jackson Hole, he shared, is a revolving door town with a constant flux of part- time residents and tourists. The student transportation industry is similar in that regard. “It seems that as soon as we hire and train a driver, another is on their way out,” he said. “This presents many challenges, but we will continue to combat this, the best we can, through creative recruitment and retention practices.” He added that his goal has always been
to streamline district processes to ensure nothing slips through the cracks, students are provided excellent and safe quality of service, and staff is not overworked. “Moving forward, I
would love to integrate more tech,” he noted. “Though our services/
processes work really well, our drivers are still heavily reliant on paper for many aspects of their jobs. This year, we plan to pilot tablets for pre-trip inspection, turn- by-turn [directions], student tracking, and parent-facing communications.” Chapman added that Stevens
understands the service mentality and the critically important role the transportation department serves in the life of a child. “Colby has a positive, can-do attitude
that attracts the same kind of people to work in his department,” she concluded. ●
46 School Transportation News • OCTOBER 2023
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