Georgia School Bus Conference Issue 2018

Georgia

SCHOOL BUS

Official publication of the Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation

2018 – 54th Annual Conference Edition Don’t let continuing budget cuts and uncertainty cripple your school bus fleet replacement program The Start School Later movement is trending: What you need to know Shrinking state funds trigger student bus safety concerns

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Georgia School Bus is published by: DEL Communications Inc. Suite 300, 6 Roslyn Road Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3L 0G5 www.delcommunications.com President & CEO:

David Langstaff Publisher: Jason Stefanik Managing Editor:

CINDY CHAN cindy@delcommunications.com Advertising Sales Manager:

DAYNA OULION

dayna@delcommunications.com

Toll Free: 1.866.424.6398 Account Representatives:

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Production services provided by: S.G. Bennett Marketing Services www.sgbennett.com Art Director: kathy cable Layout / Advertising Art: dave bamburak

Dana jensen Cover Photo:

DAVID FISHER

CONTENTS 4 ‘If you’re not here for the kids, you’re in the wrong business’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Still shining behind the scenes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Stop-arm cameras provide positive results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 The buzz about electric buses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Shirley Doolittle does a lot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 One man, two jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Providing security for kids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Rick Grisham wins award, represents Cobb County School District. . . . . . . . . . . 13 What’s new and improved at Jasper Engines and Transmissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 The thrill of the hustle and bustle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Joy of service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Technician of the Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Yancey Bus Sales & Service named 2017 Blue Bird Dealer of the Year . . . . . . . . . 18

Message from the GAPT president, Benny Long. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2018 GAPT Conference Schedule......................................................................................................................................................... 20 Trade show booths and floor plan.................................................................................................. 22 Vendors............................................................................................................................................................ 23 Keynote conference speakers............................................................................................................ 24 Don’t let continuing budget cuts and uncertainty cripple your school bus fleet replacement program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

© 2018 DEL Communications Inc. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced­by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of the publisher­.

Georgia on my mind. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Publications mail agreement #40934510 Return undeliverable address to: DEL Communications Inc. Suite 300, 6 Roslyn Road Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3L 0G5

Shrinking state funds trigger student bus safety concerns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in and the reliability of the source, the publisher in no way guarantees nor warrants the information­ and is not responsible for errors, omissions or statements­made by advertisers. Opinions and recommendations­made by contributors or advertisers are not necessarily those of the publisher­, its directors, officers or employees.

index to advertisers

The human connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 The Start School Later movement is trending: What you need to know. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Student safety is always No. 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

AngelTrax.......................................................................... IBC Atlanta Commercial Tire............................................25

Jasper Engines & Transmissions/ Jasper Innovative Solutions....................................15

Bitimec International, Inc.............................................4

OPW Fuel Management Systems........................31

Bus Air Manufacturing...................................................7

Orbit Software, Inc........................................................10

Collins Bus Corp..........................................................OBC Cummins Inc....................................................................29

Rush Bus Center of Atlanta.........................................5

Dorsey Tire........................................................................IFC

Southern Tire Mart LLC..............................................27

Gatekeeper Systems Inc............................................23

Yancey Bros. / BlueBird Bus......................................19

PRINTED IN CANADA 05/2018

Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation

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Message from the GAPT president, Benny Long What an amazing year of successes and struggles – both personally and professionally. It seems like yesterday that Trey Studstill was passing the gavel to me at the 2017 conference — I can’t believe it is nearly conference time again already.

GAPT hosted an administrators’ workshop in Macon on April 18 and 19, sponsored by Blue Bird Corporation and Yancey Bus Sales & Service. Transportation professionals across the state attended the event. Topics covered included alternative fuels, seatbelts, workers’ compensation and legal issues, just to name a few. It was a wonderful professional development opportunity, and we are already planning for the workshop in 2019.

The 2018 conference agenda is full of valuable information for transportation professionals. It will consist of keynote speakers, breakout sessions, NAPT classes and special needs information.

The trade show is going to be one of the largest and best in the south. GAPT will also be presenting our School Bus Inspector

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Georgia School Bus • 2018 Conference

Certification program. The conference will provide many informal opportunities for professional development. I would encourage you to participate in as many activities as possible.

Some of the best professional learning can come from talking and collaborating with your peers, and networking has always been a valuable part of our conference.

I am looking forward to our conference. It has been a honor and a privilege to serve as your president. I have been blessed with an outstanding group of officers and board members this year. Remember, it takes a village to raise a child – this principle is very true for our conference too. Thank you to each of you who have been a part of my village. It has truly been a team effort.

Finally, thank you for allowing me to serve as your president.

Never forget our mission — protecting 100 percent of our students, 100 percent of the time. v

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Member Profile

‘If you’re not here for the kids, you’re in the wrong business’

By Cindy Chan For Phil Budensiek, life is a highway in the way that he started out wanting to work as a highway patrol officer. Budensiek, however, eventually reached a crossroads and chose the path less traveled.

“My dad gave me some good advice – I could either marry my wife or the highway patrol. I chose my wife,” Budensiek says with a laugh.

In addition to being a proud husband, Budensiek is also currently the chief operations officer for Rockdale County Public Schools. He graduated in 1984 and went to work for National Service Industries in Atlanta, Ga. shortly after. After almost 10 years in that role, Budensiek accepted a job in the pupil transportation industry for Newton County School District, located in his hometown. He stayed on until 1997 when he took on a job as the district supervisor of Collins Hill High School in Gwinnett County.

“I worked my way to become the special operations manager,” he adds. “That was a great experience. Gwinnett provided a lot of learning opportunities and on-the-job training that was just exceptional. I stayed there until 1999.”

That was when Rockdale County Public Schools came knocking on his door. He started out as the director of transportation in 1999, got promoted to executive director of transportation and facilities in 2003 and became chief operations officer in 2007.

“The role includes overseeing the custodial services department, food services department and the transportation and facilities maintenance,” Budensiek says.

Budensiek is responsible for leading and providing service for the aforementioned departments, but his primary responsibility is supervising the director of transportation.

“I spend a lot of time with transportation,” he says. At Rockdale County Public Schools, Budensiek says he and his team transport a little more than 26,800 students daily on 153 buses. He is responsible for 650 employees as the chief operations officer.

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Georgia School Bus • 2018 Conference

One of his duties is safely transporting students under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and the students in the Specialty and Choice programs. According to Budensiek, the Specialty and Choice programs were established six years ago, which involve transporting students in all three tiers of education – elementary, middle and high school – to whichever school they go to in the county.

“Besides the budget, that’s the biggest part of my job,” he says. As well, Budensiek places a large emphasis on continuous quality improvement and training for his leadership team.

For Budensiek, an average day on the job starts at 5:30 a.m.

Within the first hour, he visits the schools within the district and monitors the radio for any accidents. Around 8 a.m., he can be found in several meetings on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Wednesdays are dedicated to team meetings.

Sometimes, he deals with facility emergencies, bus emergencies or local community crises.

“All in all, every day is a good day,” he says.

In his many years in the pupil transportation industry, Budensiek says he has two favorite aspects of his job. One of them is the students.

“I tell my folks at work, ‘if you’re not here for the kids, you’re in the wrong business,’” Budensiek says. Budensiek enjoys helping students in their times of need while they’re in school and seeing them again later in life, happy and successful.

Budensiek’s other favorite part of his job is his team. He enjoys providing them with opportunities for growth, mentoring them in the customer service field and seeing them move up the ladder, whether it be within the school district or out in the field.

Regarding the future, Budensiek aspires to leave behind a team that won’t notice he left for retirement because things are running so smoothly.

“I just want to provide them with the tools they need to be successful, to keep leading teams and never miss a beat.

That’s my big goal right now.” v

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Member Profile

Still shining behind the scenes

By Cindy Chan An unexpected injury coupled with a genuine fascination with pupil transportation propelled LoWanda Bowman-Brown into the job of her dreams.

Bowman-Brown is currently in her fourth year in her role as transportation director for the City Schools of Decatur, a public charter school district in DeKalb County, Ga. Previously, she attended Fort Valley State College in Fort Valley, Ga., as well as Atlanta Technical College in Atlanta, Ga. From 1994 to 2006, Bowman-Brown drove a school bus. In 2006, she got injured, and that was the end of her job and the beginning of her career in the industry.

Equipped with a business background from the time she owned a hair salon and ran Renewed Woman, a non-profit organization, she then took on a role in the office – and what she found astonished her.

“I noticed it was different from driving a school bus. I thought, ‘oh my goodness, it took all of this to make transportation run!’” Bowman-Brown says with a laugh. She became fascinated with everything that took place behind the scenes that she approached her director at the time and asked how she could get more involved.

“He said the next best thing is certification. I said, ‘point me to it,’” she recalls. She started attending Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation (GAPT) and National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT) conferences. She earned her NAPT supervisor certification and training certification to become a certified trainer through the state of Georgia. “I just really enjoyed it. I never knew this was going on. When you’re driving a bus, your main focus is driving students to and from school safely. You don’t think of the work it takes to do it.”

As transportation director, Bowman-Brown’s duties and responsibilities include managing her supervisor, overseeing the budget, bus maintenance and routing and field-trip scheduling, to name a few.

“In a small school district, you have to do it all,” BowmanBrown says, adding that she works with an amazing team con-

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Georgia School Bus • 2018 Conference

sisting of one supervisor, 18 bus drivers and five bus monitors.

The school district transports 2,200 students on 17 routes on a 4.7-mile radius.

Working in pupil transportation means dealing with a wide array of unforeseen challenges. However, an average day, for Bowman-Brown, starts off at 5 a.m., making sure her drivers and buses are able to go out on their routes.

“Once we’ve completed all the routes and everyone made it to school safely, we move on to field trips,” Bowman-Brown says. “My district alone, on an average week, does 50 field trips a week. Education on the move.”

Afterwards, Bowman-Brown will focus on field trip bills, payroll and alternative routing and new technology for the next school year, as well as preparing for the afternoon routes.

“I often have to assist with delivering students home safely – a well-needed break from the office to clear my thoughts,” she says.

Her day typically ends around 6 p.m., but before heading home, she goes back to the office to tie up any loose ends.

Although her work life is hectic, Bowman-Brown thoroughly enjoys what she does. In the future, she hopes to continue in her role and finish up her work towards getting her NAPT director’s certification.

“I would also like to become a consultant for smaller school districts and serve on advisory boards,” she adds. v

vendor Profile

Stop-arm cameras provide positive results Student safety is a top priority at American Traffic Solutions.

Operating for nearly 30 years, American Traffic Solutions (ATS) is a leading smart transportation provider. Nationally, ATS has more than 4,000 installed red-light speed and school bus stop-arm safety cameras serving more than 30 million people.

The CrossingGuard® School Bus Stop Arm Enforcement is a cornerstone of the company. The automated technology is placed on the exterior of the school bus. When a car passes by a bus with the stop-arm extended, the radar and motion sensor within the camera goes into action and captures it on video.

And that’s just the standard equipment. According to Neil Jeckering, product marketing manager for ATS, the company is expanding the CrossingGuard® capabilities.

“To further promote safety, ATS is teaming up with select schools to add additional features, including secure student Wi-Fi, school bus tracking and interior cameras,” Jeckering says.

However, the interior camera will focus on what’s happening inside the bus rather than around it. A live-feed camera – viewable to those in the transportation office – was created to ensure the safety of students riding the bus. For example,

transportation personnel can review the footage to see if there are any fights that take place, or just to ensure that all the children are safe traveling on the bus.

ATS’s goal is installing stop-arm cameras on school buses across the country – but the technology is still fairly new. In fact, they’ve only started placing the cameras on buses in 2012. The state of Georgia has fully embraced the technology, with 15 school districts using CrossingGuard®. There are now more than 750 cameras being used in Georgia.

“The state of Georgia and its school districts have been safety pioneers with the stop-arm technology. I give them credit for embracing the technology. They recognize that the results are there, and that’s why they’re continuing to add more programs, as well as keep the programs they do have,” Jeckering says.

Based on the national data collected, Jeckering says that 99 percent of drivers who have received and paid for a ticket for passing a school bus have not done it again – which means the product is succeeding.

“The goal is to change driver behaviour and make them aware that passing a school bus is dangerous and unacceptable,” Jeckering says. v

Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation

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vendor Profile

The buzz about electric buses Blue Bird Corporation is reaching soaring heights with their line of electric buses.

The company, whose headquarters is based out of Fort Valley/Macon, Ga., has come a long way since 1927, when a Perry-based contractor approached Albert L. Luce, a Ford dealer at the time, asking him to produce a means of transportation for rural workers. According to Mark Terry, chief commercial officer for Blue Bird Corp., Luce secured a Model T chassis that was covered with a hand-built wooden body, creating a worker transport vehicle for the local cement factory.

“That was the first bus Luce sold – but not the first one Blue Bird made,” Terry explains.

The man returned a year later, saying the body wasn’t quite durable enough for the rough back roads of rural Georgia at the time. Luce accepted the challenge, feeling that he could

Orbit Software, Inc. specializes in providing a very easy to use routing and scheduling software program with an integrated GIS mapping solution. Since 1998, we have focused on giving school districts and bus contractors the tools they need to efficiently manage their bus routes for all types of students, including those with special needs. We also offer web based field trip management services and integrated GPS student and vehicle monitoring compliance. info@orbitsoftware.net Orbit Software, Inc. Toll Free: 866-740-8994

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www.busboss.com

424 King Street Pottstown, PA 19464 484-941-0820 Fax: 484-941-0825

Georgia School Bus • 2018 Conference

build a better body than the one he was supplied a year earlier.

He rebuilt the body, and this time the construction was centered around steel, with iron roof bows that ran down the full side of the bus to the frame, adding considerable strength to the original chassis.

“It had windows on the side with a canvas top and side curtains that rolled down that secured at the bottom with straps and clasps. And that first bus built by Luce ended up being sold to a Marshallville, Ga. contractor to haul schoolchildren.

That’s how we began our business,” Terry says.

From that point on, nearby school districts began approaching Luce to produce similar vehicles for them. The deepening Depression took its toll on the Ford automobile business, and building buses became the focus of the family business. Over the next 20 years, bus building in Fort Valley established Blue Bird as the industry icon it is today.

Fast forward to today – Blue Bird Corp. offers three different types of school buses, which include a conventional school bus with a hood on the front, a flat-front transit bus with an engine on the front and a flat-front transit bus with an engine on the rear. The sharp rake on the hood of the conventional bus suggests its name – Vision – while the transit-style bus is called the All-American.

The Vision bus uses one of four different types of fuel, which are diesel, compressed natural gas, propane and gasoline. Out of the four, Terry says propane is the cleanest-emitting engine in the industry, and it’s quite popular with school districts.

“Propane is much cheaper per gallon than diesel fuel is, even before federal rebates, and the maintenance is much lower,” Terry says. “The engines operate using a lot less oil. The filters are less expensive. And there’s no exhaust after-treatment that you have to maintain. Hands down, it costs less to own and operate than any other bus.”

Last year, Blue Bird Corp. introduced their new line of Type C and D electric buses. They have already quoted more than 200 electric buses and begin production this summer.

“We have orders for buses that we’ll be putting in customers’ hands when kids go back to school this fall,” Terry says.

Also coming out this year from Blue Bird Corp. is their Type A electric bus. v

Member Profile

Shirley Doolittle does a lot

By Cindy Chan

Thirty years later, Shirley Doolittle hasn’t lost any of the enthusiasm and passion for her job in the pupil transportation industry.

Doolittle is the assistant director of transportation for Columbia County School District in Evans, Ga., her employer for three decades. With a master’s degree in business administration, Doolittle began working as an office manager for a dental practice for six to seven years. Later on, the opportunity to work for the school system arose. Doolittle applied for the position and went through a few titles before landing on her current role – route supervisor, operations supervisor and now assistant director.

“I became interested in the logistics of working out bus routes, training, filling vacancies, that sort of thing,” Doolittle says.

As assistant director, Doolittle says she’s in charge of operations and safety. She works closely with three bus managers that have their own designated areas. One bus manager is responsible for special needs students, one bus manager covers one part of the county and one bus manager looks after the other part of the county.

“Under those bus managers, we have 14 different team captains working with teams that are set up based on their

One man, two jobs

geographical locations,” Doolittle explains, adding that the transportation department transports around 26,000 pre-kindergarten to Grade 12 students daily on 217 routes. “The bus managers work with the team captains to cover absences and routes. I supervise the total operation with the bus managers.”

For Doolittle, an average day begins around 5 a.m., when she’s on call to be a support system consultant. She can be found in the office between 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. but she often stays late.

“Throughout the day, I’m working with managers. I also work with our 325 employees, most of which are drivers,” she says. “I assist the director, coach drivers and monitor attendance, efficiency and safety.”

Doolittle also meets with her management team to make sure all the routes are covered and all the information is communicated to the public, staff members and schools.

“Then I am actually on call again to work with the managers or team captains if they need me,” she adds.

Doolittle’s goal for her department is to make it as safe and efficient as possible, to fine-tune the organization and administration and push employees to reach their highest potential.

“Our motto is to go from good to great, so we’ll work in every area to do that,” she says. v

By Cindy Chan

Terry Grantham does double duty for Glynn County School System.

A school resource officer and accident review board chairman, Grantham keeps himself pretty busy. Before juggling two careers, he attended Brunswick High School in Brunswick, Ga., which, notably, is a school in the Glynn County School System. Afterwards, Grantham earned his CDL at Altamaha Technical College. He drove semi-trucks till 1997.

“Then I went to the police academy at Savannah College in Savannah, Ga.,” he says, adding when he graduated, he worked for the Glynn County Police Department in Brunswick.

Grantham then moved on to work at the Glynn County School system where he has been for the last 10 years. As a school resource officer, Grantham says his responsibility is serving the students, faculty and community.

According to Grantham, all school resource officers are certified police officers, and there is one at every school in the district.

“I enjoy working with children,” Grantham says. “Our policy

is to protect and serve the kids. If we can make a difference in one of their lives, we feel successful.”

On the pupil transportation side of the operation, Grantham says his job as the accident review board chairman includes watching school-bus video footage for issues, investigating incidents with outside agencies and assisting driver trainers and the director of transportation. Sometimes, Grantham is driving the buses as well.

“I start work every morning at about 6:30 a.m.,” Grantham says. “I go to the bus yard to monitor the bus and police radios in case there are issues on the school buses I need to respond to.”

When the buses are on the road, Grantham reviews video footage or attends accident review board hearings.

“I make sure everything is going well for the drivers,” he says.

In his spare time, Grantham enjoys fishing, hunting and spending time with his grandchildren. v Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation

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vendor Profile

Providing security for kids The evolution of Gatekeeper Systems

Equipment mounted on the bus, stop-arm extended and a vehicle passing while stopped.

Doug Dyment’s business philosophy is pretty simple – it’s about providing peace of mind for children and their parents on their journey to school, which is the principle that has driven him since he put his first video system on a school bus back in 1992.

And now more than 25 years later, his company’s state-ofthe-art digital video technology systems have logged millions of miles, allowing drivers, school administrators and law enforcement across North America to provide a safe environment for children in and around the bus.

His foray into harnessing video technology as a way to deliver a worry-free journey for kids started with his first company, Silent Witness, which he founded in the early 1990s.

It was later acquired by global tech giant Honeywell. Today, Dyment is the president, founder and CEO of Gatekeeper Systems, which is based in Abbotsford, B.C., and serves 3,500 customers in every state and province across the continent.

Gatekeeper has approximately 100,000 cameras installed on school and transit buses throughout North America, and has expanded its business to include customers such as the United States Air Force, defense contractors, as well as law enforcement agencies.

“The goal is to keep the bus drivers’ eyes focused in front of them instead of being distracted by the confusion that often escalates behind them,” Dyment explains. “It literally puts eyes in the back of their heads.”

Dyment established the company in 1997 as a small business that placed video systems on school buses. In 2002 to 2003, Gatekeeper Systems developed its first digital system which enhanced image quality and increased the number of cameras that could be installed on a bus. As well, the new digital system allowed for the ability to share data and video files using a simple software application.

“In the school bus market, there is a lot of data being recorded on our devices, including high-definition video, GPS, voice, vehicle sensors, time and date. Wireless is of great interest to school districts, as they can get access to devices without having to leave the office to go to the bus yard,” Dyment says. “Gatekeeper can connect to any device, anywhere and

any time, providing transportation managers with an easy-touse software application that saves time managing incidents.”

Gatekeeper has developed high-definition, forward-facing cameras for accident investigations, as well as exterior cameras to provide a 360-degree view around the bus. Its engineers also developed a multilane stop-arm camera system with a cloudbased software application that provides an end-to-end solution to collect stop-arm violation evidence, identify the vehicle owner and issue the citations. The program is violator-funded, with no cost to the school district or county.

While Dyment doesn’t want to reveal too much regarding what is up and coming at Gatekeeper, he has his eyes focused on the future. He mentions that the company is working on the analytics side of the technology. Its latest G4-Y35, a highdefinition digital recorder, recently launched, boasting an oncommand connection centralizing communications for system health check, driver behaviour analysis, video management, livestreaming, GPS, routing and mapping, student tracking and other third-party applications.

Dyment adds that one can clip a piece of video whenever a certain sensor is activated as well. For example, if a driver does a hard deceleration, falls asleep or texts on the job, an alarm will sound.

“We can push that back to our server to do further analysis and provide transportation managers with important information to improve operations and better driving habits,” he says.

Although Gatekeeper Systems is based out of Canada, Dyment says he recently launched Gatekeeper Systems USA Corp. because 95 percent of their business is in the United States.

“We’re setting up operations in the U.S. just to be closer to our customers,” he says, adding that the state of Georgia has always been one of their strongest customers.

“Georgia is a state we’re heavily engaged with on the stoparm camera side of the business,” Dyment says, adding that one way Gatekeeper Systems succeeds is by dealing with the smaller counties, while their competitors don’t. “They’ve been ahead of the curve, being quite proactive on issuing citations to try to deter the problem. We want to be known in Georgia as a very strong county partner. We have a big focus there.” v

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Georgia School Bus • 2018 Conference

Member Profile

Rick Grisham wins award, represents Cobb County School District

By Cindy Chan Rick Grisham wears a lot of hats. He is the executive director of transportation for Cobb County School District in Marietta, Ga., National Association for Pupil Transportation Region 2 representative and, last but not least, School Transportation News’ Leadership Award recipient in 2017.

Grisham has held his executive director role for a decade, but in a previous life, he worked for the U.S. Tennis Association office in Texas and in Georgia. Eventually he made his way back into education and then pupil transportation.

“When I was teaching – I did most of my teaching in Broken Arrow, Okla. – I got my CDL as part of my job to drive my athletes on a bus to their games and meets,” Grisham says.

School Transportation News (stnonline.com) gave Grisham the 2017 STN Leadership Award in their November 2017 issue.

When he learned of this achievement, he recalls being completely taken aback.

“You do this job because you want to do the best to take care of your students,” Grisham says. “It totally caught me off-guard.”

Although STN named Grisham alone as the award winner, Grisham insists that his team deserves the recognition as well.

“It’s a team effort, and we accept the award on behalf of Cobb County School District,” he says. “It’s nice to get that award and give the accolades to my team.”

Grisham says being singled out for the award among his peers is humbling.

“To me, it just means we’ve got a lot of people doing a good job here. This is a nice shot in the arm for our school district,” he says. “We hope we can just keep moving forward, improving and providing the best.”

Grisham was also elected to the National Association for Pupil Transportation’s board of directors as the Region 2 dis-

trict representative. Grisham represents the southeast states such as Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ontario, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. Surprisingly, Grisham also represents Ontario in Canada.

Locked into a three-year term, Grisham wanted to break the ice with the state associations so he sent out holiday cards to them to introduce himself and to outline his goals in his new role. He received a lot of responses from people asking for his advice on the challenges they’re facing in their associations.

Things that Grisham and the board are working on include: • entry-level driver training, which is slated to come up in 2020; • technology on school buses, such as the use of Wi-Fi connectivity on buses; • improving the annual NAPT conference; and • getting transportation professionals in the professional development series classes for eventual certification.

Since being elected to the NAPT board, Grisham has sat on two meetings and conference calls – and it has changed the way he does his job.

“The level of professionalism there inspires me to be on my A-game – to be an example and to put on a bigger thinking cap,” he says. v Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation

13

What’s new and improved at Jasper Engines and Transmissions At Jasper Engines and Transmissions, things are always moving forward.

Associate-owner shareholders in the Jasper Engines and Transmissions Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) reached a record-setting share value on April 26, 2018. A total of nearly $12 million in new shares was distributed to more than 2,400 eligible associate-owners. JASPER® share value continues to experience immense growth since the inception of its ESOP in 2009 at $2.30 per share. Doug Bawel, JASPER chairman and CEO, announced the new share value was $340.45 in 2017, which is a 54.4 percent increase just from 2016.

“Our goal is to out-perform the market two times its value, so let’s make sure we stay focused on safety, quality, productivity, customer service and the reduction of waste,” says Bawel.

With that in mind, the company’s goals for 2018 include reaching $650 million in sales revenue, as well as striving to be the brand of choice for their customers and company of choice for their current, and potential, associate-owners.

JASPER currently boasts 45 branches with three new locations opening this year in Sacramento, Calif., Jacksonville, Fla. and Lubbock, Texas.

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Georgia School Bus • 2018 Conference

Zach Bawel, JASPER® president and COO, states, “We’ve increased the number of days we are delivering product, from our remanufacturing facilities, to our branch locations. These increased deliveries will allow us to provide additional inventory to our branches and give them greater flexibility in delivering our products on a more timely basis.”

The company remanufactures domestic and import diesel engines, including Caterpillar, Cummins, Detroit, Ford, General Motors, International, Isuzu and Mercedes. JASPER® also offers fuel and air components for diesel engines, which includes fuel pumps, injectors and turbochargers for a variety of applications.

The following diesel fuel and air components, among others, are offered at JASPER®: • High-pressure oil pumps for 6.0, T444E, 466E and 3126 applications; • Injectors for T444E, 466, 6.0, DT 466EGR, CAT 3126B, C7 and HEUI injectors; and • Turbochargers for various makes and models including 6.0, 6.4 lp/hp, T444E, GM 6.5, 466 EGR, ISB 5.9 and 6.7, CAT 3116 and C7, and Duramax 6.6.

For more information, visit jasperengines.com or call 1-800-827-7455. v

Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation

15

Member Profile

The thrill of the hustle and bustle

By Tammy Schuster After retiring as director of transportation from the Atlanta Public Schools several years ago, Harold Walker expected to enjoy the quiet life away from scheduling, coordinating and troubleshooting. But, after a short while, he found he missed his career and the joy he received from working within the public school system.

There was another factor keeping him from enjoying retirement. “I simply retired from the business not realizing I would get bored like I did,” he says. “Boredom put me back to work.”

Now as the director of transportation at the Clayton County Public Schools, Walker is busy once again. Contently immersed in his work, he oversees the transport of 25,616 students each morning and then again at the end of the school day. With 362 school bus drivers traveling approximately 9,000 miles and stopping at roughly 16,000 bus stops each morning, Walker and his team ensures that all students are brought to school within a two-and-a-half-hour period.

Walker says his experience has been positive with the help of a great team where safety and reliability is a priority.

“In Clayton County, our mechanic shop inspects our entire fleet of 430 school buses every 20 days to ensure they are properly maintained for safety,” he says.

Walker’s vast fleet of buses come equipped with air conditioning, two-way radios, interior video cameras and stoparms. He also says the county has approximately 100 school buses equipped with exterior cameras in an effort to discourage drivers from running through the school bus stop-arms.

Many drivers still either disobey or are unaware of the stoparm laws and fail to stop when they are lowered, which can be a significant safety issue for students.

“My newer buses have the stop-arm camera installed to help deter those drivers from passing a stopped bus,” says Walker. “It has absolutely helped. If you run it once, you’ll wake up twice.”

Educating drivers to the danger of illegally passing school buses has been a long-term effort, but Walker says the exte-

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Georgia School Bus • 2018 Conference

rior cameras are helping to change driver behaviors and will help protect the safety of students riding buses.

When he’s not answering phones calls, managing schedules, and solving problems during the day, Walker spends his time mentoring at-risk youth — something he has done throughout his 30-plus-year career in transportation.

“It’s important for children to have positive role models in their lives, and I try to provide that,” he says. “In my spare time, I keep working.”

And, an example of apples not falling far from the tree, Walker’s wife and three children all work within the public school system. His wife and youngest daughter are both teachers in Clayton County Public Schools, his son is a teacher and basketball coach in Virginia and his oldest daughter is a school counselor living in California.

Passionate about helping young people and his career transporting students safely to and from school each day, it’s not surprising Walker’s retirement was only a brief stop. v

Member Profile

Joy of service

By Tammy Schuster After serving over 25 years in the United States Army as a logistics officer, Glenn Young retired in order to have more stability at home with his family. With his last duty station before retiring in Fort Polk, La., Young commuted back and forth between work and family in Georgia whenever possible. “I loved the military enough to have gone the entire 30 years, but being separated from my family was difficult.”

Upon military retirement, when his wife asked him what he wanted to do next, he remembers telling her he didn’t know simply because he loved his job so much that he never put any significant amount of time or thought into post-military life.

“Because I hadn’t put much thought into life after the military, I said a prayer for the Lord to put me where I needed to be, and focused on attaining a few personal goals that I wanted to complete while on active duty, but did not get to,” says Young. Those goals included completing his certification as a project manager and earning his Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification through Emory University, a highly-esteemed process-improvement designation. “Just as I was finishing those certifications, the call came.”

The call was a request to consider a leadership position in the student transportation department at Woodward Academy, a private college prep school (pre-K through Grade 12) with two campuses in the metro Atlanta area — College Park and Johns Creek. Student Transport, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Woodward Academy, provides safe and reliable transportation services for students, parents, faculty and staff members.

After a series of meetings and interviews, in early 2014, Young accepted the position of associate director of student transportation at Woodward Academy.

Young says as a logistics officer in the United States Army, transportation was one of his functional areas. “Managing time, personnel and various commodities within the military, made for an easy transition into this position.”

He says that he enjoys being a part of the Woodward Academy family and student transportation team, as he believes in the organization and what it’s about. So much so, that he and his wife Dykie decided to transfer their son, Anthony,

to Woodward Academy as a freshman. Now completing his sophomore year, Anthony is doing very well and will remain with Woodward Academy through graduation.

“Both my wife and I place high importance on education,” he says. “I was so impressed with the school’s long-standing history and high achievements, having been established in 1900 as Georgia Military Academy. We were both very much interested in the quality of education, the graduation rate, and the high percentage of students that go on to college and graduate with credentials that help ensure a smooth transition into independency and young adulthood.”

Young says taking care of soldiers and their families and helping to solve problems were all challenges he enjoyed while serving. And he has been enjoying his new position since 2014 in which there are many similarities to his previous career.

“Getting students, faculty and staff members at Woodward Academy to and from where they need to be safely and on time are all a part of what I do, so the transition was easy,” he says.

Living and leading by the guiding principles and command philosophy of his former brigade commander and mentor, Col. Bret VanCamp, while serving in the 1st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade at Fort Polk, La., Young says he is doing his part to make every day better.

“Serving the people of this great nation, the community in which I live, as well as the diverse student, family, faculty and staff population which make up the Woodward Academy family is all a part of my calling,” he says. “It is almost not like work when you enjoy what you do and get paid to do it.” v Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation

17

Member Profile

Technician of the Year

By Cindy Chan

Jeremiah Bradberry is no slacker. In fact, the overachieving senior mechanic was named Technician of the Year in 2017 – at the state and national levels.

Bradberry received the honor from the Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation (GAPT) and National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT). The former award includes a cash prize while the latter award consists of a trophy.

Bradberry entered the world of pupil transportation by accident. He previously worked in private mechanic shop but eventually moved on to the private sector where he stayed for seven years. He wanted to return to pupil transportation – as well as receive more job security and benefits – so he ended up at Cherokee County School District’s bus garage. Working at the bus repair shop on South Cobb Drive, he has been in his current position as senior mechanic for Cobb County School District for seven years.

“I fell in love with working and the whole standardization of the fleet,” he says.

As a senior mechanic, Bradberry is responsible for anything involving minor repairs, transmission replacements and complete engine rebuilds, to name a few.

“Anything on the bus, I take care of it,” he says.

An average day for Bradberry begins at 5:30 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m. In between, he can be found working on buses all day or being dispatched for breakdowns.

When he found out that he was Technician of the Year for both state and national levels, he was surprised. However, it wasn’t the first time he received the accolades. He has entered the contest several times, winning state twice and national once.

“I won international this past year,” he adds. “I thought I knew about buses, but the competition let me know I needed to do more studying.”

Bradberry says that as a mechanic, he is constantly learning from his peers as well as on the job.

“There is always new technology coming out. Unfortunately, that is part of the rut a lot of people fall into when they are in a fleet position. They don’t stay quite up-to-date on current technology,” Bradberry says.

Although Bradberry won the 2017 Technician of the Year awards, that isn’t stopping him for continuing to go for them in the future – especially when he enjoys his job so much.

“I like the job security. I like making a difference by getting the students to school and keeping them safe every day,” he says. v

Yancey Bus Sales & Service named 2017 Blue Bird Dealer of the Year At the 2017 Blue Bird Corporation dealer meeting, Yancey Bus Sales & Service earned the title of Dealer of the Year by Blue Bird Corporation for the second time in three years.

Yancey is the first Blue Bird dealer to be recognized twice with this prestigious award for customer support, outstanding parts availability and best-in-class service offerings. Yancey was the leader nationwide in school bus sales, alternative fuel bus sales and Micro-Bird sales for 2017.

In addition to being the exclusive bus dealer for Blue Bird Corporation, Yancey Bus Sales & Service also provides aftermarket Mobile Climate Control air-conditioning equipment, Amerex fire suppression systems and multiple camera systems and radio installations.

“We have been fortunate to develop strong partnerships with Blue Bird, Ford, Roush and AmeriGas, allowing us to provide support for our customer needs. With 18 field service technicians and outstanding parts availability, we are able to get your fleet back up and running quickly. Our mission

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Georgia School Bus • 2018 Conference

statement is to ‘serve, solve, succeed’, and we will continue to do that,” states Shooter Roberts, Yancey Bus Group sales manager.

Yancey’s latest partnership with TCF Equipment Finance will provide dynamic leasing and lease purchasing solutions for customers. These solutions allow customization of flexible and competitively priced finance solutions, through a nationwide team of financial experts focusing on the equipment and transportation industry.

Yancey Bus Sales & Service services the entire state of Georgia with locations in Albany, Augusta, Austell, Brunswick, Columbus, Jefferson, Macon, Resaca, Savannah, Valdosta and Waycross. For more information, visit yanceybus.com.

Together with our Fort Valley-based partner, Blue Bird, we are proud to serve Georgia school systems by providing and supporting the safest and most reliable school buses with lowest total cost of ownership – safely transporting our next generation of leaders to and from school. v

THANK YOU FOR HELPING US ® BECOME BLUE BIRD’s “2017 DEALER OF THE YEAR”.

Yancey Bus is proud to be recognized as the Blue Bird® “2017 Dealer of the Year”. This is the second time in three years Yancey has been recognized with this prestigious award for our customer service, outstanding parts availability and best-in-class service offerings.

We are proud to serve Georgia as your exclusive Blue Bird School Bus dealer, and we look forward to many more years helping Georgia’s school systems safely transport our next generation of leaders to and from school.

ALBANY (800) 768-2892

COLUMBUS (800) 633-5240

RESACA (877) 994-6600

AUGUSTA (800) 446-5131

CONLEY (800) 447-7394

SAVANNAH (800) 755-8382

AUSTELL (877) 278-6235

JEFFERSON (888) 477-6600

VALDOSTA (800) 755-6841

BRUNSWICK (800) 299-5010

MACON (866) 692-2473

WAYCROSS (888) 288-4141

www.YanceyBus.com Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation 19

® 2018, YANCEY BROS. CO., ATLANTA, GA. All rights reserved. BLUE BIRD, as well as corporate and product identity used herein, are trademarks of Blue Bird Body Company and may not be used without permission.

GAPT 2018 program Monday, June 18, 2018 7:00 AM

Registration & Networking

8:00 AM**

Presentation of Colors and Pledge of Allegiance

8:05 AM

Inspiration – Dr. Michael Gwatney, Superintendent, Fannin County Schools

8:10 AM

Welcome – Benny Long, President, GAPT

8:15 AM

Board Of Directors Introductions – Benny Long, President, GAPT

8:20 AM

GAPT Updates – Carlton Allen, Executive Director, GAPT

9:15 AM

Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent – Blue Ribbon Awards

9:45 AM

Mr. Pat Schofill, State Director of Pupil Transportation – GaDOE

10:15 AM 10:35 AM

Break Leadership Redefined – Dave Weber

11:35 AM

Lunch

1:00 PM

Awards: Technician, Reg. Ed. Road-e-o, SPED Road-e-o, Valor, Retirees

1:15 PM

School Bus Fatality Review – Jason Rogers, Executive Director of Maintenance and Operations, Liberty County Schools

2:15 PM

Georgia State Patrol – Lt. Kristopher J. Bowen

3:15 PM

Adjourn **GAPT School Bus Inspector/Manager Certification Program begins in the Fleet Track Classrooms – Rooms 1,2,&3

Tuesday, June 19, 2018 GAPT – Technician Certification

NAPT – PDS for Administrators

GAPT – Transporting Students with Special Needs

Rooms 1,2,&3

Rooms 4&5

Room 6

GAPT – Safety & Training

GaDOE – Administrator’s Overview

Rooms 7&8

Room 9

8:00 AM

The Importance of Pre-Trips from the Operational & Fleet Perpective, Mike Warner, Associate Director, Cobb County Schools

9:00 AM

Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE) – Dave Shanks, GA-ACEM, GaDOE – GA Emergency Management New Pupil Agency (GEMA) Transportation Administrator’s School Bus Safety – Dave Overview Shanks, GA-ACEM, GA Emergency Management Agency (GEMA)

10:00 AM

GAPT School Bus Inspector/Manager Certification Program

11:00 AM

NAPT PDS 303 – Procurement and Budget Management – (4 Hours)

Covering the Waterfront on Transporting Students with Disabilities – Kathy Furneaux

Training 101 – New Ideas & Thinking Outside of the Box – Brandi Waddell, Lead Trainer, Marietta City Schools

12:00 PM

Lunch

1:00 PM

Networking and Sharing Activities: Summer Waves and Dolphin Tours sponsored by GAPT.

Golf Tournament – Sponsored by Peach State Freightliner

20

Georgia School Bus • 2018 Conference

GAPT – Fleet Procurement for Decision Makers Room 10 Blue Bird/Yancey

Collins Bus/Trans South Services NAPA IBS

GAPT 2018 program Wednesday, June 20, 2018

8:00 AM

GAPT – Technician Certification

NAPT – PDS for Administrators

GAPT – Transporting GAPT – Safety & Students with Training Special Needs

GaDOE – Administrator’s Overview

GAPT – Fleet Procurement for Decision Makers

Rooms 1,2,&3

Rooms 4&5

Room 6

Rooms 7&8

Room 9

Room 10

GAPT School Bus Inspector/Manager Certification Program

NAPT PDS 302 – NAPT PDS 805 – Budget Development Supporting Safe – (4 Hours) Behavior on the School Bus for Students with Disabilities & Special Needs – (4 Hours) – Kathy Furneaux

DOT Reasonable Suspicion Drug and Alcohol Training – (2 Hours) – Regina Doural

Purchasing through the GA DOAS State Contract – Billy Gilbert, GaDOAS

Amerigas

New School Bus Specifications – Ken Johnson, GaDOE

Synovia

Designated Employer Representative – (2 Hours) – Regina Doural

Hot Topics – Technology on School Buses – GaDOE Staff

Thomas/Peach State Freightliner

9:00 AM

10:00 AM 11:00 AM

12:00 PM 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 3:00 PM

Lunch GAPT School Bus Inspector/Manager Certification Program

Trade Show

4:00 PM

Thursday, June 21, 2018 8:00 AM

Trade Show – Decision Makers Only

10:30 AM 11:00 AM

Vendor Drawings

11:45 AM

Lunch

12:45 PM

NAPT – Mike Martin, Executive Director, NAPT & Rick Grisham, NAPT Director, Region 2

1:45 PM

Successful Leadership – Kenn Kington

2:45 PM

Business Meeting

3:15 PM

Adjourn

Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation

21

Trade Show Booths and Floor Plans Booth # Vendor

Reliable Hydraulics Blue-Bird Blue Bird

Georgia School Bus • 2018 Conference

Yancey

Rush

22

Rush

BB-1 Yancey/Blue Bird 73 Dorman HD Solutions 37 OPW Fuel Management Systems 49 The Braun Corporation BB-2 Yancey/Blue Bird 23 Dorsey Tire 54 Orbit Software 30 The Bus Center Atlanta BB-3 Peach State Freightliner 55 Eaton Transmissions 52 O’Reilly Auto Parts 75 Titan DEF Pumps and Equipment BB-4 Reliable Hydraulics 62 Education Logistics Inc. BB-3 Peach State Freightliner 78 T-Mobile BB-5 Trans/South Services 19 Fire Systems Inc. 8 Petroleum Services Group 63 Trans/Air Manufacturing BB-6 Rush Bus Center Atlanta 66 Fogmaker North America 17 Pro-Vision Video Systems BB-6 Trans/South Services Inc. BB-7 Rush Bus Center Atlanta 60 Fortress Mobile 11 Q’Straint/Sure-Lok 57 Transfinder 81 247Security Inc. 64 Fuelmaster/Syn-Tech Systems Inc. 51 Redflex Traffic Systems 46 TransPar Group 53 Alpha Communications Inc 48 Fussell Tires Pros 59 Reflective Image 43 TSE Brakes 22 American Traffic Solutions Inc. 86 Georef Systems Ltd 13 Reflective Traffic Systems 85 Turbo Diesel & Electric Systems 31 AngelTrax 58 Georgia Fleet Talk 15 REI 16 Tyler Technologies 10 AT&T 21 GSBA Risk Management Services BB-4 Reliable Hydraulics 34 Unicomp USA Ltd. 74 Atlanta Commercial Tire 80 Heavy Duty Bus Lift & Equipment

44 Reliable Transmission Services 9 United Pump and Controls Inc. 5 BESI, Inc. 28 Hill Tire Company 84 Rosco Vision Systems 47 Valeo Thermal Bus System BB-1-2 Blue Bird Corporation 36 HSM Transportation Solutions BB6-7 Rush Bus Center Atlanta 45 Verizon Wireless 7 Bridgestone 72 J & R Tires 25 Safety Vision 24 W.W. Williams 40-41 BusPatrol America 68 Jasper Engines & Transmissions 56 Seon Systems Sales Inc. BB1-2 Yancey Bus Sales & Service 27 Certified Laboratories 61 Jim Whitehead’s Best One Tire & Service 14 Southern Tire Mart LLC

76

Yokohama Tire Corp.

82

Chalks Truck Parts

33

Jones & Frank

6

SouthernLINC Wireless

20 Zonar 18

Classic Bus Sales LLC

77

Lubrication Engineers, Inc.

79

Special Needs – GAPT

83

Continental Tires

38

Mobile Climate Control

39

Synovia Solutions LLC

32

Creative Bus Sales

65 Mobile Communications of America 67

SynTec Seating Solutions

29

Cummins Sales and Service

12 MultiLube 50

Taylor Bus Sales

35

Diesel Force

26 NAPA 42

The App Garden

Vendors Platinum Level Blue Bird Corporation Platinum Level Yancey Bus Sales & Service Gold Level Rush Bus Center, Atlanta Gold Level Reliable Hydraulics Gold Level Trans/South Services, Inc. Gold Level Peach State Freightliner Gold Level Alpha Communications, Inc. Silver Level Hill Tire Company Silver Level Certified Laboratories Silver Level AT&T Silver Level The Bus Center Atlanta Silver Level Seon Systems Sales Inc. Silver Level Cummins Sales and Service Silver Level Orbit Software, Inc. Silver Level Engines/Jasper Innovative Solutions Silver Level Mobile Communications of America Silver Level TransPar Group Bronze Level REI Bronze Level Rosco Vision Systems Bronze Level SouthernLINC Wireless Bronze Level Unicomp USA Ltd. Bronze Level Education Logistics, Inc. Bronze Level Reflective Image Bronze Level Synovia Solutions, LLC Bronze Level Transfinder Bronze Level BESI, Inc. Bronze Level Chalks Truck Parts Bronze Level Q’Straint/Sure-Lok Bronze Level Fussell Tire Pros Bronze Level Georef Systems Ltd. Bronze Level HSM Transportation Solutions Bronze Level Dorman HD Solutions Bronze Level GSBA Risk Management Services Bronze Level OPW Fuel Management Systems Bronze Level Yokohama Tire Corp.

Bronze Level Georgia FleetTalk Bronze Level Creative Bus Sales Bronze Level Fortress Mobile

Bronze Level TSE Brakes Bronze Level Safety Vision Bronze Level Classic Bus Sales, LLC Bronze Level Special Needs Committee Bronze Level Heavy Duty Lift & Equipment, Inc. Bronze Level T-Mobile Bronze Level AngelTrax Bronze Level Eaton Transmissions Bronze Level O’Reilly Auto Parts Bronze Level Bridgestone Bronze Level Verizon Wireless Bronze Level Mobile Climate Control Bronze Level Whitehead’s Best One Tire Bronze Level BusPatrol America Bronze Level BusPatrol Second Booth Bronze Level Taylor Bus Sales Inc. Bronze Level Reflective Traffic Systems Bronze Level Trans/Air Manufacturing Bronze Level Redflex Traffic Systems Bronze Level Diesel Force Bronze Level NAPA Atlanta Bronze Level The Braun Corporation Bronze Level Continental Tire Bronze Level Valeo Thermal Bus System

Bronze Level Dorsey Tire Bronze Level Atlanta Commercial Tire Bronze Level Southern Tire Mart, LLC Bronze Level Turbo Diesel & Electric Systems Bronze Level Pro-Vision Video Systems Bronze Level Zonar Bronze Level SynTec Seating Solutions Bronze Level American Traffic Solutions Bronze Level 247 Security Inc. Bronze Level Fogmaker North America Bronze Level Fire Systems Inc. Bronze Level Jones & Frank Bronze Level Petroleum Services Group Bronze Level The App-garden Bronze Level Fuelmaster/Syn-Tech Systems, Inc. Bronze Level Tyler Technologies Bronze Level MultiLube Bronze Level J & R Tire Inc. Bronze Level Reliable Transmission Service Bronze Level United Pump and Controls, Inc.

Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation

23

Keynote conference speakers Michael Gwatney Michael Gwatney has served the Fannin County School Systems in a variety of roles: paraprofessional, teacher of elementary and middle grades, principal and assistant principal and district administrator. He understands the various roles in the education field and has grown up among a family of educators.

Of his accomplishments, credentials and awards, Gwatney believes none are greater than having an active role in making the FCSS the best possible place for all. He understands that the FCSS helped him become the person he is today, and it continues to build him and so many others, including his daughter, Lora, a student at FCHS.

Kathy Furneaux Kathy Furneaux returns to the GAPT conference as the lead facilitator and instructor for the special needs training track to include teaching the National Association for Pupil Transportation certified class, “Supporting Safe Behavior on the School Bus for Students with Disabilities & Special Needs.” Kathy is a frequent and sought-after speaker at major transportation conferences, including NAPT and

TSD. She is the executive director of the Pupil Transportation Safety Institute in Syracuse, N.Y., which is renowned for their “commitment to the safety of children riding the yellow school bus.” At the 2003 NAPT conference, she received the Sure-Lok Special Needs Transportation Award. She is a member of the TSD National Board of Advisors and holds a bachelor of science degree in human resource management from Columbia Southern University in Orange Beach, Ala.

Michael J. Martin Michael J. Martin is the executive director and chief executive officer of the National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT). He is also executive director of NAPT’s 501(c)(3) education arm, the NAPT Foundation, Inc., and president of NAPT Business Intelligence LLC, NAPT’s forprofit subsidiary.

Over the course of his professional career, Martin has been responsible for all aspects of management and operations,

including strategic planning, budgeting and finance, human resource management, grants management, contract negotiation and management, member service and, especially, effective communication. He has written a monthly column for School Bus Fleet magazine for the last 15 years, he is repeatedly interviewed and quoted by radio stations and major newspapers around the country and he has made more than 100 keynote speeches and workshop presentations.

Rick Grisham Rick Grisham is the executive director for transportation for Cobb County Public Schools and is the Region 2 director for the National Association for Pupil Transportation, covering the southeast of the United States and Ontario in Canada.

Grisham has been involved in education for 38 years as a teacher and coach (football, wrestling, tennis). While he was

24

Georgia School Bus • 2018 Conference

a coach, he drove a school bus. He prides himself in leading teams and getting over 90,000 students to school safely on a daily basis. Grisham and his team lead one of the largest school transportation departments in the country by bus count or students transported. For his leadership, School Transportation News named him the recipient of the 2017 STN Leadership Award, an award that Rick said was “humbling and kind of surreal.”

Kenn Kington Kenn Kington is one of the most popular comics on XM radio, performing regularly across the country. But he is so much more than a comedian. He has spoken to hundreds of companies, giving amazing focus in the midst of change, maximizing productivity and developing recordbreaking product launches – but there’s more. He was also a top 10 salesman in a Fortune 500 growth company.

Martin has written two bestselling books on relationships and records a regular radio show/podcast that inspires thousands to experience life to the fullest. Martin takes special pride in his ability to relate to the membership at large and effectively convey important messages and related information to them. He constantly seeks new ways to provide service and benefits that enhance the value of membership in the organization; in fact, it is his favorite part of his job.

Dave Weber For over 25 years Dave Weber’s fun, highenergy, and entertaining style has made him one of the country’s most soughtafter speakers. Presenting more than 160 times each year to tens of thousands all across the country, he is often described as a “chihuahua on caffeine” and is always a crowd favorite.

Weber’s style might initially get him invited to present, but it is his great content and timeless principles that get him invited back time and time again. He strongly identifies with the challenges other professionals face. His goal with every presentation is to motivate, challenge and inspire everyone who hears him – and have a lot of fun along the way.

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Don’t let continuing budget cuts and uncertainty cripple your school bus fleet replacement program

By Todd Eskra, president of TSC Partners In countless school districts across the state, continuing budget cuts will hit districts hard and could leave the most hardpressed school districts broke. As a result, school bus fleets, replacement planning and fleet funding levels have taken a serious hit.

We all know that there is an inherent tradeoff between fleet capital and operating costs: spend more on replacement so as to replace buses sooner, and operating costs will be lower and residual values higher; spend less on replacement, however, and the reverse will be true. But such tradeoffs don’t occur so quickly that most districts can’t “save” money in a given fiscal year by postponing replacement purchases. Over the long term, however, such school districts do risk increasing their overall fleet costs by curtailing replacement spending too much in the pursuit of short-term budget savings.

While state funding challenges often serve as a useful corrective to the unchecked increases in fleet size and fleet-related spending that can occur during economic boom times, school administrators should work very hard to try to prevent them from doing lasting damage to their fleet replacement plans and, as a consequence, to the performance and total cost of ownership of their fleets.

Even during good economic times, securing sufficient funds to replace school buses in a timely manner is a challenge for many districts. This occurs despite the unique condition that, in many states, the maximum age for a route bus is defined in regulation. As a result, the manifestation of poor replacement planning in these locations is an increase in the average age of the fleet as school districts defer everything except the replacements that are required by regulation.

There is a need to consider other options that better match the expenditure needs with the funding structure in school districts. Most school districts consider one of two methods of financing. The first is using cash, which is essentially the amount appropriated to the department each year. The

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major issue with this approach is that when you finance with cash year-over-year replacement funding needs will be every bit as volatile as are spending needs. This is because cash financing involves paying for a school bus in full at the time it is acquired and placed into service.

Many organizations pay for buses with cash because they believe it to be the cheapest way to replace their fleet assets.

There are no interest charges involved in using this financing method, as is the case with leasing, loans, or other types of “pay-as-you-go” financing. Such thinking overlooks the fact, however, that the use of cash to finance fleet replacement costs creates volatile funding requirements and makes it more unlikely that you will get significantly variable funding amounts over a long-term horizon.

The other primary financing mechanism used by school districts is leasing or other debt financing. This approach allows an organization to spread out the capital costs of buses in its fleet over a period of several years. Rather than accumulating reserves internally to pay for the purchase of replacement buses, however, these approaches involve tapping into the capital markets through financial institutions or dealers for the money needed to acquire school buses.

A major virtue with leasing is that it eliminates most of the volatility in year-over-year replacement funding requirements.

This approach does a much better job of reflecting the way that school districts receive tax revenues, and departments ultimately receive their appropriations.

Opponents of leasing and loans argue that the “hidden” cost of interest charges make leasing a bad alternative and more expensive over time. There is no question that interest charges included in lease payments increase the cost of acquiring a school bus. It is far less clear, however, that leasing increases the total life cycle cost of a school bus.

There is no single “best” approach to financing school bus fleet replacement costs. Each of the approaches discussed here has considerations and concerns from a fiscal, economic, administrative and political point of view. It is clear, however, that the fiscal challenges facing many school districts today, and the threat they pose to fleet replacement spending in these organizations, warrant the consideration of new ways of doing business. v

Georgia on my mind

By Mark Lindstrom, general manager with TransPar Aloha! It’s certainly been an amazing adventure to live and work in Hawaii after a career in pupil transportation in Georgia. There was an old saying in Hawaii when I lived here 30 years ago: “lucky you live Hawaii”. I’m reminded of that each day I get up; the islands are indeed beautiful and the aloha spirit coupled with the Hawaiian culture and way of life are so inviting.

On a purely pupil transportation basis, I may say, “lucky you live in Georgia”, especially after the island of Kauai received more than 28 inches of rain in a 24-hour period and plans are currently being drawn up to deal with the potential lava flow across the east rift zone on the big island of Hawaii.

No black ice or snow to deal with, but rain, lava, and high surf have all closed roads and cut off students from their schools this year.

Here are a few shining examples of why you’re lucky you live in Georgia: • T he GAPT conference is considered one of the best state conferences in the country. Our board membership makes the organization as strong as it is. Together we have taken a small conference that held at the old Buccaneer Inn on Jekyll to four days of multiple training opportunities that run the gamut training new administrators, fleet managers, technicians, trainers, supervisors and directors choosing in a plethora of different educational tracks including classes for NAPT certification and a school bus inspector/manager certification program.

• Our state through the Department of Education has provided us with a top-notch standard training curriculum focused on enhancing student safety by putting the best drivers on the road that we can.

• Our state DOE has trained and certified course instructors at the district level so a minimum standard has been established. Pat Schofill and his team of consultants, Chad Mc-

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Georgia School Bus • 2018 Conference

Caskill, Ken Johnson and Durell made the effort this year to upgrade each of the 31 units. This was a huge undertaking and so important to keep the focus on bus driver training and student safety.

• In April, GAPT brought back the administrators’ workshop which was well-received and should be supported on a state and local level next year as well, with thanks to sponsors such as Blue Bird and Yancey.

• T he DOE annually takes on the enormous task to reach each driver in the entire state – that’s over 59,000 square miles of Atlanta Braves’ territory.

• More than 10 years ago, our GAPT voting districts were realigned with the local regional (RESA) districts. This provided a tremendous opportunity to exchange ideas, develop a deeper camaraderie with our peers and have a DOE consultant bring real-time information to the table in an exchange of ideas.

• Georgia is one of 15 states that allows the use of cameras on school-bus stop-arms. Several companies have a presence in the use and deployment of cameras and cooperative agreements have allowed school systems to fund student safety programs, install active crosswalk lighting, and enhance driver defensive driving and associated training programs.

• Just last year, John Franklin of Atlanta Public Schools was recognized as the NAPT Administrator of the Year; Marietta’s Jeanine Buck was received the NAPT Heroism Award and STN magazine recognized Rick Grisham for its Leadership Award. Cobb County’s Jeremiah Bradberry won the NAPT Technician of the Year. Georgia has also placed high in the National School Bus Driver Road-e-o in the past and several districts have been awarded the national IC training award at NAPT. v

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The human connection

Our most reliable school bus violence prevention tools

By Michael Dorn, executive director of Safe Havens International, Inc. Students, parents, school and public safety officials are naturally quite anxious about active shooter incidents in schools.

With three attacks between November 2017 and February 2018, it is understandable that people want to see dramatic improvements in school safety and that they would want them to be implemented right away.

While the number and lethality of mass casualty school shootings has increased in the past 20 years, the majority of planned attacks are now successfully averted using behavioral approaches such as multi-disciplinary threat assessment, visual weapons screening, pattern matching and recognition, protective intelligence and other approaches where K-12 personnel are trained in research-based approaches to recognize and address students, as well as non-students, who may pose a risk of danger. Behavioral approaches have thus far been our most reliable means of preventing mass casualty attacks in schools. Most behavioral approaches also provide protection regardless of the type of weapon, attack method, timing and location of the attack. For example, behavioral approaches can help avert attacks using knives, firearms, fire, explosives and vehicle ramming – all attack methods used in U.S. schools and at least thus far with the exceptions of explosives and fire in attacks on school buses.

While physical security measures such as access control systems, security cameras and metal detectors can all help to reduce risk in some situations when used correctly, they have

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Georgia School Bus • 2018 Conference

generally not worked as effectively as behavioral approaches.

In addition, the use of extensive security for schools can and often does result in an attacker simply shifting to a different weapon type, attack method or attack location. For example, as we have seen repeatedly in other countries, target hardening of school facilities has often resulted in attacks on school buses because attackers can easily bypass even the most sophisticated building security by focusing on much more vulnerable school buses. These types of attacks have ranged from the use of mass casualty shootings, edged weapons attacks, hostage situations and, most commonly, some form of improvised explosive device. Explosives used in school bus attacks have included land mines, improvised explosive devices set off in buses, devices detonated next to buses and vehicleborne explosive devices detonated in proximity to buses.

This information is not intended to increase anxiety, but instead to raise awareness and to help illustrate the point that an overemphasis on physical security while ignoring proven behavioral approaches that can help address the risks associated with every type of weapon and attack method described above can be dangerous. The most reliable ways to protect the occupants of school buses from violence have been and will continue to be increasing awareness of school pupil transportation personnel of the tried and true behavioral approaches that have been used to prevent school bus attacks for several decades. v

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By Bobby Hayes tation fleets, g school transpor in Many fleets, includin red for the steep increase were completely unprepa ted rise in in 2008. The unexpec fuel prices that began g budgets. As ed many operatin fuel expenses decimat for ways to d to climb, fleets looked continue costs fuel eliminating ng overhead and reduce costs by decreasi in every instance possible. s unnecessary fuel expense shown improved prices have recently Although U.S. fuel for school a leading expense stability, fuel remains principle power engines are still the fleets, where diesel ption audits ment and consum source. Fuel manage price spike, and height of the fuel performed at the today, show that fuel through d which have continue ed circumstances a result of unplann inventory losses as fleet fueling e for many of today’s remain a challeng nted fuel ed, these unaccou operations. If left uncheck fleet’s fuel budget. on a losses can wreak havoc

for iation’s potential Due to manual reconcil ns that ions, fueling operatio inaccurate calculat ry Reconciliation Statistical Invento perform manual of worsening analysis are at risk operators (SIR) for inventory losses. In short, site fuel nted their unaccou loss if they don’t source of the fuel cannot solve the their math is ing simply because realize it’s happen off.

can le to fuel losses, which All fuel sites are vulnerab things — theft, shrinkage, other result from — among meter drift. If short deliveries and fuel system leaks, d and addressed promptly identifie these issues are not re, the losses procedu ation reconcili as part of a reliable fleet’s operating and drain a school can quickly add up budget.

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The Start School Later movement is trending: What you need to know

By Tom Platt, president of School Bus Consultants It’s a familiar scenario – the alarm clock sounds and weary teenagers don’t even stir, while busy parents struggle to get everyone out the door on time. It’s an age-old conflict between parent and child, but decades of research may finally put the argument to rest with overwhelming evidence that teens are biologically wired for sleep.

A poll by the National Sleep Foundation found that 60 percent of children under age 18 complained that they were tired during the day. But with 40 percent of public high schools in the United States ringing their first bells before 8 a.m., students are exhibiting a number of alarming signs such as depression, obesity and suicidal ideation, all resulting from sleep deprivation. So what does this have to do with transportation?

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends later school start times, saying that more sleep helps adolescent students with alertness during class, reduced tardiness and improved overall attendance. Some schools have adopted later bell times to improve student performance, while others cite logistical complications that come with the inherent routing adjustments that would need to be involved.

But the Start School Later movement is trending, and the evidence supporting bell time change is something that school administrators and transportation directors alike need to take note of.

The evidence supporting teenagers’ biological need for more sleep took off in the early 1990s with the University of Minnesota’s School Start Time Study, which tracked high school students in two districts that had changed their morning bell times from 7:20 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Researchers saw significant improvement in attendance, enrollment, depression levels and behavioral issues both in school and at home.

By 2005, more than 250 high schools had adjusted their start times to later in the morning. In recent years, the Start School Later organization has promoted the idea of pushing back bell times based on mounting scientific research, and helps school districts through the work of local chapters to tackle this in ways that are best for the local communities.

Not everyone is eager to disrupt their carefully planned

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Georgia School Bus • 2018 Conference

routing schedules to accommodate the sleep cycles of teenagers. While the evidence supporting the “sleep later” movement continues to grow, adjusting bell times and the operational services that go with it can be a logistical headache. If a school delays its start time, the afternoon release time will naturally get pushed back, and with that comes the potential of negatively affecting after-school activities including athletic practice, scholastic clubs and homework.

Districts often use the same vehicles to transport elementary, middle and high school students, and a change in middle or high school bell times results in a change for the elementary students. So if the goal of a bell time change is to afford older students more sleep, younger students may find themselves waiting for the morning bus in the dark.

While any bell time change is a multi-faceted effort that touches student health, after-school schedules and transportation costs, these challenges should not prevent a school district from considering change. The benefits of adjusted bell times can have far-reaching effects, from creating healthier students and increasing graduation rates, to economic gains and even mitigating driver shortage issues with a district’s ability to offer more working hours.

Successfully implementing any bell time adjustment requires balancing the financial imperative for efficiency with the operational expectations of excellence. Transportation and logistics experts such as School Bus Consultants work with districts to outline the full range of potential benefits that come with a well-structured bell schedule, and help them take the steps needed to achieve this efficiency while promoting the health, safety and academic performance of their students. v

Shrinking state funds trigger student bus safety concerns

By Claire Suggs and the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute Shrinking state funding for student transportation and rising costs are making it more difficult for school districts across Georgia to get children to and from school safely. The worsening financial pinch leaves districts with aging bus fleets on the road past their intended life, concerns about student safety and far fewer dollars to invest in the classroom.

The state requires districts to provide transportation to all students who live 1.5 miles or more from their schools as well as all for all special education students. At the expense of districts, many school systems also bus students who live within 1.5 miles due to safety concerns, such as a lack of sidewalks, congested intersections and unsafe places to walk. The state should cover the expense of bussing these students, according to a 2000 Senate study committee report that examined the transportation formula. The General Assembly never acted on this recommendation.

The state contributed less than 15 percent of the $884 million districts spent in the 2017 fiscal year to bus students. This is well below the portion it covered in the past. One culprit for this decline is the state’s failure to provide the full amount of funding calculated by its own transportation formula. The state’s funding formula called for sending $320 million to districts in 2017, but instead the legislature approved just $130 million.

A second cause is rising transportation costs, which was not accounted for in the formula. The state also eliminated funding for health insurance for bus drivers, pushing that

and rollover protection, anti-lock braking systems and rear motorist alert signs.

The $7.5 million in bonds allotted in the 2018 budget is estimated to allow about 97 buses to be replaced. Gov. Nathan Deal’s proposed amended budget for 2018 includes an additional $15 million, enough to replace about 194 more buses.

The total amount allocated in 2018 is enough to replace about five percent of buses 15 years and older. The governor’s proposed 2019 budget does not include any funding for bus replacement.

In summer 2017, GBPI surveyed superintendents about student transportation needs and costs. More than one-quarter of respondents indicated they had concerns about student safety on buses. While safety is the most urgent concern, lack of adequate state transportation funding creates other challenges for districts. Inadequate funding also means districts cannot make critical investments to improve other aspects of their transportation operations.

The state must ensure safe travel for Georgia’s students to and from school each day. Lawmakers should fully fund the existing transportation formula and supply enough money to get old buses off the roads. The Georgia Department of Education proposed several options for replacing buses older than 15 years. It estimates that an investment of $62 million annually between fiscal years 2019 and 2022 will allow districts to replace these old buses. Student safety is at stake, so Georgia lawmakers should not hesitate to make this investment. v

hefty expense onto districts. School systems also cope with higher fuel taxes and additional tag fees.

Another significant financial strain is the state’s low and inconsistent allocation of money for bus replacement. In 2000, the state allotted $34.5 million to replace buses. That amount drops to $22.5 million in the proposed 2018 amended budget. Between those years, state funding for bus replacement fluctuated but the overall trend is downward.

There are 3,638 buses 15 years or older, about 24 percent of the school buses in daily use across Georgia. The number of buses ready to age out of service grows each year. Buses that are 15 years old “have body and chassis fatigue, have a higher rate of engine and transmission failure and do not include the latest safety upgrades,” including improved crash Georgia Association for Pupil Transportation

33

Student safety is always No. 1

By Laura Willeford AngelTrax mobile video surveillance systems keep students safer on the school bus with high-definition video of action inside and outside the bus to protect the innocent.

Without surveillance on the bus, claims of bullying, reckless driving and missed bus stops can require countless hours of tracking down and interviewing the individuals involved in every situation on the bus — and relying on multiple “eyewitness” accounts that vary from witness to witness. When compounded with multiple situations each week, frivolous claims are costly and disruptive to the productivity of the school administration, the school staff and the students.

With mobile video surveillance, transportation directors and school administrators can focus more on their primary responsibilities and less on lengthy investigations. School administrators save staff resources by quickly resolving student, driver and parent complaints with video playback that shows what really happened on the bus.

The five-channel Vulcan™ Series V5X3 MDVR from AngelTrax is capable of recording D1, WD1, 720P or up to 1080P on four channels and has a fifth channel dedicated to IP recording at up to 1080P resolution. This capability allows the fleet operator to place an IP camera in a key location for clarity where it is needed most. However, IP camera channels require more storage than other types of recordings, and this

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Georgia School Bus • 2018 Conference

can limit the number of hours that can be stored on the DVR. The solution is to capture the majority of camera views with true high-definition cameras. The V12 MDVR records up to four IP cameras and up to eight HD cameras.

With Vulcan Series MDVRs, FlexPlay Pro 8 playback software and PRO8CMS Central Management System, the administrator has full access to the entire fleet and can view video of multiple vehicles live simultaneously.

Meeting needs now and for the future, the AngelTrax team equips transportation directors and school administrators with tools to improve student safety, conserve school resources and operate more efficiently with the latest technologies in mobile video surveillance. v

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