School Transportation Nation

Keynote trainers and conversations at the TSD Conference and Trade Show last week focused on seeing students with special needs as people first and consistently supporting them in their distinctive requirements.

“I always ask: ‘Is this in the best interest of the kid?’” Dana Rosen, TSD keynote speaker and assistant director of transportation services for student safety and support for Cypress-Fairbanks ISD in Texas, shares how she uses her special education background to support both transportation staff and students with special needs on the school bus ride.

Read more about special needs.

Episode sponsors: Transfinder, School-Radio.

STN Publisher and President Tony Corpin sat down with a few special guests at this week’s Transporting Students with Disabilities & Special Needs (TSD) Conference and Trade Show.

Gregg Prettyman, vice president of FirstAlt by contractor First Student, shares the program’s successes in serving students with special needs or disabilities and dispels myths about the alternative transportation industry.

Mike Ippolito, general manager of School Radio by Diga-Talk, shares how product developments like a new Wi-Fi-enabled radio can increase school bus connectivity and student safety.   

Transfinder’s Vice President of Marketing John Daniels and client Annette “Kecia” Ling, transportation director of operations and planning for Savannah-Chatham County Public School System in Georgia, discuss leveraging technology to provide uniquely customized transportation service for students with special needs.

Hear soundbites from some of our attendees as they share what they found useful amid the learning, training and networking at the TSD Conference and Trade Show. 

Read more about special needs.

Episode sponsors: Transfinder, School Radio.

School bus seat belt legislation is back in Congress. STN’s November issue includes features on industry leadership, EV battery technology, and more.

“We find a way to make it happen.” Craig Beaver, administrator of transportation for Beaverton School District near Portland, Oregon, and the 2024 STN Transportation Director of the Year, discusses the paths that led him to his current storied leadership position, as well as the knowledge and technology that goes into school bus driver retention and clean bus trailblazing.

Read more about leadership.

Episode sponsors: Transfinder, School-Radio.

Ryan & Tony look at contractor First Student’s bus technology experiments, the upcoming elections, a New York bus company’s fraud scheme, a bus driver’s book on anxiety for student riders, and additional safety efforts.

Amy Rosa, director of transportation for Wa-Nee Community Schools in Indiana, talks winning a Top Transportation Teams award at STN EXPO Reno in July, driver retention efforts, technology implementation, effective student safety practices, and success with electric buses.

Read more about operations.

Episode sponsor: Transfinder

Read remembrances of industry veteran George Edward (Ed) Donn and watch recent STN webinars on fleet electrification and school bus W-Fi.

The upcoming Transporting Students with Disabilities & Special Needs (TSD) Conference and Trade Show held Nov. 8-12, 2024 in Dallas-Frisco, Texas, hosts the conversations that transportation and education departments need to align on regarding students with special needs.

Industry consultant and TSD Tenured Faculty member Launi Schmutz-Harden joins us to discuss the role of monitors and aides on special needs routes, the hands-on emergency evacuation training at TSD, and regulating the use of non-yellow bus transportation.

Read more about special needs.

Ryan and Tony analyze Hurricanes Helene and Milton’s impact on Florida and recap the news and awards shared at the National Association for Pupil Transportation Conference & Trade Show.

Transfinder CEO Antonio Civitella discusses leveraging technology and teamwork for school bus operations and emergency preparedness.

Read more about operations and weather. 

Updates on the catastrophic Hurricane Helene’s impact on lives and business in the Southeastern U. S. Additionally, see how Virginia is tackling the school bus driver shortage.

Waterloo Central School District in New York won a Top Transportation Teams award at STN EXPO West this summer. Transportation Supervisor D’Allah Laffoon discusses recovering from COVID-19-era operations, fostering teamwork, planning for electric school buses, starting school, and dealing with the driver shortage.

Read more about operations.

Episode sponsors: Transfinder, IC Bus, Propane Education & Research Council.

Ryan & Tony examine the newly released fourth round of EPA Clean School Bus funding in light of how the school bus industry is responding to clean bus money. Additionally, STN’s October magazine on leadership is out, California passed a student cell phone ban, and Hurricane Helene impacts the southeastern U.S.

Betsey Helfrich, special education lawyer and upcoming TSD Conference keynote speaker, joins Ryan for a lively discussion with perspectives on current stories, trends and legal developments that student transporters should know when providing care to students with special needs. Read more about special needs.

Jeff Cassell, industry veteran and president of the School Bus Safety Company, joins Tony and Ryan to take a look at recent injuries and fatalities around school buses, and what the industry can do to improve student safety.

Read more about safety and get your free copy of the School Bus Safety Company’s Danger Zones bus driver training program.

Tony and Ryan discuss recent news headlines that underscore the need for training and safety focus, as well as what OEM leadership changes and the upcoming U.S. presidential election mean for school bus manufacturing.

Jo Mascorro, upcoming TSD keynote speaker and an independent consultant with over 46 years of experience in the field of education, addresses treating the bus as an extension of the classroom, utilizing proper staff training and communication, and supporting and training students on good bus behavior.

Read more about special needs.