“The work will still be here tomorrow,” is a phrase Cassidy Miller keeps in mind when working in the oftentimes demanding and stressful world of student transportation.

Miller said if a day seems really overwhelming or if multiple tasks are thrown her way, she reminds herself that it’s okay to complete them the next day. “The work we do is one big yearlong project at a time, and most things can hang on for one more day,” she shared. “Work/life balance is hard when you’re so passionate about the work you do and feel like you can give 110 percent each day. Remembering all this helps save my sanity and avoid too much overworking some days.”

Each year, School Transportation News chooses 10 Rising Stars based on nominations submitted by school districts and companies around the industry. These individuals have shown exemplary commitment and dedication in the student transportation industry and continue to demonstrate innovation in their roles. This year’s Rising Stars are featured in the November magazine issue.

Miller started in pupil transportation at a much younger age than most. She served as an office assistant for her school district in eighth grade. However, her love of the school bus started long before that.

“I was the student who rode in the front seat, listened to the two-way radio, and had conversations with my bus driver all the way to school,” she shared. “I loved the processes I sort of knew from bus riding and the radio, but when I saw the inside operations, I was hooked. From that moment on my career goals switched to becoming a transportation director and have not changed since.”

In the 12th grade her family moved, and Miller attended a new district that offered a high school internship class with local businesses and organizations. Her district itself wasn’t looking for interns, so she emailed 14 transportation directors at surrounding districts asking for a job.

She said her current director at Snohomish School District replied very quickly. “I worked almost every day February to June of 2021 as a busy intern learning the ropes and being an extra support,” she said, adding that after high school graduation she was hired full time as a substitute router/dispatcher. Miller even took her senior photos in front of the yellow school buses.

Three years after her internship completed, she said she became a contracted employee with her current role being an administrative assistant, router and dispatcher. While she’s officially been in pupil transportation three and half years, she said seven years ago she made the decision to bleed yellow forever.

Miller wasn’t able to obtain her commercial driver’s license until this school year, when she turned 21. Her day-to-day operations consist of managing daily payroll, which is mixed in among all other tasks that pop up randomly, especially dispatch or phone calls. She said her afternoon consists of mostly dispatch and monitoring or setting up rides with the district’s car service contractors. She she anticipates using her CDL this school year to drive routes alongside other office staff and mechanics because Snohomish is short drivers.

When asked her favorite part of the job, Miller said it’s the different challenge each day.

“The same thing gets boring really quick,” she said. “In transportation you can plan for some things, but never know what will come across the radio that will [cause] you to act.”

Becoming a CPST

Despite helping oversee 90 routes, 39 drivers, four mechanics and working for a district that covers an area of 128-square miles, Kimberly Loughlin, an independent contractor working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Safety Council, said it’s Miller’s child passenger safety technician delineation that prompted the Rising SuperStars award nomination.

“Cassidy at a young age had a passion for child passenger safety,” Loughlin wrote, adding that she first met Miller at age 19. “Cassidy volunteered to help us with media for some national training. Her willingness to volunteer months of her time to help photo and video example footage for us was crucial to the curriculum. Cassidy worked hand-in-hand with a national school bus expert to assist with training videos and photos for the NHTSA/NSC Child Passenger Safety on School Buses National Training.”

Loughlin added that Miller helped arrange resources and child-size dolls used when practicing securement. She even drove to another state to obtain a photo. “Cassidy has added a specialty in school bus transportation to her CPST certification,” Loughlin wrote. “She continues to volunteer her time as a CPST to her community, as well as attend school bus safety initiatives and conventions. I so admire her dedication and passion as a volunteer.”

Miller expanded, adding that as soon as she was 18, she was excited to persue becoming a CPST, “to finally have a certification to go with my love of car seats and safety,” she said.
She noted that instead of family vehicles, she focused on school bus courses and child safety restraints.

“A year later I saw on social media an ask for school bus curriculum photo contributors,” she continued. “I sent off an excited email hoping I could be selected, and it turns out I was one of very few. Having full access to my fleet for photos and getting to work with the amazing [Safe Ride News Editor and Publisher] Denise Donaldson (we are only about 35 miles apart) made contributing to the new curriculum photos/videos such a great success. I am so proud of the content created and grateful for all my helpers (younger siblings, cousins, and neighbors) who were students for photo purposes. I am thrilled to be finally certified to teach the Child Passenger Safety on School Buses course I spent so much time contributing to.”

Another project she’s working on includes a four-year Washington state program, Pupil Transportation Management Training Program. Miller noted that each year a final project is required, something that benefits one’s department. She’s wrapping up her third year in the program, and her project is related to contracted car service providers and inclement weather planning.

Miller said her next certification goal is obtaining the Safe Travel for all Children (STAC), which is geared toward selecting restraints for students with medical conditions. She said she looks forward to continuing to work toward administrative roles in transportation, hoping to land a supervisory role. Her boyfriend also works in student transportation, 120 miles away, so she anticipates settling down with him in the future.

“My goals looking forward are to keep working toward administrative roles in transportation,” she said. “I love the operations and plan to keep growing my skills and experience then see where these take me in Washington. It will be exciting to just see how things play out in the future.”

Challenge at School Start Up

One challenge at school start up that Miller noted was due to staffing and managing all the district routes day to day. She noted that during the summer, Snohomish had more retirees than expected with only few substitute drivers trained and ready for routes.

“It will be another year of office and mechanics filling in routes frequently,” she noted.

Outside of work, Miller’s main activity is supporting the non-profit organization Emma’s Exceptional Equipment Exchange, which helps families who have children with disabilities donate or receive medical supplies/equipment. She said she serves as a lead volunteer and her service area consists of eight counties and a couple hundred miles. “I keep busy coordinating plans or on the road to pick up items/ meet with families as needed,” she said.

Read the profiles on the Rising Stars in the November issue of School Transportation News.

Related: Rising Star Dedicated to Providing Best Transportation for Students With Special Needs
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Related: (STN Podcast E183) Making Progress: Wyoming Rising Star + Propane, Non-Yellow Bus Convos

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