When Kayla Miller was a young girl, she helped her father while he managed a motorcoach facility. This experience inspired and motivated her to obtain her commercial driver’s license in 2004. Her transportation career started in a work study program at The University of Iowa as a transit driver. She transitioned to the school bus industry in July 2005.

Miller started her career with school bus contractor Durham School Services for almost 10 years, before becoming the area director of safety with National Express for a year. She worked with DS Bus Lines and National America Central School Bus for about five years, before returning to National Express in the same role.

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.

As of this month, Miller has logged 20 years in the school bus industry. She has served in a variety of roles relating to safety and operations including area director of safety, safety and training supervisor, assistant contract manager, director of safety and training, safety trainer, dispatcher, student management and data coordinator.

Michelle Simon, vice president of safety compliance for National Express, LLC, said Miller provides safety, education and training for the central and west locations, comprised of over 70 locations.

“Kayla’s first-hand experience as a driver and driver trainer are core competencies that contribute to her success in being able to relate to front-line driver trainers, providing them the support, knowledge and tools to ensure our drivers are proficient in skills prior to driving passengers,” Simon said. “Her can-do attitude, passion for safety and relentless drive for success shows through in her daily interactions with our team.”

Miller said her day-to-day operations consist of overseeing compliance with OSHA, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. Department of Transportation, and state and district safety regulations to ensure safe pupil transportation services.

Improved Training

Simon added that this past summer, Miller provided training to over 100 school bus driver trainers in her area. “This recertification is instrumental to ensuring our teams have the most proficient drivers transporting students to and from school each day,” Simon added.

Miller noted that some projects she’s prioritized include safety education on accident and injury analysis, investigation, training and prevention programs. She said she developed and instructed a local defensive driver training program for district staff members, as well as successfully instructed transportation personnel on first aid CPR, crisis intervention, student management training, de-escalation strategies and discipline tracking program. Other projects include a collaboration with Johnson County Safe Kids Coalition program as a certified Child Passenger Safety Restraint Technician developing driving safety community event. Miller also lectured at the State of Iowa Department of Education conference on child passenger safety restraint systems and assisted the Department of Education with a school bus ROADEO competition.

Ongoing projects include the recruitment and onboarding development of new transportation management staff and development of monthly safety topics, messaging and training content for National Express.

Her favorite part of the job, Miller said, is “the enthusiasm and excitement from new transportation staff members upon completion of their training.” Going forward she envisions continual collaboration with team members on the safety and training development of transportation staff members.

“Kayla is an under-the-radar type of person, does all that she can to help ensure the success of the teams she supports,” Simon wrote. “She doesn’t look for recognition but takes great pride in the results her area obtains – simply one of the best!”

Miller draws inspiration from a quote attributed to John Elliot, Sr., the former Durham CEO who died last December: “I am responsible for the safety of the students that we transport.”

Outside of work, Miller said she enjoys running, golfing and attending football and baseball games. “I am very honored to be selected as a Rising Superstar. Through the years I have seen the positive impact on the students we transport and the communities that we serve,” she added. “I can honestly say that being in the student transportation industry has been one of the most rewarding experiences and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”

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Related: Texas Student Transporter Utilizes Technology to Improve Operations
Related: Missouri Director of Transportation Furthers Safety and Sustainability
Related: Passion for Transportation Shines Through Washington ‘Rising Star’

The post Iowa ‘Rising Star’ Furthers Driver Safety and Proficiency appeared first on School Transportation News.

Vice President Kamala Harris has made a dent in former President Donald Trump’s lead among likely Iowa voters in the most recent Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll. (Photos by Win McNamee and Megan Varner/Getty Images, photo illustration via Canva)

Vice President Kamala Harris has taken a narrow lead over former President Donald Trump in the latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll published Saturday, just days before the Nov. 5 election.

The results are a surprising development for the state, which has been largely written off as an easy victory for Trump. He won Iowa in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. The latest Iowa Poll showed Harris leading with 47% of likely voters and Trump with 44%, the Register reported.

The poll, taken Oct. 28-31 by Selzer & Co. with responses from 808 likely Iowa voters, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

While Harris’ lead falls in the margin of error, it’s a significant reversal from previous Iowa Polls. In September, Trump led the Iowa Poll with 47% to Harris’ 43%. Trump had the support of 50% of likely Iowa voters in June when President Joe Biden was expected to become the Democratic presidential nominee.

Women, independents shift toward Harris

The largest shift heading toward support for Harris has been Iowa women – particularly women who identify as independent voters as well as those age 65 and older, the Register reported. More independent likely voters as a whole now support Harris at 46% to Trump at 39%, despite the demographic favoring Trump in every earlier Iowa Poll.

Independent women favored Harris in the September poll, with 40% supporting her and 35% supporting Trump. That lead grew in the latest poll to 57% of independent women who support Harris and 29% who support Trump.

More independent men still favor Trump over Harris at 47% to 37%.

While likely voters 65 and older also support Harris as a demographic, 63% of senior women support the vice president compared to 28% who support Trump – a more than 2-to-1 margin. More senior men also support Harris but by a margin of 2 percentage points at 47% to 45%.

Iowa Republicans have stumped for Trump in swing states

Iowa Republicans have spent time on the campaign trail touting Trump’s popularity in the state and the expectation that the former president will win Iowa for the third election in a row — U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst and U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, Iowa Republicans, have traveled to swing states like Pennsylvania and Georgia to rally voters in recent weeks, with Ernst saying Iowa was “in the bag” for Trump.

Though both Harris and Trump have spent most their time in key swing states ahead of the election, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart told reporters Saturday that the poll results show that Iowa is a winnable state for Democrats in the upcoming election.

“We’ve been putting in the hard work, and it is paying off,” Hart said. “We’ve been educating our voters, recruiting volunteers, listening to friends’ and neighbors’ concerns, and we recognize that Iowans are looking for better leadership. The fact that Vice President Harris now leads Donald Trump in the latest Des Moines Register poll is obviously very exciting for us.”

Iowa GOP chair calls poll an ‘outlier’

But Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann disputed the accuracy of the results, comparing the Des Moines Register’s poll results to one released by Emerson College earlier Saturday that showed Trump ahead at 53% to Harris at 43%.

“Des Moines Register is a clear outlier poll,” Kaufmann said in a statement. “Emerson College, released today, far more closely reflects the state of the actual Iowa electorate and does so with far more transparency in their methodology.”

House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst argued that the Iowa Poll well respected, and should not be dismissed just because it does not show favorable results for one party.

“I’ve been in their shoes on a Saturday night before Election Day, where the Iowa poll results come out, and they don’t look like what we’d like them to (be),” Konfrst said. “And they can’t believe Ann Seltzer, one of the gold standard pollsters in the country, in 2020 and not in 2024.”

The poll also found Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the independent presidential candidate who remains on the Iowa ballot despite ending his campaign, still has the support of 3% of likely voters. Libertarian presidential candidate Chase Oliver earned less than 1% in the poll. Another 1% of respondents said they would vote for someone else, 3% responded that they were not sure who to support and 2% said they did not want to disclose who they supported.

Though the poll showed Harris in a favorable position for Tuesday, Hart said it was important to note that Iowa Poll results are not Election Day results. Konfrst said the poll is a welcome push giving “energy and enthusiasm and momentum” to Democratic voters and organizers leading up to Tuesday.

“We have three more days before this election, so remember, this is just a poll, and what really matters is that Iowans show up and make their voices heard,” Hart said.

Democrats say poll supports argument for more national help

In the final days before the election, Konfrst said that she and other Democrats are having conversations about the poll with the national party and supporting Democratic organizations, hoping to get support and surrogate visits ahead of Election Day.

“We’re going to be asking as many folks as we can to be surrogates here, but at the end of the day, we know that it’s the hard work of volunteers, our candidates up and down the ballot, the Congressional candidates and the party and all of our partners here in Iowa who are doing that hard work,” Konfrst said. “And so, surrogate or not, we think that we’re going to have a better night than expected for Kamala Harris and Democrats on Tuesday.”

Hart also said that Iowa’s decision in the 2024 presidential election could have major implications for the future of the Iowa Democratic caucuses. Iowa was ousted from its first-in-the-nation seat in the 2024 Democratic presidential nominating cycle and released its mail-in caucus results on Super Tuesday supporting Biden this year. The nominating calendar will be up for discussion again heading into 2028, and Hart said Nov. 5 results will have a crucial impact on Iowa Democrats’ argument to return to return as an early state in future elections.

“Once this election is over, we’re going to be having this conversation,” Hart said. “And the better we do here in November, the better case we can make. … The bottom line is that I hope this shows the rest of the country that Iowa is a good barometer for choosing good leadership.”

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Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and X.