School Transportation News staff weigh many factors when looking for the next Transportation Director of the Year. Accomplishments in the industry, especially over the past couple of years, weigh heavily. So, too, do their leadership skills. There are
plenty of options to choose from each year, which is a good thing. It can also make the selection a daunting one. Thankfully, we have many examples to use as a litmus test for what makes a strong and successful director of transportation.

Look no further than George Edward (Ed) Donn. You may have read at stnonline.com/go/kp that Ed died last month at the age of 85. He was one of the most decorated student transporters in the industry’s history. He was also as nice as he was knowledgeable about his trade. The dictionary should have Ed’s photo next to the word “gentleman.”

I was saddened when, during an introduction of the NAPT Foundation board members at last month’s Annual Conference and Trade Show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, it was mentioned that Ed was unable to attend. I wondered about his health. I knew he was heartbroken following the death of wife Sandi in 2001. I spoke to him several times since then, most recently this past spring. He was still the same old Ed, kind, complimentary, insightful, and asking about my family. But something was different.

My heart was lightened upon learning that he died peacefully at a hospital in Marietta, Georgia, located about an hour southwest of his home in Calhoun. He relocated there in the early 1990s after retiring from Washington County Public Schools in Maryland, where he served as director of transportation for 16 years. Before that, he was the assistant director at Prince George’s County Public Schools also in Maryland.

He not only left an impression on tens of thousands of student riders over his career but as many student transportation professionals. It was Ed who co-founded the NAPT Foundation and the NAPT Professional Development Series. He was immortalized in the NAPT Hall of Fame for his efforts and received the NAPT Distinguished Service Award. He was an entrepreneur, co-founding video surveillance company Bus Vision and then 24/7 Security.

But knowing Ed, his accomplishments were never about himself but others, especially the students who ride school buses every day and the many professionals who make the service work. Always giving of his time, both humbly and generously, he was as genuine as they come. The consummate family man. Mind as sharp as a tack. In his hey-day, he was quite the track athlete as well.

After he passed on Oct. 10, I reflected on the parallels between his life and STN’s director of the year honor, which we recognize this month. Innovative. Leader. Transparent. Giving. Check, check, check, check. The recognition could very well be renamed the Ed Donn Transportation Director of the Year Award.

Craig Beaver, this year’s winner (read the article by Taylor Ekbatani, starting on page 28) has literally come a long way since he got his start in student transportation. To be exact 1,111 miles.

A lifelong resident of the San Diego, California area, Beaver retired as director of transportation from Grossmont Union High School District in January 2015 and relocated to Oregon, where he joined Beaverton School District. It was destiny, as Beaver says, to reinvent himself in the Pacific Northwest at one of Oregon’s largest school districts, his namesake, so to speak.

With that move, he has ushered in the state’s largest fleet of electric school buses and with them data to illustrate performance and cost savings. He readily shares that information and the many lessons he learned about implementation and deployment to anyone who asks. He’s willing to try new things and is not afraid of failure. He empowers his staff to see if they can make new ideas work, which sometimes means recalibrating. For his efforts, he also accepted the Leading Public Fleet Award for Beaverton School District at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, in May.

Beaver and all those who came before him, and will come after, have large shoes to fill left by Ed Donn. But surely, he is looking down from heaven with pride. Ed was ready and willing to support and celebrate all endeavors and people that put school buses in a positive light and that lead to successful outcomes for the children who ride them.

Editor’s Note: As reprinted in the November 2024 issue of School Transportation News.

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Related: (STN Podcast E234) Leadership, Awarded: Meet the 2024 Transportation Director of the Year
Related: Oregon School District Maintenance Internship Program Yields Success
Related: NAPT Hall of Famer Donn Remembered for ‘Crucial Role’ Played in Industry
Related: Speakers Share Strategies for NAPT Attendees to Cultivate Positive Mindsets, Superhero Traits

The post Donning a Leadership Cap appeared first on School Transportation News.

Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Oregon) lost her congressional seat in a close election this month to Democratic state Rep. Janelle Bynum. (Julia Shumway | Oregon Capital Chronicle)

Oregon Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who cultivated a closer relationship with some labor unions than most Republicans and narrowly lost her bid for a second term in Congress earlier this month, is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Labor Department.

Trump on Friday praised Chavez-DeRemer, the daughter of a Teamster who sought endorsements from unions in her unsuccessful reelection campaign, for building relationships with business and labor.

“I look forward to working with her to create tremendous opportunity for American Workers, to expand Training and Apprenticeships, to grow wages and improve working conditions, to bring back our Manufacturing jobs,” Trump said in a statement. ‘Together, we will achieve historic cooperation between Business and Labor that will restore the American Dream for Working Families.”

Chavez-DeRemer thanked him in a social media post, writing “Working-class Americans finally have a lifeline with you in the White House. It’s time to bring our economy to new heights and secure a prosperous future for all hardworking Americans.”

She narrowly won election in 2022 in Oregon’s 5th Congressional District, which stretches from Bend across the Cascades to the suburbs of Portland. Democratic President Joe Biden won the district by 9 points in 2020, and Democratic state Rep. Janelle Bynum — who twice beat Chavez-DeRemer in state legislative races and will be Oregon’s first Black member of Congress — defeated Chavez-DeRemer by 2.4 points this year.

Chavez-DeRemer operated as a moderate Republican during her nearly two years in federal office, frequently citing an analysis that rated her the second-most bipartisan member of Congress.

She also sought support from unions, garnering endorsements from more than 20 of them. Most of those endorsements came from small local unions, though she received the sole endorsement of Teamsters Joint Council No. 37, which represents roughly 20,000 workers in various industries across Oregon, Idaho and southwest Washington.

National Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, who spoke at the Republican National Convention this summer, supported Chavez-DeRemer for labor secretary. He posted a photo Friday evening of himself with Trump and Chavez-DeRemer, thanking Trump in the caption for “putting American workers first” by nominating Chavez-DeRemer.

“North America’s strongest union is ready to work with you every step of the way to expand good union jobs and rebuild our nation’s middle class,” he wrote.

Oregon’s largest private-sector union, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, gave both Chavez-DeRemer and Bynum its “greenlight” stamp, indicating that both candidates’ values align with the union’s. The state’s other large unions — Service Employees International Union Local 503, with 72,000 members; the Oregon Education Association, with 41,000 members; and the ​​American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, with 300,000 Oregon members — exclusively backed Bynum.

Chavez-DeRemer rarely mentioned Trump on the campaign trail, though she publicly endorsed him ahead of the May primary in Oregon. One of her final campaign stops, an October rally with House Speaker Mike Johnson, was to an audience decked out in pro-Trump merchandise.

The business manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 701 introduced Chavez-DeRemer at that event, and Johnson commented on her support for unions.

“She’s got more labor union endorsements than any Republican I’ve ever seen in my life,” Johnson said. “She understands the plight of working people.”

Since losing her election, Chavez-DeRemer has vocally praised Trump, writing on X earlier this week that he “expanded on his Working Class coalition by speaking directly to hardworking Americans. This is a true political realignment. We must continue to be the party of the American Worker, with President Trump leading the way!”

Democrats criticize record

Democrats criticized Chavez-DeRemer for endorsing Trump and voting for Johnson as speaker, as well as for inconsistent statements and actions on issues including abortion rights, protections for LGBTQ+ individuals and the Biden administration’s infrastructure law.

Both liberals and conservatives have criticized her labor record — Democrats say she hasn’t proven that she’s a friend of the labor movement despite seeking endorsements, while conservative organizations including the Competitive Enterprise Institute faulted her for backing the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act, or PRO Act, a Democratic priority which would weaken state “right-to-work” laws to allow unions to collect dues from all employees, increase penalties for employers who violate labor law and strengthen employees’ legal rights to join a union.

Before running for Congress in 2022, Chavez-DeRemer served on the Happy Valley City Council and as mayor of the 28,000-population Portland suburb. She ran unsuccessfully for the state House in 2016 and 2018, losing both times to Bynum.

Some of her colleagues in Oregon’s congressional delegation were surprised by rumors Trump was considering Chavez-DeRemer.

U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, a Democrat who along with Chavez-DeRemer was one of Oregon’s first Latinas in Congress, called discussion about it “interesting” during a Thursday interview.

“If the Trump administration thinks that she would be a reasonable pick for Department of Labor, I think that could be interesting,” Salinas said. “I don’t know how much background she actually has in labor and workforce issues, I think she served on the committee, but yeah, it could be interesting.”

Retiring U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, the Democratic dean of Oregon’s congressional delegation, said he didn’t know what to make of Trump’s appointments, who he said were “manifestly polarizing and unqualified.”

“I wish Lori luck,” he told the Capital Chronicle. “I hope they treat her better than they treated the others by not doing their homework. That’s a brutal situation to be in, and I wish her well if she decides to wade into it.”

U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, who will return to being the only Republican member of Oregon’s congressional delegation after Chavez-DeRemer’s loss, praised her nomination.

“She is an excellent choice by president-elect Trump to serve as labor secretary and she will be a credit to our great state of Oregon. Congratulations again to you, Lori, soon to be ‘Madam Secretary’!!” Bentz wrote on X.

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

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In an industry historically short on staff, ensuring new members are in the pipeline remains critical. One recruitment strategy at Beaverton School District near Portland, Oregon, was the adoption of an internship program for its maintenance operations.

One of Cliff Harrell’s first priorities when he took over as shop supervisor a little over two years ago was creating an internship program with the auto tech at one of the school district’s high schools.

During the first year of the program, Harrell said one intern was brought on for the six-month program, worked during the summer, and then became a full-time employee. School bus service technician Chris Fitzpatrick is still an employee now.

He spoke with School Transportation News over the summer about his experience working in the shop.

“I started my internship the last semester of my senior year,” Fitzpatrick said, adding that he came to the shop once or twice a week depending on his schedule.

He shared that his first impression, was that “it’s more money than I’ve ever seen before.” During the summer after graduation, one of the service techs was retiring, and Chris was asked if he wanted to stay on full-time. “I figured I would take a gap year, so it allowed me to work this year and then hopefully I can pay for college next year.”

He joined the auto tech class because he needed credits and enjoys cars and trucks. “Who doesn’t want to go work on cars all day, if you’re into cars, right?” he shared.

Because Fitzpatrick has a dream of one day becoming a firefighter, he didn’t want to take the internship experience from anyone else. However, he said there weren’t many volunteers, so he took a chance.

“I hate sitting in the classroom, and I think that some people would agree with me, sitting, learning and filling out paperwork it just sucks,” he said, adding that sitting behind a computer all day is not his ideal career.

That is why he finds the internship so beneficial, and something that should be offered for more trades like construction and manufacturing. He noted that the internship provided him with a career that he could stay in for the next 30 years until he retires. However, he will be attending the fire academy this year.

Beaverton School District has 11 heavy repair mechanics and two service technicians who perform all the service and repairs. The shop is responsible for everything from the back bumper to the front bumper, including engine transmissions, drivetrains, axles and all safety equipment. “We do it all,” said shop supervisor Cliff Harrell. Only warranty items are sent out. He added that with electric school buses, the maintenance staff perform the initial troubleshooting steps before sending the bus out for warranty service.

Fitzpatrick said he believes the younger generation has an advantage of being a mechanic right after high school because they are open to advances in technology. There are guys who have been working for 20 to 25 years that are used how things normally are,” he shared. “I really don’t know what’s normal. So, if something new pops up, then that’s normal. I can just go with it.”

The second year of the program was during the 2023-2024 school year. Harrell said at least 40 students were interested, and Beaverton had to narrow the candidate to three. He noted that process started with talking with the high school instructors to understand which students stood out, and then Beaverton staff does their own interviews with the potential candidates.

While STN was onsite last summer, two interns were working in the shop following graduation. One of those was Manuel Andrade Botello, who said he wanted to join the internship because he likes hands-on learning and wanted to home in on his auto tech skills.

He noted that while he didn’t know what the program would entail at first, he’s really enjoying it, as every day is different. For instance, he shared that Beaverton had specialists come in and teach all the mechanics of the in’s and out’s brakes.

He encouraged other school districts to offer internship programs. “This place, it’s a welcoming place,” he said. “It’s not a place where you will feel scared to ask a question.”

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Related: Craig Beaver Named 2024 School Transportation News Transportation Director of they Year

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He shared the staff is really nice and will any questions he has, without judgement. “They won’t just give you an answer. They will go on and teach you,” he added.

“We’re hoping just to keep it going,” Harrell said, adding that future plans include creating a bridge from the high school auto tech program to the community college diesel program. “Anything to keep the trades going and involve younger people to know that the trades are out there. That’s ultimately my goal.”

He explained that he feels maintenance is a lost skill on the younger generation, especially with the mentality that the job is viewed as “dirty” and that technicians will go home smelling like gasoline and diesel.

“But with the evolving technology, mostly everything we do is computer driven,” he said, adding that first they hook up a bus, pull codes and diagnose codes through a computer before making a mechanical repair. “A lot of stuff can be repaired with the computer. … But there is that stigma that you’re going to just go to work and get dirty all day long.”

As seen with electric school buses, he said there’s a lot of changes in the bus garage. “It’s causing people who are comfortable in just diesel or gas to learn a new skill and evolve with that skill as well,” he explained. “So, everything is becoming electrical. It’s just the nature of the beast.”

With electric school buses, he said the biggest concern is safety. “Are we fully at the point where we could bring in an EV bus and safely work on it? No,” he said.

Beaverton maintenance staff is able to conduct the initial diagnostic test and then touch base with the manufacturers to see where to proceed. He said in a couple of years, he envisions being able to be at the point where internal staff is able to have the high-voltage training to do the repairs themselves.

In terms of staff acceptance of electric school buses, Harrel said it’s been a mix of reactions. While some employees are thrilled to have a new tool in their toolbox, others are diesel mechanics, and that’s all that they want to work on.

“The more knowledge that we have with it, the more comfortable we’ll get,” he added.

In August, Beaverton hosted an electric school bus class with other districts in the state and had representatives from Blue Bird, Western Bus Sales and others to spread more information throughout districts.

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Related: (STN Podcast E150) Making Informed Decisions: Clean Bus Evaluations, Fleet Maintenance Assistance
Related: Garage Star Recognition Shines Light on the Importance of School Bus Maintenance Professionals
Related: School Bus Technician Shortage Not a Passing Problem

The post Oregon School District Maintenance Internship Program Yields Success appeared first on School Transportation News.

Meet the 2024 Transportation Director of the Year, Craig Beaver, director of transportation at Beaverton School District in Oregon. Read about Craig’s background, leadership experience and accomplishments for his district, including an all-inclusive electric school bus implementation. Also find articles about electric battery recycling, finding the best deal on fuel, protecting student transportation data, guidelines for transporting students with disabilities and more.

This issue also features the 2024 Rising Stars, read profiles on this year’s chosen winners.

Read the full November 2024 issue.

Cover Story

Going Big
Craig Beaver was meant for Beaverton School District in Oregon. He is recognized as the magazine’s Transportation Director of the Year for leading an all-inclusive electric school bus implementation and sharing data on program effectiveness.

Features

Rising Superstars
This year’s industry Rising Superstars share their stories of how they have climbed the industry ladder while providing exemplary service to their students and fellow transportation professionals.

Playing the Fueling Game
School district leaders discuss why price, state contracts and collaboration are just as important as environmental friendliness when securing the best deal on fuel and energy purchasing.

Seeking Transparency
State and federal legislation seeks to ensure that battery second-life, recycling and material sourcing remains top of mind for every student transportation decision on buying an electric school bus.

Special Report

Managing Transportation Data and Keeping It Safe
With data privacy and security the No. 1 concern of school IT professionals amid increasing cyberattacks, how safe are student transportation records?

Feedback
Online
Ad Index

Editor’s Take by Ryan Gray
Donning a Leadership Cap

Thought Leader by Linda Bluth
Recommended Do’s and Don’ts for Meeting the Challenges of Transporting Children with Disabilities

Publisher’s Corner by Tony Corpin
Red, Blue, Green & Yellow

The post November 2024 appeared first on School Transportation News.

Oregon’s plan to regulate fossil fuel companies and reduce greenhouse gases is ready for public comment after being derailed seven months ago by a lawsuit brought by natural gas companies. 

Draft regulations for the state’s redo of the 2021 Climate Protection Program were published Tuesday by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The agency gave the public until Friday, Aug. 30 to comment on them. The state’s Environmental Quality Commission, which oversees rulemaking for DEQ, is expected to vote on final rules by the end of the year, once again putting the state’s landmark climate change laws into action.

Little has changed from the original program standards, which were passed three years ago by the commission. The targets for reducing greenhouse gas pollution would remain the same. Under the proposed rules, Oregon would attempt to reach a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas pollution by 2035 and a 90% reduction by 2050 to confront the growing threat of climate change. 

Fossil fuel companies would have to gradually decarbonize their energy supply, largely by shifting away from petroleum and natural gas and instead incorporating renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and so-called biofuels – made from captured gas and decomposing matter – into their energy offerings. 

Natural gas is almost entirely methane gas, among the most potent climate-warming greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. One-third of global warming is due to human-caused emissions of methane, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

Under the newly proposed rules, some heavy energy users in the state would need to meet emissions reduction targets and companies would need to show compliance with the program every two years, as opposed to every three years in the original plan.

“We did build off of the work that we already did in the prior Climate Protection Program,” Nicole Singh, senior climate change policy advisor for DEQ, told the Capital Chronicle on Tuesday. “We didn’t throw that out the window. We’re using that information to help inform this.”

To give companies a little flexibility, they would be able meet some pollution reduction targets by purchasing credits sold by the state. Money from those credits are invested in projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

Expanding the program

Besides the three-year compliance schedule, the largest change to the newly proposed rules is who has to follow them. 

The state, for the first time, would regulate the emissions of companies that are heavy natural gas users, not just the suppliers of their gas. These include some cement, fertilizer and gypsum producers. Gypsum is in plaster, drywall and some cement. Companies operating in Oregon, including cement maker Ash Grove and Georgia Pacific, which works with gypsum, would need to meet new emissions standards, Singh said.

The agency included other changes in the investment portion of the Climate Protection Program. This section covers what is ostensibly Oregon’s carbon crediting market, where polluters can offset some of their greenhouse gas emissions by investing in projects that reduce overall emissions. One credit would be equal to one metric ton of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, and companies could buy them for $129 per credit. This market, which would have begun operating this year, was previously projected to bring in $150 million a year for community decarbonization and renewable energy projects, according to the Portland-based nonprofit Seeding Justice, which had previously been tasked with overseeing the investments.

Credit recipients, largely nonprofits working on community-based projects, could use the grants to help people and businesses buy and install solar panels and heat pumps, purchase electric vehicles and chargers and help weatherize homes and buildings.

Under the proposed rules, Oregon’s nine federally recognized tribes would play a bigger role in determining grants and would receive more funding, according to Singh. It’s unclear yet what role Seeding Justice could play in distributing grants in the future, she said, because such details would follow final rulemaking.

The state would also take a fraction of the funding – about 4.5% – to pay for its oversight of the grants and to undertake internal and external auditing to ensure money is being spent appropriately and that projects are, in fact, reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions required. 

Under the new rules, companies could offset 15% of their emissions through the purchase of these credits during the first two years of the Climate Protection Program and 20% during each two-year compliance period thereafter. Previously, companies could only offset 10% of their emissions through the credits in the first two years.

DEQ also proposes to work more closely with the Oregon Public Utilities Commission to understand how the Climate Protection Program will affect natural gas rates for Oregonians and to ensure companies aren’t passing all the costs of decarbonization on to their customers. 

Lawsuit triggers redo

The Climate Protection Program was approved in 2021 by the Environmental Quality Commission after more than a year of meetings, presentations from the environmental quality department and public comment. 

But in December, Oregon Court of Appeals judges agreed with lawyers representing NW Natural, Avista Corporation and Cascade Natural Gas Corporation, who argued that in the process of imposing state regulations to cap and reduce emissions, the commission failed to submit required disclosures to the companies and to other entities that hold federal industrial air pollution permits. The department was required to issue a written statement about why the state was adopting emission limits that exceeded federal rules, disclose a list of alternatives that were considered and explain why they were not adopted. 

The judges ruled the program invalid on those technicalities.

Rather than appealing the decision to the Oregon Supreme Court, which would likely not hear the case until mid-2025, state environmental regulators announced in January that they would start over.

Redo of Oregon program to cap greenhouse gas pollution ready for public review is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.