Policy changes by the Trump administration are weakening an already struggling workforce that helps care for Wisconsin’s older adults and disabled population.

The post Federal immigration policy may be worsening Wisconsin’s caregiver shortage, leaders say appeared first on WPR.

We discuss how non-domiciled CDL restrictions exacerbate the school bus driver shortage, new research on school zone and bus stop safety, reframing the student transportation conversation, and conference updates.

Consultant Launi Harden, who served as the former transportation director at Washington County School District in Utah and is the new executive director of the Florida Association of Pupil Transportation, analyzes transportation challenges driven by declining enrollment, funding and staff, the importance of bus attendants and alternative transportation, and essential hands-on emergency training she will help lead at the TSD Conference in November.

Read more about special needs.

This episode is brought to you by Transfinder.

 

 

Stream, subscribe and download the School Transportation Nation podcast on Apple Podcasts, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Spotify and YouTube.

The post (STN Podcast E324) Student Transporter Struggles: Tackling Staffing, Funding & Training appeared first on School Transportation News.

Kia’s stellar year continues as the brand has set a new August sales record in the United States. Dealers moved 83,793 vehicles last month, which was 786 more than a year ago.

The brand didn’t just break one record either as the K4, K5, Carnival, Seltos, Sportage, and Telluride all posted their best August in history. Kia also noted hybrid sales were up 99%, which can largely be credited to high gas prices caused by the war in Iran.

More: Kia’s New EV3 Starts Under $30,000 And Undercuts Nissan Leaf

While consumers embraced hybrids to save at the pump, gas prices weren’t high enough to get them to switch to EVs. Sales of the EV6 tumbled 60% to 712 units, while the larger EV9 fell 33% to 1,789.

The big winner last month was the Sportage as Americans snapped up 18,723 of them. This was a slight increase from a year ago, but sales are up nearly 8.5% year-to-date.

The Sportage was followed by the affordable K4 (12,881) and Telluride (12,693). The latter was recently redesigned and consumers appear to be digging it as sales are up 16.7% year-to-date. This was undoubtedly aided by the introduction of a hybrid variant with its recent redesign.

Speaking of redesigned models, the 2027 Seltos appears to be off to a strong start as August sales surged 65.3% to 9,214 units. The classier crossover starts at $24,990 and will be followed by a hybrid variant later this year.

It’s also worth noting Kia was able to set a new monthly sales record despite the elimination of the Soul. That model found 5,548 buyers in August of 2025, while last month’s sales fell to zero.

Kia also has a few things to look forward to including the facelifted Niro and all-new EV3. The latter found six early adopters last month and should generate some interest thanks to a starting price of $29,890.

Kia August 2026 US Sales

Earlier this year, Zonar and School Transportation News surveyed transportation professionals across the United States to document the pressures shaping fleets today and where leaders are investing next. The result is the most comprehensive look at student transportation challenges, safety priorities and 2026 technology plans available today.

Inside the report:

• Understand why driver shortages aren’t going away and what leading districts are doing about it.
• Identify where your safety program may have gaps in communication and driver compliance.
• Know which technologies are worth prioritizing in 2026-2027 before you finalize your budget.
• See how fleets your size are investing and where adoption is lagging across the industry.
• Find out which KPIs your peers are tracking and how to measure what actually matters.

Download the complimentary report to see how your fleet compares.

Fill out the form below and then check your email to get the report.

The post (Free White Paper) 2026 State of Student Transportation Report appeared first on School Transportation News.

Student safety depends on buses that start every morning and perform reliably every mile. But reactive maintenance (fixing buses only after they fail) puts your fleet at risk of breakdowns, delays and potentially dangerous roadside emergencies.

This guide offers a framework for shifting from costly “break-fix” repairs to a predictive, data-driven maintenance strategy that helps you catch problems before they jeopardize student safety.

Inside, you will learn why traditional maintenance falls short and how aging fleets create hidden risks that reactive programs often miss.

• Understand the three stages of maintenance maturity (reactive, preventive and predictive) and how to reach the predictive phase to better prevent breakdowns.
• Discover what telematics unlocks for your operation, from rich engine diagnostics and digital DVIRs to driver behavior monitoring.
• Learn five steps to smarter maintenance, from benchmarking KPIs to tracking and reporting results.

Download this guide if your district is ready to stop reacting to failures and start preventing them, so every student you transport rides on a safer school bus.

Fill out the form below and then check your email to access the predictive maintenance guide.

The post (Free White Paper) How To Make Maintenance Your School Bus Operation’s Safety Advantage appeared first on School Transportation News.

Part 1 of an occasional series on how people are being affected by the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies.

EDWARDS, Miss. — Every now and then a freight train rumbles through, creaking and groaning on the rusted tracks that run along the edge of the largely deserted downtown. On some days, that train is just about the only thing moving.

Grandma’s Ice Cream Shoppe, an ice cream parlor owned by a retired preacher and his wife, gets only one or two customers per day. There is a small barber shop, and the empty ruins of a former thrift store. The sugary, smoky red meat at Lee’s Heavenly Barbecue and the fried shrimp and catfish at the M & L Fish Hut draw some folks. But the ellipticals and treadmills are silent, as usual, at the 4-year-old Kut-N-Fit Wellness Club on Vicksburg Street.

Derrick Clark, 51, has lived in Edwards his whole life.

Clark has always struggled with his weight and he readily describes himself as obese. About two decades ago, he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

“My grandmother, my uncle, my dad are all diabetics, and I’ve had some relatives that have gotten some of their limbs cut off because of their diabetes,” Clark said. “When it’s a hereditary disease that runs in the family, it’s kind of hard.”

Last year, Clark was reelected as the at-large member of the Edwards Board of Aldermen. But the part-time job only pays about $500 a month. His family owns a small sports bar in town, but it’s only open for a few hours a day and doesn’t generate much additional income.

He has no health insurance.

As is the case with many chronic diseases, the worst consequences of diabetes — such as blindness and amputations — can be prevented with routine care. Clark and many other diabetes patients in Mississippi were getting that care over the past few years through subsidized Affordable Care Act insurance plans.

But Congress allowed the so-called enhanced subsidies to expire at the end of last year. Now the number of diabetic Mississippians without insurance, and thus regular care, is once again on the rise: According to state data, enrollment in ACA plans has fallen by nearly two-thirds in just eight months. The medical and financial consequences could be dire — for individual patients like Clark and for the state.

Mississippi maladies

Designed as a temporary pandemic-era measure, the enhanced subsidies were made available by the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 and later extended through the end of 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act.

 

 

In 49 states (all but New Mexico), the number of people enrolled in ACA plans, also known as Obamacare, has declined since the subsidies expired and coverage became more expensive. Nationwide, participation has declined this year by nearly 3 million people, to about 19.2 million from 21.8 million in 2025, according to the Trump administration. The 2025 figure was the highest ever recorded, after six years of steady increases.

But few if any states are feeling the absence of the subsidies as acutely as Mississippi.

By many measures, Mississippi is the poorest state, with more than 14% of its families living below the federal poverty line. Its traditional Medicaid program has strict income limits, and excludes nearly all non-disabled adults, including Clark. And it is among the 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid to single adults and higher-income parents under the Affordable Care Act.

Mississippi is also one of the unhealthiest states. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified a “diabetes belt,” where people are most likely to have the chronic disease. It includes 644 counties across 15 states, primarily in the South; Mississippi is the only state where every county made the list.

In addition to its high diabetes rate, Mississippi has the nation’s second-highest heart disease mortality rate, and it is one of only two states, along with West Virginia, with an obesity rate above 40%.

Black people make up more than 36% of Mississippi’s population — the highest percentage of any state — and Black Americans are more likely than other racial groups to have chronic diseases, including diabetes. That’s largely because Black people are more likely to live in poverty, to have trouble accessing healthcare, and to be exposed to pollution and chronic stress.

 

 

When the subsidies significantly lowered the cost of Obamacare coverage — making it free or nearly free for some people with low incomes — Mississippi state health officials made a concerted effort to get residents to enroll. Dr. Daniel Edney, Mississippi’s state health officer, said the state launched a public information campaign to encourage people to sign up at their local health departments.

It worked. The number of Mississippians enrolled in Obamacare plans more than tripled, from fewer than 99,000 people in 2020, the year before the subsidies went into effect, to more than 338,000 at the end of 2025, according to state data.

“Our uninsured rate went down significantly, and I’m convinced it’s one of the reasons why our overall population health scoring has improved,” Edney said in an interview in his office in downtown Jackson.

In its 2025 public health report card, the Mississippi State Department of Health reported lower rates of opioid-related deaths, HIV, syphilis, congenital syphilis, teen births and accidental deaths. Health officials acknowledged that the state had made less progress on chronic conditions such as hypertension and obesity, but also noted that it went from dead last in overall national health rankings three years ago to 48th last year.

But when the subsidies expired at the end of last year, Mississippi’s Obamacare enrollment numbers plunged: Roughly 134,000 residents were still enrolled as of Aug. 21, about 40% of last year’s total. And the state projects that the number will fall to around 127,000 next year.

Many of the Mississippians who dropped their coverage have diabetes or other chronic conditions. Without insurance, they are likely to put off routine care, Edney said.

“What’s gonna happen to them? Probably present to the emergency room, eventually showing up once their vision is blurry, or they start having chest pain, or they have a sore on their foot that won’t heal,” he said. “At that point, you’re scrambling to get them placed into care.”

The Obamacare subsidies made a huge difference for Clark, who is unmarried and does not have any children. With coverage, his insulin and medications to control his blood pressure and blood sugar cost him about $15 per month, he said. But he could no longer afford his insurance plan when the subsidies expired and his premiums went up by “hundreds of dollars.”

Without insurance, he says his medications now cost him about $200 per month — and that’s with discounts he gets from medical clinics. Sometimes, he said, family members give him insulin they don’t plan to use.

At some point, he said, he might have to choose between paying for medications and paying his other bills.

“I still have utilities and water and gas and food and still have to buy my medicine monthly out of pocket,” Clark said. “I’m just praying for a better day and trying to lose some weight so I can try to get my diabetes in control.”

Opening a gym 

Like Clark, 49-year-old hair stylist and salon owner Angie Myles-Griffin grew up in Edwards, and she never really wanted to leave. But the limitations of living in a small town hit home after she gave birth to her third child and she set out to lose some of the weight she had gained: She had to drive more than an hour round trip to Jackson to find a gym and a grocery store selling healthy food.

Frustrated by the back and forth, Myles-Griffin decided to do something about it: She became a certified personal trainer and opened her own gym in Edwards, the Kut-N-Fit Wellness Club, right down the street from Lee’s Heavenly Barbecue.

“I became very passionate about health and just fitness overall,” Myles-Griffin said. “So I wanted to bring that back to my community, so people wouldn’t have that excuse of having to drive.”

Myles-Griffin said that in 2024 she partnered with the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson to lead a yearlong diabetes prevention program for 20 Edwards-area women. Myles-Griffin gave participants fitness and nutrition coaching at her new gym and even brought in dieticians to show them how to prepare healthy meals. A dozen people stuck with it.

But since the medical center concluded its sponsorship, most of Myles-Griffin’s clients have melted away. Even though Kut-N-Fit is conveniently located, she said most Edwards residents just don’t have the “mindset” to work out regularly. And Edwards residents still have to drive about a half hour to get to a grocery store with a wide selection of healthy offerings, she said.

Unfortunately, a lack of transportation is one of the many challenges that Edwards residents face.

“If you don’t have transportation, you can’t get to a job, and if you can’t get to a job, there’s no income,” Myles-Griffin said. “And so when there’s nothing going on, it’s like a lack of motivation.”

Poverty, a lack of exercise, obesity, diets high in sugar, unhealthy fats and processed ingredients — that confluence of factors exists in many Mississippi communities. It’s a recipe for Type 2 diabetes, and it’s costing Mississippi billions of dollars.

Diagnosed cases of diabetes cost the state an estimated $5.1 billion annually — $3.4 billion from direct medical expenses and another $1.7 billion from lost productivity in 2022, according to the American Diabetes Association.

And when diabetics don’t get regular care, because they don’t have insurance or don’t have easy access to a doctor, the most extreme — and expensive — health outcomes become more likely. Mississippi’s lower extremity amputation rate is about twice the national rate, according to the American Heart Association.

Irena McClain, the executive director of the nonprofit Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi, said that since the subsidies expired, her organization has been receiving more calls from people asking for help. Without insurance, medical care for diabetes can cost people upward of $1,000 per month, according to a 2022 study.

“I had someone call me up last week, whose doctor wants her on an insulin pump to control her Type 1 diabetes, and she doesn’t have any insurance. She can’t get a pump unless someone donates a pump to us,” McClain said. “And there’s certainly a lot of people who need help much more than the amount that these charities have to give. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

In Jackson, McClain said, charities, free clinics and community health centers are struggling to provide care to all the diabetes patients who have lost their Obamacare coverage.

Mississippi hospitals also are feeling the pinch, according to Richard Roberson, president and CEO of the Mississippi Hospital Association. In 2023, the most recent year for which numbers are available, Mississippi hospitals provided more than $600 million in “uncompensated care,” or care for which they received no payment from either the patient or an insurer.

“That trajectory of costs combined with the trajectory of uninsureds is just going to really exacerbate the challenges for hospitals,” Roberson said. He added that changes to hospital funding included the broad tax and spending law President Donald Trump signed last summer, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, will increase the financial strain.

“We’re just going to start seeing that decrease in revenue, increase in cost, and at some point on the axis, they’re going to cross, and it’s going to be bad,” he said.

No help coming

Meanwhile, the cost of Obamacare coverage keeps going up. Next year, the median proposed premium increase is expected to be close to 15%, the second consecutive year of a double-digit premium hike.

In addition to the expiration of the federal subsidies, prices have increased because of other factors, including labor shortages and the rising cost of prescription drugs, driven in part by the growing demand for GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy.

At least 10 states are using their own money to help people buy Obamacare health plans, partially replacing the expired subsidies. But Mississippi isn’t one of them.

“It’s not that there’s a big money room in the basement where we can go get the money that we’re keeping from everyone,” Mississippi Republican state Rep. Lee Yancey, who serves on the House’s public health and human services committee, told Stateline. “It’s just there’s a limited amount, and there’s only so much you can do.”

Yancey expressed sympathy for Mississippians who can’t afford Obamacare plans without the subsidies. However, he added, he doesn’t believe that “just because a problem exists the government is the one that has to fix it.”

Without the Obamacare plan he used to have, Clark said he has little choice but to drive to Jackson every month to get discounted medications at the Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center.

“Sometimes you got to do what you got to do, and with this high price of gas and food … it’s just rough,” Clark said as he stood outside the clinic.

“If you go in there, you see it’s not about a race thing,” he said. “It’s just poor people — the working poor.”

Stateline reporter Shalina Chatlani can be reached at schatlani@stateline.org.

This story was updated to clarify that poverty, a lack of exercise, obesity and diets high in sugar, unhealthy fats and processed ingredients are risk factors for Type 2 diabetes, not diabetes generally.

This story is part of “Uninsured in America,” a project led by Public Health Watch, a nonprofit newsroom based in Texas. The project focuses on life in America’s health-coverage gaps and the impact of potential Medicaid cuts and other changes.

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Republicans have not voted against banning child marriage in Wisconsin. That includes Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Tiffany, who was tied to the issue in a viral post.

That’s because the bill has never been brought to a vote — a decision that rests with Republicans who control the state Legislature.

The bill was introduced in the 2019,  2023 and 2025 sessions. The 2019 version, when Tiffany served in the state Legislature, had two Republican co-sponsors. Only Democrats have led the bill since then.

Legislative records show none of the bills got hearings or votes, a common fate for many Democratic-led bills.

The legislation would eliminate an exception that allows minors between the ages of 16 and 18 to get married with written consent from a parent or guardian.

The Legislative Reference Bureau previously said 27 minors under 18 got married in Wisconsin in 2024, an increase from 2023.

This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Wisconsin Watch: Child marriage with parental consent is still legal in Wisconsin. Republicans have blocked Democratic efforts to change that.
• Wisconsin State Legislature: 2019 Assembly Bill 715
• Wisconsin State Legislature: 2023 Assembly Bill 1229
• Wisconsin State Legislature: 2025 Assembly Bill 656
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What to know about Wisconsin Democrats' climate change agenda
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Lawmakers intro a bill to ban child marriage. 'This is not about teenagers falling in love'

Did Republicans vote against a bill banning child marriage in Wisconsin? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

When Kaiser Permanente triage clinician Harimandir Khalsa began working in the psychiatry department at Kaiser’s Walnut Creek Medical Center in Northern California, she was on a team of nine people. Today, just over three years later, she is one of only three triage clinicians left. Some of the work once handled by employees has shifted to automated and algorithmic tools.

This change has coincided with a sharp increase in the number of patients who are upset by the time they speak to her. On a typical day, as many as a third of her almost two dozen triage calls are with patients who have struggled to access appropriate care.

“What has increased is frustration. Sometimes people are like, ‘I’ve been sent all over the place,’” she said. The decline in triage staffing and the increasing use of artificial intelligence-powered systems at Kaiser have also led to dangerous delays, missed diagnoses and inappropriate treatment decisions, according to multiple Kaiser mental health care workers.

To understand some of the ways that AI is affecting mental health care, Capital & Main spoke with more than a dozen therapists, clinicians, academic experts and advocates in Wisconsin and California, who said the hasty integration of the technology is eroding patients’ access to timely and appropriate mental health care. While AI is changing work in many professions, its use can have particularly high stakes in the mental health field, workers said, by creating barriers to care for patients who are already struggling with major depression, bipolar disorder and other serious conditions.

Increasing transparency around its use and blocking the deployment of AI in triage decisions have become major goals in collective bargaining for these workers. Already something of a national leader in AI regulation, the state of California, where Kaiser is headquartered, now has pending legislation that would create safeguards around the technology in medical settings.

Capital & Main interviewed mental health care workers employed by Kaiser and Rogers Behavioral Health, a Wisconsin-based provider of addiction and mental health treatment. Spokespeople for these health care providers denied that their AI systems are replacing the work of mental health professionals. “Clinical assessments, triage and treatment decisions are made by licensed clinicians, and any technology we use is designed to support — not replace — clinical judgment,” Kathleen Chambers, a Kaiser spokesperson, wrote in an email.

Distressed patients and dangerous delays

About two years ago, Ilana Marcucci-Morris, a Kaiser therapist who works in Oakland, noticed that the path to mental health care was becoming increasingly dictated by technology. Instead of being referred directly by primary care doctors and contacted to schedule appointments, patients were routed through an app, nonclinical call center staff or simply given a phone number to call. “Now the onus is on the patients to be their own care coordinators,” she said.

This dynamic can be particularly challenging for some patients. “Lack of motivation and lack of follow-through are the most common symptoms of depression on the planet,” Marcucci-Morris said. “We wouldn’t tell a paraplegic, ‘Hey, walk down the hall in order to get your wheelchair.’”

Khalsa and Marcucci-Morris are now spending more time doing what is called “service recovery” — the effort to repair trust in patients whose expectations of care haven’t been met. Even when broader use of automated and algorithmic systems does not eliminate human jobs, it can change their nature, increasing the emotional labor needed to reassure patients disserved by those very systems.

“More often than not, I’m de-escalating an upset patient because they were sent down the wrong path and are suffering, so they’re frustrated with us,” Marcucci-Morris said.

Melissa Stevens, a clinical psychologist at Kaiser in Northern California who works in a chronic-pain program, will often make referrals within Kaiser when patients need psychiatric care for intense depression or delusions. Over the past year, however, she said that Kaiser’s reliance on an AI-powered triage system has made those referrals much harder. She sometimes hears from patients who were never contacted or who were placed in group classes for anxiety or depression, even when they needed a higher level of care.

“It’s getting dismissed by whatever their filtering system is until I actually pick up a phone and call a human,” she said, adding, “I’m like, ‘What’s happening here?’”

Such delays can be not only frustrating but also dangerous, said Khalsa. “I’ve definitely seen those cases where there’s been a delay of sometimes weeks with this new triage system or where self-harming or a prior suicide attempt has been missed,” she said.

Kaiser now connects patients with multiple third-party apps and digital programs, such as Calm, which offers guided meditations, and Meru Health, a 12-week mental health program that includes up to four telehealth sessions with a licensed therapist and contains short videos and activities in its app. “Kaiser is saying, ‘Hey, it’s so great; you can just instantly get some cognitive behavioral techniques about sleep,’” Khalsa said. “But what if this person is in the midst of a manic episode, and they’re not sleeping because they’re manic? A little app isn’t going to help.”

While Kaiser workers said these apps and programs can provide valuable information and insights in some cases, they told Capital & Main that in other cases they do little for patients, who get worse without appropriate treatment.

“It’s not weekly therapy, and so I’ve had a lot of patients come back from that, and then three or four weeks in, they’re in worse shape than when they started,” Marcucci-Morris said. “The ones that really trouble me go through the full 12-week program, and then they go to a medical appointment again, and their depression is worse.”

Inappropriate placements

In late 2024, Rogers Behavioral Health, which has facilities in 10 states, announced a partnership with the company Limbic, which offers AI products to help mental health care providers with intakes, case management, clinical assessments and other tasks.

The partnership’s stated goal, according to a Rogers press release, was “to create easier pathways to care for anyone making the courageous decision to seek mental health support”. By August 2025, Limbic published a case study on Rogers’ use of its products, including an AI intake chatbot and an AI voice agent. The report claimed that Limbic used “real-time routing and prioritization based on AI-generated clinical intelligence.”

For Rogers workers interviewed by Capital & Main, the integration of Limbic was not the roaring success that the report suggested. Erin Quinlan, a behavioral specialist at a Rogers facility in Madison, Wisconsin, has noticed many patients placed in an inappropriate level or type of care since Rogers began using Limbic.

A recently admitted patient who was “a very severe suicidal risk” requiring inpatient care was instead admitted into “the lowest level of care” provided in her building: intensive outpatient care, Quinlan said. She estimated that in her behavioral health group classes, which usually have at least eight participants, typically at least one person should not have been placed in the class.

“If a patient does not have the ability to regulate their emotions through skills, they will become overwhelmed incredibly quickly, and we will have them in crisis,” she said, noting that such crises have involved patients crying, screaming and attempting to leave the facility.

In an email to Capital & Main, a Rogers Behavioral Health spokesperson, who asked that their name not be used, credited AI with “allowing our team members to spend more time focused on patient care,” adding that the tool was used to gather information from patients in “a HIPAA-compliant way.” The email also said that “only licensed Rogers clinicians make admission, placement and treatment decisions.” Limbic did not respond to multiple requests for a comment.

Kate Zolandz, a former Rogers therapist, , said she also saw inappropriate placements increase after the introduction of Limbic. Zolandz, who worked for four years in the company’s West Allis, Wisconsin facility, was particularly struck by an apparent lack of screening for past aggressive behavior after the adoption of Limbic. “When they’re crying, they’re dysregulated, they’re screaming, they’re throwing things, it disrupts patient care, but it also stretches staff even thinner because they’re needing to attend to this immediate crisis,” she said.

A way forward: Guardrails and the uniquely human

Some of the problems identified by mental health care workers could in theory be improved with better AI. Yet experts and clinicians caution that some problems are only fixable by ensuring a central place for licensed human caregivers in mental health and other health care. Labor unions and legislators are currently proposing ways to place guardrails around the use of AI in union contracts and state law.

“Ultimately, AI tools are just that: They’re tools. The provider is the trained licensed professional, and so their judgment is what’s important,” said Leanna Fortunato, a clinical psychologist and the director of digital health and innovation at the American Psychological Association.

A key provision of California Assembly Bill 2575, authored by Assemblymember Liz Ortega, seeks to defend the judgment of professionals by protecting health care workers from retaliation if they override the recommendation made by AI. The bill would also require health care facilities to be more transparent with workers about the risks and uses of AI systems and would shift liability to AI developers and facilities for any harm to patients. The bill passed the Assembly by a wide margin and has since advanced through several Senate committees, where it awaits a floor vote.

The California Hospital Association and Kaiser are among the signatories to a March letter opposing the bill. David Simon, senior vice president of communications at the California Hospital Association, wrote to Capital & Main, “At the heart of our concern is that this bill would undermine the many ways that AI utilized by clinicians through clinical decision support systems can improve nearly every aspect of health care — from quality, patient experience and affordability to clinician efficiency and well-being.”

Robert Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and author of the 2026 book A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future, was also critical of the bill. “We need some room for safe experimentation with oversight, as opposed to locking in the status quo,” he said.

Ortega told Capital & Main she recognizes the importance of AI in improving health care and credited it with “saving lives and being able to identify serious health conditions.” However, she said, AI “can also get it wrong” and that patients and workers deserve protection and transparency from health care providers. Another pending bill, AB 1979, authored by Assemblymember Mia Bonta, would outlaw clinical decisions based solely on AI output and strengthen data privacy protections. The National Union of Healthcare Workers, National Nurses United and the California Nurses Association support both bills. (Disclosure: NUHW and CNA are financial supporters of Capital & Main.)

In Northern California, Kaiser health care workers have made the appropriate deployment of AI a major issue in contract talks. However, Kaiser is currently refusing to agree to language stating that artificial intelligence “is not to replace but to assist” employees “in providing safe therapeutic and effective patient care and support,” according to NUHW.

Chambers, the Kaiser spokesperson, did not respond to a question about the proposed language but said in a statement to Capital & Main: “As part of our ongoing negotiations with NUHW, our proposals are focused on ensuring our members have timely access to high-quality mental health care, supporting our clinicians in delivering excellent care and meeting the growing demand for services.”

The roughly 2,400 Kaiser mental health care workers in Northern California represented by the NUHW have been without a contract since last September, and the health care giant’s hospital system’s use of AI has emerged as a major source of disagreement.

That disagreement also prompted the NUHW to file a complaint with California’s Department of Managed Health Care in April last year, alleging that Kaiser uses AI to triage patients in violation of California law. The union also filed a second complaint on July 2o, alleging that Kaiser’s web-based “e-visit” tool also violates state law. In written materials quoted by NUHW, Kaiser said its intake system uses “built-in logic and algorithm” to identify a patient’s level of distress before directing call-center agents to schedule care.

The union is arguing that triage must legally be performed by licensed clinicians, a view shared by Robin Feldman, a professor of law at UC Law San Francisco and the director of its Center for Innovation. “California law requires that a licensed health care professional must make the decision about the level of care a particular patient needs,” Feldman wrote in an email.

In February, Kaiser reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor to pay more than $28 million to its patients who had to go out of network for mental health care between 2021 and 2024. The settlement announcement said that Kaiser “used patient responses to questionnaires to improperly prevent patients from receiving care.” Chambers said that this matter did not involve AI.

Kaiser has claimed that a shortage of mental health care workers was partly responsible for its struggles to provide adequate care. Some of its workers cite Kaiser’s roughly $67 billion in unrestricted cash reserves to question that claim.

Meanwhile, in West Allis, Wisconsin, Rogers’ mental health care workers voted 54-4 to join the NUHW in April, but Rogers has not yet agreed to meet with them and negotiate. Transparency on exactly how AI is used was a key issue identified by several workers who spoke with Capital & Main.

Even with better AI systems and more transparency on how they are used, therapists at Kaiser and Rogers stressed that such tools cannot produce the same benefits as a strong relationship with a human caregiver.

“Therapy works because you build a relationship with your therapist,” said Zolandz, the former therapist at Rogers. “AI can’t build that connection in the same way that an actual human being can.”

Copyright Capital & Main 2026. Credit and a link to the original story at Capital & Main are required when republishing.

Capital & Main is an award-winning nonprofit publication whose mission is to educate the public on matters of importance such as economic inequality, climate change, health care, threats to democracy, hate and extremism and immigration.

Rockford Public Schools in Michigan is seeking additional bus drivers as it prepares to begin classes Aug. 24, with fewer drivers than officials say are needed to operate its routes efficiently, reported Fox 17.

According to the news report, the district’s transportation department has 55 drivers but needs at least 60 to adequately serve every route. Transportation Director Matt Puett said via the article that he hopes to hire as many as 10 additional drivers to fill current and future staffing gaps.

All routes will be covered when classes begin, but the shortage has forced the district to consolidate some runs. The changes could add about 10 minutes to each trip, Puett said. “That doesn’t sound like a lot, but for a child, 10 extra minutes on a route seems like a long time to them,” he said via the news report.

Rockford buses reportedly travel more than 4,000 miles each school day. Until more drivers are hired, the district plans to rely on retired drivers and other employees who are qualified to operate buses.

Puett told local news reporters that he will drive when needed, along with two or three district mechanics and members of the transportation department’s office staff. The district is offering a starting wage of $23 an hour. Puett said some potential applicants might be intimidated by the size of a school bus, but modern buses are easier to operate than older models.

The buses have automatic transmissions and adjustable pedals that can move closer to the driver, he said via the report. Nicole Saari, who is beginning her fifth full school year as a Rockford bus driver, also encouraged people to consider applying. Many people incorrectly assume driving a bus is unusually difficult because of the vehicle’s size, she said.

“It’s very simple,” Saari said. “It’s the most fun I’ve ever had as a job.”

Saari said one of the position’s rewards is getting to know students and watching them grow over several school years. The district did not provide a deadline for applications or say how many routes had been consolidated. Officials also did not indicate whether further route changes could be necessary if the department remains short-staffed after classes begin.

Written with the Assistance of AI.

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The post Rockford Public Schools Seeks More Bus Drivers appeared first on School Transportation News.

Earlier this year, School Transportation News invited nominations for exceptional professionals and teams in school transportation fleet maintenance. The annual Garage Stars program recognizes the people working behind the scenes to keep school buses and support vehicles safe, reliable, and ready to serve students.

More than 90 nominations were submitted by school districts, private transportation providers and industry partners across the U.S. and Canada. The submissions highlight an accomplished group of technicians, mechanics, supervisors, fleet managers and maintenance teams whose knowledge, leadership and dedication strengthen their transportation programs and communities. Meet the 13 standouts (three teams and ten individuals) that were selected for the 11th annual Garage Stars spotlight, featured in the August Edition of School Transportation News magazine.

The editorial team evaluates nominees using a 10-point system developed by consultant and STN Technical Editor Bob Pudlewski. Nominees are considered according to the following criteria:

• Community involvement
• Professional credentials
• Contributions to industry advancement
• Leadership qualities
• Scope of responsibility, particularly in supervisory roles
• Career and life experience
• Length of service in the field
• Ability to train and mentor others
• Recognition from regulatory agencies
• Overall value to their transportation program

Here is the full list of this year’s nominees:

Adrian Vigil
Equipment Mechanic
Modesto City Schools, California

In his first year with Modesto City Schools, Vigil made an immediate impact through his professionalism, leadership and technical expertise. He brings five years of heavy-duty mechanical experience and a strong commitment to safety and excellence. Vigil has identified defects in newly delivered buses, corrected inspection discrepancies in older fleet vehicles, and ensured that repairs and documentation are completed accurately and promptly. He actively supports Transportation Leadership Academy events and volunteered personal time during the December 2025 Christmas parade to repair a disabled bus. His positive attitude inspires confidence daily and sets a professional standard that others gladly follow each day without hesitation.

Allen Thornburgh
Area Maintenance Manager, Oregon and California
Student Transportation of America, Oregon
With more than 20 years in the school bus industry, Thornburgh is committed to keeping safe, reliable vehicles on the road for students. He oversees eight locations across two states, encompassing a total fleet of approximately 460 buses. Thornburgh maintains current training on Cummins and Propane engines as well as other vehicle systems, enabling him to train and assist shop managers and technicians with diagnostics and repairs.

Angelica Lopez
Fleet Maintenance Specialist
Odyssey Charter School, Delaware
Lopez is an indispensable member of the fleet operations, demonstrating exceptional expertise and dedication. Highly knowledgeable in all aspects of bus maintenance and repair, she addresses problems immediately to keep the fleet operational. Her hands-on experience with a diverse range of vehicles enables her to diagnose and resolve complex mechanical issues with remarkable efficiency.

Anthony Ashley
Senior Director of Fleet Services
Atlanta Public Schools, Georgia
Ashley has been an unsung hero in the Atlanta Public Schools community. Since assuming leadership of a struggling department in 2019, he has worked tirelessly to build a thriving team and a well-functioning organization centered on student safety. His extensive knowledge of fleet operations and the transportation industry makes him a versatile and highly effective leader.

Blake Daniels
Maintenance
Gibson County Garage/Humboldt City Schools, Tennessee
Daniels and his team conduct their work with professionalism, efficiency and care. They respond promptly to routine maintenance needs and emergency situations while remaining approachable and ready to assist others. Daniels is an exceptionally hard worker who goes out of his way to ensure that every vehicle in the system is properly maintained and ready for service.

Bradley Rose
Mechanic
Lakeland School Corporation, Indiana
As Lakeland’s only mechanic, Rose is responsible for maintaining all school buses and other district vehicles. He remains calm and dependable in every situation, from buses experiencing mechanical problems while on route to vehicles becoming stuck in the mud. Rose also takes every driver’s concern seriously, patiently investigating unusual rattles and other problems even when they are difficult to reproduce.

Brady Feck
Maintenance Supervisor
Summit School Services, Ohio
Feck strengthens the maintenance team through a rare combination of technical innovation and hands-on leadership. A career diesel technician, he not only repairs school buses but also improves systems, introduces more effective diagnostic methods and streamlines preventive maintenance procedures. His cost-saving solutions help extend fleet life and reduce downtime. Feck’s forward-thinking approach has led to the adoption of tools and processes that improve efficiency and reliability throughout Summit School Services’ Great Lakes region.

Brady Bentlin
Maintenance Supervisor
Summit School Services, Illinois
Bentlin’s career is defined by technical excellence and a rapid, highly impactful progression into leadership, most notably during his time with Durham School Services. He graduated from Illinois Valley Community College in May 2018 with five automotive technology certifications, including advanced automotive technology, brakes, suspension and alignment, drivability, and engine performance. Bentlin later developed his diesel expertise at CIT Trucks in Peru, Illinois, before spending more than four years maintaining municipal assets ranging from light-duty vehicles to Class 7 trucks and heavy construction equipment. He leads from the front setting expectations around safety, quality and efficiency while also mentoring technicians and building a strong, reliable culture within the operation. His ability to connect with his team, solve problems, and elevate overall performance has made a measurable impact in a short period of time.

Brent Downes
Shop Foreman
Southland Transportation, Foam Lake, Saskatchewan
Downes is the backbone of the maintenance crew, keeping buses moving through the shop and ensuring repairs are completed promptly. He patiently teaches the shop’s apprentice how to perform work properly and safely while bringing a welcome sense of humor to the team. Outside the shop, Downes supports his community through soccer, bowling, and transportation for dance activities.

Brent Keeler
Mechanic
G & T Trucking, California
Keeler is a friendly, patient and highly knowledgeable mechanic who is always available to help. He willingly explains vehicle components to drivers, even when asked repeatedly, and approaches every repair with skill and attention to detail. A meticulous professional, Keeler also takes great pride in maintaining an exceptionally clean and organized shop.

Brian Van Alstine
Technician-in-Charge
First Student, Missouri
Van Alstine exemplifies the technical expertise, leadership and commitment to operational excellence expected of a Garage Star. An ASE Master School Bus Technician, he independently operates a 30-bus shop that supports three separate contracts, consistently maintaining strong reliability and vehicle availability despite limited resources. His ability to manage diagnostics, repairs, preventive maintenance and regulatory compliance demonstrates exceptional discipline and efficiency while directly supporting fleet safety and service continuity.

Caleb Short
Bus Mechanic
Wauseon Exempted Village Schools, Ohio
As the district’s sole mechanic, Short keeps 20 school buses operating safely and looking their best. He listens carefully to drivers’ concerns and responds promptly to their vehicle needs. Short’s kindness, consideration and welcoming attitude make him a trusted resource for everyone who enters his shop.

Cecil Ables
Shop Supervisor
STA, Portersville, Pennsylvania
Ables consistently goes above and beyond his regular responsibilities to keep the fleet in excellent condition and ready for the road. When the operation is short-staffed, he willingly drives routes and assists wherever needed. His dependability, flexibility and team-first attitude help make each day run more smoothly.

Cesar Heyliger
Mechanic
Crosby Independent School District, Texas
Heyliger is recognized for providing more than 20 years of exceptional customer service. His long-standing dedication and commitment have made him a valued member of the district’s transportation operation.

Chad Dempe
Journeyman Mechanic
Centennial School District, Oregon
Dempe has been a welcome addition to the district’s maintenance team and a pleasure to work with. Although he has extensive experience managing contractor vehicle fleets across multiple states, he gives every district vehicle careful attention to ensure the safety of Centennial’s students. His positive attitude and friendly smile provide an encouraging start and finish to each successful workday.

Charles Watts
Technician
Dallas Independent School District, Texas
Since Watts transferred to the Lawnview Service Center, vehicle downtime has decreased. His timely, efficient service has helped improve fleet availability and strengthened the location’s maintenance operation.

Chris Hess
Vehicle Technician
Estes Park School District R-3, Colorado
Although Hess joined the district only this year, he immediately began completing important vehicle repairs that had been deferred for several years. He responds promptly to new vehicle deficiency reports, often completing repairs the same day or the following day when parts must be ordered. Hess is also patient and understanding with drivers, helping them communicate vehicle concerns and treating mistakes with professionalism. He never hesitates to step in and help wherever it may be needed. In addition to his normal job duties, he drives a route, assists with training new drivers, plows school parking lots, and helps maintenance staff with building and equipment repairs.

Christopher Howard
Lead Mechanic
Cumberland County Schools, Tennessee
Howard is an excellent and highly knowledgeable mechanic who approaches his work with pride each day. His technical expertise, dedication and commitment to quality make a meaningful difference in the district’s transportation operation. His dependability and professional approach make him a valued member of the Cumberland County Schools team.

Dale Watkins
Maintenance Supervisor
GoldStar Burleson, Texas
Watkins arrives early each morning with a positive attitude and consistently goes above and beyond for his team. He prepares keys for early drivers, starts buses on freezing days and works diligently to return disabled vehicles to service as quickly as possible. His dependable, friendly, and team-oriented approach makes GoldStar Burleson a better place to work.

Dallas Gabriel and the Clarke County School District Maintenance Team
Assistant Director of Fleet and Maintenance Team
Clarke County School District, Georgia
Gabriel and his team keep the district’s school buses running safely and efficiently while maintaining all other district vehicles with the same care and professionalism. Their strong record speaks for itself: They consistently excel during state inspections and rarely have a bus removed from service because of a major mechanical problem. Their dedication, reliability and teamwork make them deserving Garage Star nominees.

Dallas Wilcox
Mechanic III/Fuel Operator
Caswell County Schools, North Carolina
During his three years with the district, Wilcox has demonstrated a strong work ethic, a positive attitude and a willingness to learn new responsibilities. He recently assumed the additional duty of operating the district’s fueling program while continuing to help maintain 22 buses and service vehicles. Wilcox completes his work promptly and willingly assists other mechanics whenever needed.

Danny Akers
Lead Mechanic
Sanger Unified School District, California
Akers developed an innovative work schedule that leaves one mechanic available each day to handle urgent repairs and respond to accidents. This system allows other technicians to complete scheduled work without interruption while ensuring immediate needs are addressed promptly. Drawing on his many years in pupil transportation, Akers has improved shop efficiency without compromising planned maintenance or fleet safety.

Dave Blaine
Head Mechanic
Killingly Public Schools, Connecticut
Blaine has been a tireless advocate for the district and the students it serves. Whether repairing a bus, covering a route or driving a last-minute athletic trip, he willingly steps in wherever needed. His dedication helps ensure students travel safely each day, while his team-first attitude makes operations easier for everyone throughout the transportation department.

Dave Hart
Lead Mechanic
Edina Public Schools Transportation, Minnesota
During his approximately 15 years with Edina Public Schools, Hart has become a trusted source of mechanical knowledge and expertise. His broad abilities help keep the district’s fleet and equipment operating reliably. Hart is especially skilled at tracing, diagnosing and repairing complex electrical problems that can challenge even experienced mechanics.

Dave Tartaglia
Regional Maintenance Manager
First Student, Pennsylvania and New Jersey
Tartaglia has dedicated nearly 25 years to First Student and consistently provides steady, credible leadership. After serving as regional maintenance manager for the New Jersey/South region, he moved into a role supporting Pennsylvania and New Jersey. During the past eight years, Tartaglia has led major operational launches involving fleets of 70 to 350 vehicles, applying disciplined planning, rapid problem-solving and persistent follow-through.

Dave York
Mechanic
River Valley Schools, Michigan
With 35 years of dedicated service, York is a cornerstone of the transportation department, and a major reason River Valley Schools maintains one of the county’s strongest fleets. A certified mechanic and commercial driver’s license holder, he leads by example every day. His exceptional service, leadership and community involvement have made a lasting impact on the district. He serves the community as a girls’ assistant softball coach, giving back to the students he protects every day. With countless driver stories and decades of impact, his contributions are truly nomination‑worthy.

Diego Ortega
Maintenance Supervisor
Summit School Services/A&S Transportation, Louisiana
Ortega has been instrumental in transforming A&S Transportation’s New Orleans maintenance operation and building a strong, cohesive team. His leadership was essential to placing 53 electric school buses into service and successfully launching the program. This accomplishment established the operation as the largest electric school bus fleet serving the New Orleans market.

Donald Lewis
Technician III
First Student, New Jersey
Lewis is often the first technician others turn to when challenges arise. His extensive knowledge and proactive approach to troubleshooting enable him to identify and resolve issues before they cause downtime, improving overall fleet reliability. He readily shares his expertise by mentoring fellow technicians and supporting new team members. A certified electric vehicle technician and ASE Master School Bus Technician with additional automotive ASE certifications, Lewis brings advanced technical capabilities to every shop he supports.

Doug Klein
Fleet Manager
Rockwall Independent School District, Texas
With more than 25 years of management experience, Klein brings exceptional leadership, technical expertise and dedication to the district’s transportation operation. He began his career as a school bus mechanic, developing a strong understanding of fleet maintenance. As fleet manager, Klein has implemented procedures that keep preventive maintenance on schedule and regularly walks the fleet to monitor vehicle safety, condition and readiness.

Eric Jackson
Head Mechanic
Wa-Nee Community Schools, Indiana
Some people keep buses running; Jackson keeps an entire school community moving. As Wa-Nee Community Schools’ sole technician, he maintains a 56-bus fleet that safely transports approximately 3,000 students each day. The fleet includes 29 propane buses, 20 diesel buses and seven gasoline buses. Through his commitment to predictive and preventive maintenance, Jackson ensures the district’s buses remain safe, reliable and ready for service.

Escambia County School District Transportation Maintenance Team
Transportation Maintenance Team
Escambia County School District, Florida
The Escambia County transportation maintenance team is the often-unseen backbone of the district’s operation. Its members are responsible for maintaining the safety and reliability of more than 600 school buses and support vehicles. Although their daily work centers on engines, transmissions and safety inspections, the team’s response during a recent crisis at a local middle school demonstrated that its commitment to student safety extends far beyond the garage.

Etherean Williams
Transportation Shop Manager
Gainesville City Schools, Georgia
Williams exemplifies the spirit of a Garage Star through his dedication, leadership and commitment to excellence. As the backbone of the transportation department, he helps ensure that every bus is safe, reliable and ready to serve students each day. His attention to detail and extensive knowledge of fleet operations keeps the district’s transportation program running smoothly, even under pressure. Williams is a natural leader and mentor. He invests in training others, sharing his knowledge, and building a stronger, more capable team. His positive attitude and strong work ethic inspire those around him.

Fayetteville-Manlius Transportation Mechanical Department
Transportation Mechanical Department
Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District, New York
The Fayetteville-Manlius Transportation Mmchanical department brings more than 25 years of collective experience to the district. Team members (John Betts, Pat Howley, Bob Weir, Brian Wilson, Travis Niles, Aaron Fountain, Jeff Ritcher, and John), work together seamlessly, understand one another’s strengths and take great pride in everything they do. They begin each day with positive attitudes and readily adapt to new challenges. Whether driving buses or completing minor and major repairs, the team works tirelessly to support the district and its drivers.

Fort Bend ISD Fleet Maintenance Team
Fleet Maintenance Team
Fort Bend Independent School District, Texas
The Fort Bend ISD Fleet maintenance team provides exceptional leadership while supporting one of Texas’s largest and most complex school transportation programs. Serving the state’s sixth-largest student population, the team operates across two major facilities while preparing to open a third to accommodate continued district growth. Its innovative approach to preventive maintenance, fleet reliability and regulatory compliance keeps buses safe, serviceable and ready for daily operations.

Frank Cieslak
Head Mechanic
Deer Lakes School District, Pennsylvania
Cieslak has served the district for nearly 13 years. The son of a mechanic, he began working on vehicles during childhood and developed extensive hands-on knowledge. He keeps the district’s buses safe, in proper operating conditions and on the road, including vehicles that have been in service for more than a decade. His careful maintenance consistently earns the fleet high marks during state inspections.

Freemon Hafen
Lead Technician
Fayetteville Public Schools, Arkansas
Under Hafen’s leadership, the transportation shop has improved in cleanliness, organization and cost efficiency. He leads his team professionally while keeping student safety at the forefront of every decision. Hafen also seeks opportunities to strengthen employees’ skills through upgraded technology and external professional development. Having advanced through the organization himself, he understands how to build and lead a results-oriented team.

Gary Harlow and the Coffee County Schools Maintenance Team
Bus Mechanics and Maintenance Team
Coffee County Schools, Tennessee
Harlow and the Coffee County Schools maintenance team exemplify excellence in fleet maintenance. As the backbone of the transportation department, they combine extensive technical knowledge with proactive leadership to keep the fleet operational and exceptionally safe. Harlow leads with a safety-first mindset and an outstanding ability to diagnose complex mechanical problems, while the entire team demonstrates precision, professionalism and dedication to the district’s students.

Gary Payne
Lead Mechanic
METS/Jackson Public Schools, Michigan
Since joining the organization as lead mechanic in September 2024, Payne has significantly improved the bus garage. He leads a master mechanic and a mechanic’s assistant, providing hands-on training and mentorship. Payne is a certified Michigan motor vehicle mechanic with 45 years of experience and has held a Class A commercial driver’s license for 47 years. His extensive knowledge and leadership continue to strengthen the maintenance team.

Grayson Goble
Shop Supervisor
Columbia County School District, Georgia
Goble is a natural leader with decades of industry experience. He willingly shares his knowledge with others, whether training a new mechanic or teaching a bus driver proper safety technique. His commitment to teamwork, professional development and helping others makes him a valuable leader within the district’s transportation department.

Hamblen County Board of Education Transportation Department
Transportation Department
Hamblen County Board of Education, Tennessee
The Hamblen County Board of Education Transportation Department is recognized for its exceptional service, leadership and dedication to the district’s transportation program. Team members combine years of experience, professional credentials and extensive technical knowledge to keep buses and other vehicles safe, reliable and compliant with regulatory requirements. Their consistently positive inspection results and professionalism demonstrate their commitment to excellence.

Hoover City Schools Transportation Maintenance Team
Transportation Maintenance Team
Hoover City Schools, Alabama
Led by shop foremen Sendy Baker, a 25-year veteran, and Matt King, an electronics expert, the team maintains 164 school buses. Its dedication has ensured that Hoover City Schools has never missed a route despite mechanical challenges and driver shortages. Team members hold the required Alabama school bus driver licenses and state certifications, and they continue developing their skills through programs such as the Thomas Bus Institute.

Hyde Park Central School District Transportation Maintenance Team
Transportation Maintenance Team
Hyde Park Central School District, New York
During a challenging period of staffing shortages, the maintenance team demonstrated exceptional leadership, adaptability and commitment. In the absence of a head mechanic, two team members assumed leadership of the shop while continuing to perform hands-on maintenance work. Their efforts kept operations running smoothly and helped the district maintain a Department of Transportation inspection pass rate above 95 percent. Their team-first mindset and resilience have strengthened the entire transportation program.

James Norrell
Head Mechanic
Eustace Independent School District Transportation, Texas
Norrell joined the district midway through the 2024-2025 school year and inherited numerous fleet challenges. Despite the difficult circumstances, he brought an upbeat attitude that never wavered. Norrell has led the department with dignity and pride, consistently demonstrating technical skills, courage, and commitment. His leadership has impressed district officials and strengthened the transportation operation.

James Russell
Mechanic
Jackson-Madison County School System, Tennessee
Russell is a U.S. Army veteran and active reservist who previously served the district as a school bus driver before becoming a knowledgeable mechanic. His military service has included multiple overseas deployments. Russell’s extensive mechanical expertise and dedication make him an invaluable member of the transportation department. The asset that Russell is to his team is unmatched, and we would be greatly impacted if we didn’t have him.

Jason Leegon
Service Manager
Dickson County Schools, Tennessee
Leegon is an exceptional young leader whose work ethic, character and commitment to service have made a significant impact on the district’s transportation program. His dedication, leadership abilities, and willingness to help wherever needed have enabled him to advance quickly through the organization. In addition to managing a fleet of more than 100 vehicles, Leegon serves in the National Guard, demonstrating his commitment to both his community and his country.

Jedidiah “J” Summers
Fleet Manager
Sheridan School District 2, Colorado
As the district’s fleet manager and sole mechanic, Summers is responsible for servicing and maintaining its entire fleet. His reliability, technical expertise and dedication are essential to keeping the transportation program operating safely and efficiently. He manages fleet maintenance, vehicle readiness, safety requirements, and unexpected repairs while balancing urgent needs with long-term planning. Summers’ work directly supports student safety, operational excellence and community trust. He is a valued leader whose contributions make his district’s transportation program stronger.

Jeff Wilson
Mechanic
Olander Bus Service, Minnesota
Wilson has demonstrated exceptional dedication and technical expertise while maintaining a demanding fleet of more than 70 school buses and eight motorcoaches. His ability to keep such a large number of vehicles safe, reliable, and road-ready reflects his strong work ethic, attention to detail and mechanical skills. His contributions make him a deserving Garage Star nominee.

Jeffrey Hall
Head Mechanic
Muscatine Community School District, Iowa
Hall takes great pride in his work and ensures that every bus is maintained to the highest standards. He proactively identifies and completes needed repairs without waiting to be directed. Hall also trains fellow mechanics and promotes high-quality workmanship throughout the shop. His initiative and strong work ethic have helped the district achieve numerous perfect inspections from the state of Iowa.

Jennifer Luna
Mechanic
Cleburne Independent School District, Texas
Luna consistently demonstrates dedication and provides dependable support to every driver. She goes above and beyond to assist anyone who needs help and willingly drives a school bus route when the district is short-staffed. Her flexibility, reliability and commitment make her a valued member of the transportation department.

Jim Miller
Transportation Director/Shop Mechanic
Riverdale Community Unit School District 100, Illinois
Miller demonstrates exceptional dedication, resilience and leadership. Despite undergoing medical procedures and facing personal health challenges, he continues to approach his work with determination and a strong work ethic that inspires those around him. His ability to maintain a high level of performance while navigating these difficulties reflects his character and commitment. Beyond his professional responsibilities, Miller genuinely cares about the people he leads. He has also created a workplace environment that is both productive and enjoyable. His positive attitude and sense of humor make coming to work something we look forward to, creating a culture where people feel valued, comfortable, and engaged.

Jimmy Bink
Vice President, Parts and Service Division
Master’s Transportation, Missouri
Bink is the trusted expert leading the Parts and Service Division at Master’s Transportation, a major provider of commercial buses and shuttle vehicles. During his 15 years with the company, he has helped build a division that now includes 12 service departments and a centralized parts operation serving fleets nationwide. He also develops high-performing technicians who approach maintenance with discipline, precision and a commitment to quality. He leads by example, applying deep technical knowledge across all aspects of fleet maintenance, from battery systems to brake inspections, body integrity and seasonal preparation. His expertise has been recognized and featured in national industry publications, showcasing his ability to translate complex technical knowledge into practical guidance that fleet professionals across the country can learn from.

Joe Hand
Mechanic
Nye County School District, Nevada
Hand brings a level of professionalism developed through more than 45 years of experience in a variety of mechanical positions. He consistently treats others with courtesy and willingly shares his extensive knowledge. Always prepared to go the extra mile and do what is right, Hand approaches every assignment with the same care and dedication, regardless of its size or complexity.

Joel Boughman
Head Mechanic
Perry Local School District, Ohio
During his 25 years with Perry Local School District, Boughman has assumed responsibility for 55 school buses as well as the district’s other vehicles and lawn equipment. He completes approximately 98 percent of the maintenance work in-house, saving the district a substantial amount of money. His careful work helps the fleet pass its annual state patrol inspections with an average of only one or two minor violations.

John Click
Fleet Manager
Waco Independent School District, Texas
Click is recognized for his outstanding leadership, innovation and dedication to school transportation maintenance. Throughout his service as a fleet manager, shop foreman and lead technician, he has demonstrated professionalism, extensive technical knowledge and an unwavering commitment to safety. His calm, dependable leadership sets a strong example for the entire maintenance team.

John Harsey
Maintenance Supervisor
Lexington School District, South Carolina
Known by his colleagues as “Chief,” Harsey served in the U.S. Army for more than 30 years and earned the rank of chief. He now applies his leadership, expertise and strong work ethic to keeping the district’s fleet in excellent condition. A master mechanic capable of completing nearly any repair; Harsey has enabled the district to perform work in-house that previously had to be outsourced.

John Wilson
Shop Manager
Volusia County Schools, Florida
Wilson is a 17-year veteran of Volusia County Schools who brings more than 20 additional years of automotive industry experience to his role as shop manager. Throughout his career, he has earned 28 ASE certifications. A servant leader committed to excellence, Wilson mentors his team and shares his extensive technical knowledge to help employees maintain high levels of safety, quality and efficiency.

Jonathan Curzon
Regional Director of Maintenance, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba
Southland Transportation, a division of STA, Alberta
Curzon oversees 11 maintenance shops across three provinces and readily steps in to assist with any work that needs to be completed. Before moving to Canada in 2013, he became the youngest Honda Master Technician in the United Kingdom and earned certifications in hybrid, electric vehicle and hydrogen technologies. His experience includes five years with Honda, two years with Toyota and 11 years in school transportation. Outside of work, Curzon coaches local under-11 youth soccer teams.

Jonny Petaros
Fleet Mechanic
Nye County School District, Nevada
Petaros exemplifies professionalism, dedication and technical excellence in school transportation maintenance. During his 13 years as a professional racing mechanic, he worked on Le Mans Prototype race cars across the United States, Canada, England and Portugal. His motorsports background has brought exceptional diagnostic skills, attention to detail and performance-focused maintenance standards to the district. Beyond his technical expertise, Petaros is deeply committed to his community and to mentoring young people.

Jose Gudino
Mechanic
Campbell Union High School District, California
Gudino, also known as JR, is one of the most dependable and positive members of the transportation department. As the district’s primary mechanic, he maintains a fleet of 57 vehicles, including buses, vans and carts, ensuring they remain safe, operational and ready to serve students. He consistently goes above and beyond to assist the transportation team and willingly helps with whatever is needed.

Josh Garland
Head Mechanic
Sullivan County Schools/Central Buses Inc., Tennessee
Garland quickly stepped into a leadership position and embraced its responsibilities wholeheartedly. A dependable team player and recruiter, he willingly assists others and expresses genuine appreciation for those around him. During demanding situations when every minute matters, Garland works late when necessary to ensure the buses are safe and ready for the following morning.

Julius Fielder
Mechanic
Imperial Unified School District, California:

Fielder is an exceptional mechanic whose experience and extensive knowledge give drivers confidence whenever they operate a district vehicle. He leads by example, motivates his team and consistently brings a positive attitude to work. His contagious laugh and upbeat presence provide an encouraging start to the day. Fielder also takes pride in completing work promptly and never postpones a task that can be accomplished immediately. He’s not only highly skilled, but also someone who genuinely elevates the entire team.

Keith Fleming
Mechanic
Mount Laurel Township Schools, New Jersey
Fleming is an essential member of the district’s transportation team. In addition to keeping Mount Laurel Township Schools’ buses safe and road-ready, he transports students when the operation is short-staffed. Fleming is knowledgeable, dependable and always willing to help, often staying late to ensure buses are repaired and ready for service the following morning.

Keith Taylor
Mechanic
Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, California
Taylor repeatedly goes beyond his regular responsibilities, whether serving as the district’s only available mechanic or assisting charter companies transporting students on field trips. When needed, he willingly works from 5 a.m. until 6 p.m. His extensive knowledge of buses and other vehicles, combined with his willingness to teach others, makes him a valuable member of the transportation team.

Kevin Bailey
Fleet Mechanic
Fairborn City Schools, Ohio
Bailey’s exceptional work ethic helps keep the district’s buses, maintenance vehicles, vans and other equipment in excellent operating conditions. During every preventive maintenance inspection, he thoroughly examines the vehicle and completes all necessary repairs, including problems beyond the standard inspection checklist. Bailey also brings extensive training and nearly 20 years of experience as a Ford Master Technician.

Kevin Suppes
Mechanic
Central School District 13J, Oregon
Suppes is a reliable and hardworking mechanic who consistently arrives on time with a friendly attitude. He is always willing to go the extra mile to support the district and keep its vehicles operating safely. His dependability, positive approach, and commitment to helping others have earned him high praise from his colleagues.

Kyle Lawrence and the Oakdale Joint Unified School District Maintenance Team
Lead Mechanic and Maintenance Team
Oakdale Joint Unified School District, California
Lawrence leads mechanics Jack Tumelson and Josh Towe in keeping the district’s fleet safe, reliable and ready to transport students. He has shared his extensive knowledge with both technicians, helping them develop their skills and grow professionally. Together, the team goes above and beyond to complete repairs promptly and ensure buses remain available for daily service.

Latonya Gleaton
Maintenance Supervisor
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, North Carolina
Gleaton’s career reflects dedication, resilience and a deep commitment to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. A proud graduate of the district, she knew at age 5 that she wanted to become a school bus driver, an aspiration she fulfilled on Jan. 7, 2002. Her career path demonstrates initiative and determination. After being encouraged to explore mechanics, she transitioned into a Service Truck Operator role, quickly expanding her skills by fueling buses, replacing tires and conducting inspections. She advanced to Technician I, becoming one of the first at that level to earn an NC School Bus Inspection Certificate and later to Technician II, where she mastered comprehensive maintenance responsibilities. From her first day, Gleaton demonstrated unwavering reliability, a strong work ethic and genuine care for the students she served.

Lee County School District Transportation Team
Transportation Team
Lee County School District, Florida
The Lee County transportation team has consistently remained under budget while modernizing operations and improving efficiency. The department introduced electronic work orders and a real-time inventory system, transitioning the shop into the digital age. Its strong business practices have generated funding and supported long-term sustainability. The team also partners with local technical schools, serving as a training site and providing students with hands-on experience and entry-level employment opportunities.

Liam O’Donnell
Shop Foreman
Montgomery Bus Lines, Ontario
O’Donnell oversees 85 vehicles at Montgomery Bus Lines in Wingham, Ontario. During his three years with the company, he has consistently demonstrated a positive attitude and a willingness to assist wherever needed. His previous experience in the motorcoach industry provided him with strong diagnostic skills and a dependable work ethic. O’Donnell also mentors younger technicians and brings an encouraging, upbeat presence to every shop he supports. In his spare time, he enjoys golf and spending time with his wife and son.

Mark Seal
Garage Foreman
Loudoun County Public Schools, Virginia
Seal is an indispensable member of the Loudoun County Public Schools transportation department. As garage foreman, he does more than manage the shop; he fosters a culture of excellence and technical precision. His hands-on leadership balances significant responsibility with approachable mentorship, elevating the performance of the entire maintenance team. Seal has also been instrumental in ensuring the fleet meets rigorous safety standards while reducing vehicle downtime.

Mark Quiron
Technician III
First Student, Texas
As a key member of First Student’s maintenance-as-a-service contract team in Fort Worth, Quiron plays an essential role in ensuring fleet reliability and operational success. He is pursuing ASE World Class Technician status and completing his T-Series recertifications, with only his body certification remaining. His commitment to continuous improvement complements his versatility and technical expertise, earning him a reputation as someone who can repair nearly any piece of equipment placed before him.

Matthew Zdaniecki
Shop Foreman
Howell, New Jersey
Zdaniecki demonstrates outstanding mechanical skills, leadership skills and dedication to excellence. His extensive knowledge of mechanical systems is matched by a strong commitment to safety, efficiency and high-quality workmanship. His ability to diagnose complex problems quickly and implement effective solutions has significantly improved operations. Whether performing routine maintenance or responding to unexpected challenges, Zdaniecki approaches every task with professionalism and precision.

Mauricio Franco
Shop Manager
San Angelo Independent School District, Texas
Franco is an outstanding mechanic who uses his years of experience to return buses to service, including Van Hool and Freightliner charter vehicles. Well-liked by everyone he encounters, he offers heartfelt encouragement shaped by the hardships he has overcome. When severe flooding struck the community on July 4, 2025, Franco assisted others in need even though his own home had also been flooded.

Max Mlambo
Mechanic
Hempfield/Student Transportation of America, Pennsylvania
Mlambo brings a positive attitude, a warm smile and a sense of humor to the workplace each day. He consistently goes beyond his regular mechanical responsibilities by driving morning and afternoon routes, assisting with office needs and even clearing snow so commercial driver’s license testing can continue during the winter. His flexibility and willingness to help make him a valued member of the Hempfield team.

Michael Collison
Assistant Director of Maintenance
Beacon Mobility, New York
Collison demonstrates exceptional leadership, integrity and a strong commitment to operational excellence at Beacon Mobility. He prioritizes people while managing operations efficiently and leads maintenance teams with a clear focus on safety, reliability and accountability. His leadership helps ensure the fleet remains well-maintained and compliant, providing passengers with safe and dependable transportation.

Mike McNeil
Area Fleet Maintenance Manager
Student Transportation of Canada, Ontario
McNeil oversees approximately 1,500 buses and works with technicians across 14 locations. He began his career as a truck and coach technician apprentice at Elgie Bus Lines in 2007 and became a licensed mechanic at the company’s London, Ontario, facility in 2010. After serving as a lead hand in Thamesford, he returned to London as shop foreman for the London and Embro locations before advancing to area fleet maintenance manager. McNeil is a very positive person and always seems to have the answer or knows how to get the answer to the problem.

Moun Rang
Mechanic II
Flagler County School District, Fleet Services Division, Florida
Rang is an exceptional professional and a valuable member of the district’s Fleet Services Division. He consistently demonstrates outstanding skill, dedication and integrity. As a Department of Education school bus safety inspector and certified diesel mechanic, Rang brings advanced technical expertise and a deep commitment to safety that directly supports the well-being of students and employees throughout the district.

Nicholas Haga
Mechanic
Indian Valley Local Schools, Ohio
Haga is an outstanding leader and innovator within the district’s transportation department, bringing valuable expertise from his previous work with FedEx and a local International dealership. By prioritizing in-house repairs, he has reportedly saved the district more than $100,000 while improving turnaround times and fleet reliability. Haga keeps buses safe, compliant and ready for service while also covering routes, trips and other operational needs when necessary.

Nick Fenstermaker
Bus Mechanic
Lincoln County R-III School District, Missouri
Fenstermaker is an important member of the Lincoln County R-III transportation department who works diligently to keep the district’s buses safe, dependable and operating efficiently. His positive attitude, strong work ethics and excellent mechanical skills distinguish him from his peers. Fenstermaker has held ASE certifications and remains current on emerging bus technology, repair methods and safety requirements.

Octavio Aguilar
Lead Mechanic
Centralia School District, California
During his three years as lead mechanic, Aguilar’s knowledge and experience have improved the district’s inspection and maintenance practices. He communicates effectively with drivers and dispatchers while vehicles are being serviced and remains attentive to the department’s needs. Aguilar also supports driver training and teaches basic mechanical concepts to drivers who are interested in learning more about their vehicles.

Perry “Ted” Sabanal
Mechanic
North Mason School District, Washington
With more than 20 years of district service, Sabanal is a cornerstone of the transportation team. As one of only two mechanics responsible for nearly 50 vehicles, he often works independently and diagnoses problems with confidence and precision. The quality of his repairs is reflected in the district’s minimal road calls and consistently outstanding results during Washington State Patrol surprise and annual inspections. Sabanal is known for his ability to “figure it out” in the field, safely returning buses to service with practical, effective solutions. He also plays a key role in mentoring, teaching both old-school fundamentals and modern diagnostics while continuing to grow his own skills with new technology.

Peter Dawson
Shop Foreman
Elliott Coach Lines, Guelph, Ontario
During his 19 years of service, Dawson has demonstrated exceptional commitment, technical skills and reliability. As the only mechanic responsible for maintaining a fleet of 52 vehicles, he manages a demanding workload with professionalism and care. His proactive maintenance practices and attention to detail have produced outstanding results: The fleet has not experienced a single breakdown requiring a service call this year, despite the age of many of its vehicles.

Price Stewart
Shop Foreman
Cherry Creek Schools, Colorado
Stewart is an outstanding, hands-on foreman who leads the district’s fleet safety efforts and treats his team like family. During his more than 12 years with the district, he has supported other departments by driving when needed and serving as a state examiner for new drivers. Stewart consistently leads by example and willingly helps wherever his expertise is needed.

Randall Briggs
Fleet Supervisor
Falcon School District 49, Colorado
Briggs demonstrates strong leadership by working closely with technicians and teaching proper maintenance procedures. His guidance, collaboration and commitment to quality help strengthen the district’s fleet operation.

Ricky Hitchcock
Service Manager
Marshall County Schools, Tennessee
After retiring, Hitchcock began his second career with Marshall County Schools in July 2007. Since then, he has demonstrated unmatched dedication, humility and leadership in student transportation. His willingness to learn and improve is second to none. Hitchcock’s technical expertise, leadership and reliability help keep the district’s fleet of over 50 school buses safe and operational. His commitment to excellence is reflected in the multiple Zero-Defect Awards he has earned throughout his career from the Tennessee DOS Pupil Transportation Division. In addition to his maintenance responsibilities, Hitchcock willingly drives a bus when needed and trains new school bus drivers, always serving wherever help is required.

Robert Hill
Head Mechanic/Supervisor
North Warren Central School District, New York
Hill began serving North Warren at age 16 as an after-school custodian and became a full-time employee after graduation. He later moved to the bus garage as a mechanic and school bus driver before advancing to supervisor. During his 48 years with the district, Hill has developed the ability to repair nearly anything, including responding to roadside breakdowns when buses require immediate assistance.

Robert Kenyon
Shop Foreman
Southland Okotoks, Alberta
Kenyon goes above and beyond to assist locations in the U.S. as a member of the Cetaris rollout team. He oversees two shops serving an area approximately the size of Delaware. Under his leadership, the shops consistently maintain 100-percent preventive maintenance compliance and a 100-percent Department of Transportation inspection pass rate. Kenyon is also always willing to assist anyone who contacts him for support.

Sammy Jones
Shop Foreman
Whitfield County Schools, Georgia
Jones demonstrates outstanding dedication and leadership within the Whitfield County Schools transportation department. He supports his community by participating in elementary school career days and positively representing the district’s transportation program. His credentials and years of diesel mechanic experience provide valuable technical expertise to the fleet operation. Jones also participates in ongoing training to remain current on transportation standards and industry best practices.

Sergio Alvarez
Lead Technician
Summit School Services, Colorado
Alvarez is a top-performing technician who consistently exceeds the company’s maintenance performance goals and demonstrates strong leadership. A U.S. Army veteran, he brings discipline, integrity and a service-first mindset to his role, making a meaningful impact on the organization and the communities it serves. Alvarez is also certified by the Colorado Department of Education as a school bus inspector.

Shane Brown
Service Manager
First Student, Mississippi
Since Brown joined Location 12728 in 2019, its fleet maintenance department has developed into a high-performing operation within First Student. His can-do attitude inspires technicians, drivers and school district partners throughout the location. His personal motto, “We’ll figure it out,” reflects the problem-solving mindset and commitment to excellence that makes him a valued member of the team.

Stephen Conwell
Fleet Supervisor
Franklin Township Community School Corporation, Indiana
Conwell embodies the qualities of a Garage Star through his exceptional leadership, reliability and commitment to both people and performance. He leads an outstanding team of mechanics and promotes a culture of teamwork, accountability and pride. Under his leadership, the fleet achieves excellent pass rates during Indiana State Police inspections, reflecting his technical expertise and ability to inspire excellence in others.

Steve Bauserman
Crew Chief
Prince William County Public Schools, Virginia
Bauserman serves as crew chief at an outlying shop responsible for approximately 150 buses. The location also houses a fleetwide bus-washing facility that serves more than 900 vehicles. He diligently supports the district’s inspection program, helps drivers return to the road, and communicate effectively with supervisors and employees. Bauserman also ensures that the shop and bus-washing equipment remain functional and ready for service.

Tim Hicks
Transportation Fleet Manager
Jerome School District, Idaho
Hicks is a highly respected leader in Idaho student transportation who demonstrates an unwavering commitment to excellence, innovation and service. He began as a maintenance manager for a school bus contractor, building a strong technical foundation before serving as an Idaho student transportation specialist focused on statewide support and compliance. As Jerome School District’s fleet manager, Hicks continues to improve maintenance standards and operational efficiency.

Timothy Girard
Shop Foreman
Student Transit-Eau Claire Inc., Wisconsin
For 23 years, Girard has been the backbone of the maintenance shop, leading by example and setting a high standard for dedication and work ethic. His extensive knowledge and experience make him an invaluable resource for every member of the team. Regardless of the challenge, Girard is always prepared to offer a solution or helpful guidance, ensuring operations continue safely and efficiently.

Timothy Vose
Maintenance Supervisor
Summit School Services, Illinois
Vose has become an invaluable asset to the organization. He has successfully guided his location through significant organizational changes while maintaining a consistently positive attitude. Since joining the operation, he has strengthened collaboration between the maintenance and operations departments. Vose also mentors his employees, helping build a stronger and more resilient team, while bringing exceptional attention to inventory management and company procedures.

Waynesville R-VI School District Maintenance Team
Maintenance Team
Waynesville R-VI School District, Missouri
The district’s mechanics care deeply about the fleet, its students and their safety. Their dedication has helped Waynesville maintain an excellent fleet for many years. Team members work closely with drivers and aides, respond to their needs, and ensure vehicles remain safe and dependable. Their collaboration and commitment make them an exceptional maintenance team.

Will Leach
Maintenance Supervisor
Summit School Services, Alaska
Under Leach’s leadership, the Fairbanks maintenance location consistently demonstrates outstanding performance, innovation and operational excellence. The team meets important performance goals while maintaining high standards of safety and quality. A rotating weekly cleaning schedule keeps the shop organized and supports a safe, efficient working environment. Leach also communicates frequently with the operations team to ensure it has the vehicles and resources needed to meet customer requirements promptly.

Zack Jones
Service Manager
Robertson County Schools, Tennessee
Jones began his student transportation career as a mechanic in 2016. Through hard work, leadership and dedication, he advanced to service manager in 2022 following the retirement of his predecessor. A graduate of Nashville Auto Diesel College, Jones continually invests in his professional development. He set a strong example for his team by independently pursuing and earning his ASE Master School Bus Technician certification. Jones currently oversees the maintenance and operation of 118 school buses and a white fleet of 60 vehicles. He also obtained his CDL to assist with route coverage when needed. He consistently brings innovative ideas to improve efficiency and service within the transportation program.

The post 2026 Garage Stars: Celebrating Excellence in Fleet Maintenance appeared first on School Transportation News.

Some cars spend their first 110 miles (177 km) gently running errands and getting photographed by their excited new owners. This Rivian R2 took a rather different path. Barely out of the wrapper, the electric SUV has already been crashed and is now waiting for a new home through a salvage auction.

Rivian only opened the R2 configurator on its retail site at the end of May, and strong demand means anyone joining the queue for a new one today won’t receive it until 2027. But somehow this R2 has already been delivered, driven, bent and left in a dusty lot while it waits for a second owner to rescue it.

Related: Bad News Rivian Flippers, A Day One Holder’s R2 Cleared Sticker By Just $2,015

The Launch Green SUV’s passenger-side front fender has taken the obvious hit. It’s crumpled inward, exposing a cracked fender liner, while the outer wheel arch trim has detached and is dangling rather sadly on the ground next to the 21-inch wheel.

IAA

At first glance, it doesn’t look catastrophic. The damage appears concentrated around the fender rather than extending into the passenger door, potentially making this seem like an easy repair and a sneaky way into an R2 without joining the backlog. Unfortunately, there are a couple of reasons not to start celebrating just yet.

First, the IAA auction listing identifies suspension damage as a secondary issue, suggesting there’s more going on underneath than the photos immediately reveal. And the photos show multiple airbags have deployed. Second, experience with the larger R1S has shown that damaged Rivians can generate repair bills rather more intimidating than you might expect from similarly bruised mainstream Ford or Chevy SUVs.

656 HP And AWD

IAA

But it could still be worth the effort. This must be an R2 Performance Launch Package, currently the only version Rivian is delivering. It starts at $57,990, with slower, more affordable variants coming later this year and then in 2027.

That $58k gets you dual-motor all-wheel drive developing 656 hp (489 kW / 665 PS) and 609 lb-ft (825 Nm) of torque. Rivian says it’ll rocket from 0–60 mph (96 km/h) in 3.6 seconds while delivering 330 miles (531 km) of range. We just hope the owner (presuming this wasn’t a demo car) got to experience that punch at least once before they wrecked it. Although you have to consider that maybe trying that 656 hp out is why it now looks like it does.

IAA

Lithium-ion batteries are the leading choice in today’s electric vehicle and battery energy storage system industries, but they contain a number of critical minerals — including lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite — that are considered essential for economic and national security reasons, and therefore vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. As renewable energy, electrified infrastructure, and high-power digital technologies continue to grow, there is an increasing need for energy storage systems that are low-cost, resource-abundant, and capable of fast charging and discharging. 

That need, among other reasons, has motivated a group of researchers — based at MIT and led by Ju Li, the Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power Engineering in the departments of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE) and Materials Science and Engineering — to develop complementary energy storage solutions. 

The team is looking, in particular, at sodium-metal batteries, which offer several attractive features. Sodium is about 1,000 times more abundant than lithium and, pound for pound, about one-hundredth the cost. A key challenge, however, is that sodium metal is highly reactive, making it difficult for these batteries to achieve both long-term stability and fast cycling. 

A new paper in the journal Joule — written by 15 members of the MIT team and published online this week — shows how this dilemma can be addressed by finding the right electrolyte for this battery system.

Electrolytes behaving badly

An electrolyte is one of three main components of a battery, along with the negative electrode (the anode) and the positive electrode (the cathode). The electrolyte acts like the “blood” of the battery, allowing electrically charged ions to move between the two electrodes. “The electrolyte is supposed to just transmit those ions,” explains Li. “It’s supposed to be an ion conductor.” But unfortunately, most electrolytes get involved in unwanted chemical reactions with the electrodes, which can greatly undermine battery stability.

The consequences of these “side reactions” can be severe, says Weiyin Chen, a postdoc in NSE and one of four lead authors of the Joule paper. Insoluble compounds produced during the reactions can build up on the electrodes, creating a barrier that blocks ion transport and can eventually cause the battery to fail. 

Until recently, Chen says, no electrolyte used in sodium-metal batteries was fully stable against these unwanted reactions at both the anode and cathode, even though such stability is essential for rechargeable batteries to achieve a long cycle life. An initial breakthrough occurred in 2021, when the Li group and their collaborators identified a “sulfonamide” molecule — consisting of sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen atoms — that, when used as a solvent, “is magically stable at both electrodes in lithium batteries,” according to Li. This molecule is known as DMTMSA. 

Building on that discovery, Li and his colleagues set out to see if related molecules could improve sodium batteries. The goal was not only to maintain stability, but also to enable fast charging and discharging. If charging is too slow, it could take all night to recharge, and if discharging is too slow, the battery cannot deliver much power when needed.

How did the solvent cross the road?

Chen explains the idea with an analogy: Suppose you need to cross a street jam-packed with pedestrians, much like ions traveling from one electrode to another. “You can move more quickly through the crowd with a small backpack that is snug against your body, rather than dragging a bulky suitcase on wheels,” Chen says. 

A similar situation occurs in batteries: When sodium ions are surrounded by smaller solvents, they can move faster than when they are surrounded by larger, bulkier solvents. Faster ion transport enables more-rapid charging and discharging. The team’s goal, accordingly, was to identify solvent molecules that are small enough to improve ion transport while still maintaining electrolyte stability.

There is, however, a complicating factor — a trade-off to be addressed: Faster ion transport often comes at the expense of electrolyte stability. Many highly conductive electrolytes react more easily with the electrodes, shortening battery life. Fortunately for their plan, Li says, “reducing the size of solvents provides a new pathway to overcome this trade-off.” 

The question then becomes how to find a smaller solvent that has other desirable properties. The idea they adopted is to look for molecules that are “congeneric,” says Li, “meaning that they belong to a similar family and are molecularly similar.” In particular, they searched for molecules related to DMTMSA, hoping to find candidates that were smaller but could retain the stability that made DMTMSA so promising.

Chia-Wei Hsu, an MIT PhD student in materials science and engineering, created an AI-guided algorithm, which designed 100,000 candidate molecules on his computer within 24 hours. Hsu then narrowed down the pool to 200 candidates by applying a set of technical criteria — including similarity in shape to DMTMSA and comparable electronic properties. Twenty-seven representative candidates covering the full range of possibilities were selected for experimental tests. 

“We tested them all under the same conditions to make it a fair, head-to-head competition,” Chen says. A clear winner emerged, a solvent called DMFSA, which was both the smallest and the best.

Small is beautiful

This work, claims Jinhyuk Lee, an associate professor of materials engineering at McGill University who is not part of the study, “addresses one of the most persistent challenges in battery research: improving battery performance at high charging and discharging rates without sacrificing long-term stability. By carefully tailoring the size of solvent molecules, the authors demonstrate a new design strategy that could enable lower-cost, higher performance batteries.” 

The group is not done. A new search is underway to find an even better solvent. This time, the approach is similar, but DMFSA (rather than the larger DMTMSA molecule) serves as the starting point. Chen believes the new solvents they are uncovering could eventually lead to rechargeable sodium-metal batteries that combine low-cost, abundant materials with fast charging and high-power performance, opening the door to broader energy storage applications.

The overriding goal of this work, the authors emphasize, is not only to advance sodium batteries. It’s also to introduce a new approach to electrolyte design that uses solvent size and molecular similarity as the key guideposts. Viewing the research in this light, sodium-metal batteries serve as a model system for demonstrating a more general design principle.

“Because the concept is broadly applicable,” Lee comments, “its impact could extend well beyond sodium batteries and influence the design of a wide range of future energy storage technologies.”

This work was supported, in part, by a National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the government of Korea government, as well as U.S. National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship. The characterization equipment used in this project is partly from the MIT.nano Characterization Facilities. 

© Image: Weiyin Chen

A school district serving a county between Walt Disney World and the Tampa area is working to fill dozens of school bus driver vacancies as they prepare for the start of the new academic year, reported Tampa-Bay 28.

Polk County Public Schools has more than 60 full-time driver positions unfilled. The district is offering a starting wage of $19.46 per hour and full benefits as it works to recruit additional employees and provide reliable transportation for students.

George Millar, director of transportation operations for Polk County Public Schools, said the county’s rapid growth has intensified the district’s staffing needs.

“The rapid growth though has escalated the need to make sure we have a full complement of drivers, because the more drivers we have in the driver’s seat of the buses, the more reliable our students can get to school and get to school on time and safely,” Millar told local news reporters.

The vacancies in Polk County are part of a wider regional demand for school bus drivers ahead of the first day of classes. Pasco County Schools reportedly plans to hold a transportation hiring event from 4 to 6 p.m. Aug. 6 at the district office in Land O’ Lakes. Prospective employees may register through the district. Pasco County is seeking candidates for transportation positions as it prepares for the coming school year.

Hillsborough County Public Schools serving the Tampa area is also seeking approximately 80 school bus drivers. The district’s next hiring event is reportedly scheduled for Aug. 19, and interested candidates are being directed to submit applications through its employment website.

The School District of Manatee County needs 11 drivers, according to local news reporters. Information about available positions and application requirements is available through the district. Unfilled positions near the start of school can affect route coverage and on-time service. Transportation departments must also allow applicants time to complete licensing, training and other employment requirements before they can begin transporting students.

The hiring efforts are intended to strengthen driver rosters before students return and reduce the possibility of transportation delays or disruptions during the opening weeks of school.

Editor’s note: The original news article this report links to contained a typo. Polk County’s starting wage is $19.46 per hour, not $9.46.

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Related: School Bus Driver Shortages Create Wider Consequences for Students
Related: Driver Shortage Could Lead to Bus Route Disruptions, District Warns
Related: Go Riteway Hosts ‘Drive the Bus’ Events Amid Wisconsin Driver Shortage
Related: Technology Webinar Tackles the School Bus Driver Shortage

The post Central, West Florida School Districts Seek Bus Drivers Before Classes Resume appeared first on School Transportation News.

Kia keeps rewriting its own US sales record, and July gave it another line in the book. Last month stood as the brand’s best July ever, with several models posting record numbers for the month, the Carnival family hauler among them.

The Korean automaker moved 75,857 vehicles in July, a 7 percent gain over the same month last year. Through the first seven months of 2026, the running total reaches 506,584 units, up 4 percent, which puts Kia on course for a fourth straight annual sales record in the US.

Record-Setters Across The Lineup

According to Kia, the Sportage, Carnival, Telluride, Seltos, and K4 all logged best-ever July sales. The Sportage led the pack with 16,083 sales (+11.7%), trailed by the K4/Forte at 12,094 (+8%), the Telluride at 11,816 (+13%), the Sorento at 9,038 (+13.5%), and the Seltos at 8,807 (+79.1%).

More: Kia’s Next Sportage Is Getting A Rugged Redesign

The one that caught our eye, though, is the Carnival minivan. Its 7,279 deliveries marked a hefty 22.8% climb over last year and landed within striking distance of its all-time monthly best of 7,362 units, set in November 2025. A recent study found millennials are fueling a minivan comeback, sold on the practicality and value SUVs can’t match, and Kia’s numbers appear to reflect the trend.

Kia introduced the current Carnival in 2020, and it reached the US for the 2022 model year. A mid-cycle refresh arrived in late 2023 for the 2025 model year, bringing a sharper face and a hybrid powertrain option. Pricing now runs from $37,490 to $53,590, with buyers choosing between a 3.5-liter V6 and a turbocharged 1.6-liter hybrid.

EV Sales Down, Hybrids On The Rise

Strong as the month was overall, Kia’s electric lineup told a rougher story. EV6 deliveries nearly halved to 674 units (-48%) in July, dragging its year-to-date figure to 4,717 (-34%). The three-row EV9 dipped more gently to 1,650 units (-5%), though its year-to-date total still runs ahead of last year at 8,685 (+30%).

Hybrids went the other direction, and hard. Total hybrid sales jumped 108 percent year-over-year. The Sportage Hybrid posted the steepest growth among electrified models at 76%, while the Sorento Hybrid and Carnival Hybrid each managed a 16 percent gain over last July.

More: 2027 Kia Seltos Has A Higher Price To Match Its More Upscale Design

Kia plans to keep the momentum going with the new Seltos and the entry-level EV3 electric crossover, due later this year.

Kia US Sales 2026

Allendale Public Schools in Michigan is establishing new non-transportation zones for the upcoming school year, meaning school buses will no longer pick up students living in certain areas as the district responds to an ongoing driver shortage, reported WZZM 13.

According to the news report, Superintendent Garth Cooper said recruiting and retaining drivers has become increasingly difficult, in part because of the position’s split schedule.

“It’s a very challenging position,” Cooper said. “The hours are not ideal because you work in the morning, then you go home, and then you work in the afternoon. That’s unique for this type of job.”

The district keeps driver job postings open throughout the year and pays applicants while they complete required training, Cooper said.

“We keep the posting open. It never ends. We’re constantly seeking recruits,” he added.

The shortage has also complicated transportation for extracurricular activities. Cooper said all available drivers are typically completing elementary school routes until 4:30 or 5 p.m., while many high school athletic competitions begin at 4 p.m.

The district reportedly considered using passenger vans for smaller athletic teams, but Cooper said Michigan law restricts the use of larger vans without a commercial driver’s license.

Community members reportedly expressed mixed reactions following the announcement. One commenter attributed the shortage to the district’s driver wages and said increasing pay could improve recruitment. Another parent raised safety concerns about young children walking longer distances, particularly during severe weather or when their parents are working.

The district’s new non-transportation and walk zones are reportedly scheduled to take effect at the beginning of the upcoming school year. Allendale Public Schools has not indicated how many students or existing bus routes will be affected by the changes.

Written with the assistance of AI.

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Related: School Bus Driver Shortage Impacts Florida Districts
Related: School Bus Driver Shortages Create Wider Consequences for Students
Related: Go Riteway Hosts ‘Drive the Bus’ Events Amid Wisconsin Driver Shortage
Related: Driver Shortage Could Lead to Bus Route Disruptions, District Warns

The post Michigan’s Allendale Public Schools Eliminates Bus Routes Amid Driver Shortage appeared first on School Transportation News.

The post Is your transportation operation short mechanics/technicians heading into the new school year? appeared first on School Transportation News.

A webinar explored how school districts are responding to ongoing driver shortages by maximizing existing staff through better routing, unified technology and data-driven decision-making.

School bus driver shortages remain the biggest operational challenge facing student transportation departments heading into the 2026-2027 school year, but some school districts are adapting by making better use of existing drivers rather than waiting for the labor market to recover. Rick Dunn, vice president of customer engagement at Zonar, shared this and more findings Thursday from the 2026 Back-to-School Readiness Report conducted in July by Zonar and School Transportation News, based on a survey of 128 transportation directors, operations managers and fleet leaders.

The webinar discussed how technology can help transportation departments improve efficiency despite staffing shortages and budget constraints.

Driver Availability Remains the Top Concern

Dunn said the survey found driver availability outweighs every other operational concern for transportation leaders.

“Here’s the headline: 75 percent named driver availability as their number one concern heading into fall. Not budget, not equipment, not routing, driver availability, and that number holds steady across every fleet size and every kind of operation,” he underscored.

The challenge extends beyond hiring, Dunn explained. An aging workforce, shrinking recruiting pools and limited budgets mean what many in the industry have thought for decades: The driver shortage is a long-term operational issue.

“This isn’t a one-year story,” Dunn said. “The state of student transportation data confirms the driver shortage stays at a top focus for the next two to three years. So, whatever we build to handle it needs to hold up for a while, not just get us through this fall.”

Only 15 percent of surveyed school districts reported they were fully prepared for the new school year, while most still had at least one significant item left unresolved before classes began. Dunn noted that compressed summer schedules and limited staffing leave little opportunity to complete every task before students return.

Technology Can Improve Productivity

Rather than focusing exclusively on recruitment, Dunn encouraged districts to maximize the productivity of the drivers they already have.

“The other path is to multiply the drivers you already have with tighter routing and coaching that retrains instead of polices,” he said. “Routing software means less wasted time and better coverage. Coaching means drivers who stick around instead of burning out. Put those two together, and that’s how you multiply hours without adding headcount.”

The survey reflected that strategy. Routing software ranked as districts’ top planned technology investment, followed by student ridership tracking and driver coaching tools. Dunn said those priorities directly address the operational challenges transportation departments face every day.

He also urged districts to simplify operations by reducing the number of disconnected software systems that dispatchers manage.

“We heard about operations running GPS with one vendor, cameras with a second, routing with a third, and student tracking with a fourth,” Dunn said. “Even when a couple of those systems technically integrate, you still don’t get one view. You get four logins and a prayer.”

Integrated Systems Reduce Daily Friction

Valeria Ríos, Zonar’s product marketing manager, said technology should eliminate administrative hurdles so transportation teams can focus on serving students.

“The problem is not only the number of tools. It’s also that there is no process and no staff to manage them all,” she noted. “When you consolidate, you’re not only removing logins. You’re also removing the friction that takes up your team’s entire day.”

She shared that integrated platforms like Zonar Bus Suite also help transportation departments respond faster when drivers call out unexpectedly.

“A driver calls out at 6:15 [a.m.]. In Bus Suite, you split her route, you reassign the vehicle, you message a substitute driver, and that’s all in one screen, in one moment,” she said.

Technology can also make substitute drivers more successful by providing the information they need to stay on schedule.

“We’re going to make it easy by assigning a route. You can follow the app. It will give you turn-by-turn directions. It will tell you which students you need to pick up,” Ríos explained. “That’s kind of where Bus Suite comes from. It’s actually to address all of their needs from the transportation industry.”

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Related: How Technology Can Assist the 2026 State of Student Transportation
Related: School Bus Fuel Innovation, Technology Education Meet at STN EXPO West
Related: (STN Podcast E302) Technology Tools for Bus Drivers: No More Struggling with Paper Route Sheets
Related: How Technology Powers Daily Student Transportation Operations

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Better Data Supports Better Decisions

The presenters also highlighted the role of analytics in helping districts stretch limited staffing resources. Ríos said route utilization tools can identify underused buses, recommend better vehicle assignments and provide transportation leaders with the information they need to consolidate routes when necessary.

“It will give you all the data points you need to be able to consolidate those runs and make the most out of every driver that you already have,” she declared.

Dunn advised districts to evaluate their existing technology before investing in additional products.

“Three things to remember: Run one picture of readiness, multiply your driver hours instead of just chasing headcount, and sweat what you already own before you buy something new,” he concluded.

To support those goals, Dunn and Ríos demonstrated how Zonar Bus Suite integrates routing, dispatch, live vehicle tracking, student ridership, navigation, field trip management and parent communication into a single platform. They emphasized that consolidating data and workflows can reduce manual tasks, improve visibility and help transportation departments make better use of limited staff while maintaining service levels.

Watch the webinar on demand.

This article was written with the assistance of AI.

The post Technology Webinar Tackles the School Bus Driver Shortage appeared first on School Transportation News.

For Hugh Smith, the challenge of building an energy-secure future isn’t about creating the world’s “best” battery. It’s about designing the right battery for the right job.

As a fifth-year PhD candidate in MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Smith studies sodium-ion batteries, an emerging alternative to the lithium-ion batteries that power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles. By replacing expensive critical minerals like lithium, nickel, and cobalt with more readily available elements like sodium, iron, and manganese, his research aims to make energy storage both more affordable and more sustainable.

“I’ve believed for a very long time that the biggest engineering problem humanity faces is the transition to clean energy,” Smith says. “Batteries are a critical bottleneck in that transition.”

Growing up in Albany, New York, Smith was drawn to materials science because it combined two of his favorite subjects: chemistry and math. What kept him interested, however, was the field’s ability to touch nearly every aspect of everyday life.

“Anytime you interact with a solid material, there are people who intentionally designed that material for a specific purpose,” he says.

That idea of designing materials with a real-world purpose eventually led him to batteries. After earning his undergraduate degree in materials science from Case Western Reserve University, Smith came to MIT to explore how new battery chemistries could reduce costs without sacrificing performance.

Consumers often want batteries that charge quickly, last for years, store large amounts of energy, and remain inexpensive. But in reality, improving one characteristic of this technology usually means compromising another. A smartphone battery, for example, prioritizes energy density and long lifespan, while a battery storing electricity for the power grid doesn’t need to be lightweight or compact. Instead, cost and reliability become the most important considerations.

Rather than chasing an all-encompassing solution, Smith focuses on finding the right balance for specific applications, often juggling competing priorities. Instead of strengthening a singular characteristic, Smith works to maximize as many components of the battery as possible, including cost, performance, sustainability, and reliability, depending on how it will be used.

“It’s trying to balance everything,” he says. “It’s not catering extremely to some properties and then abandoning others.” 

The sodium-ion batteries Smith studies could eventually provide lower-cost options for electrical grids or more affordable electric vehicles. Because sodium-ion batteries can largely be manufactured using the same infrastructure already developed for lithium-ion batteries, they also offer a potentially smoother path toward commercialization than many emerging battery technologies.

Smith’s graduate school journey has been defined as much by the process of learning how to do research as by the science itself. He joined a brand-new research group at MIT as its first graduate student, and helped establish the lab run by Professor Iwnetim Abate. Without senior graduate students or postdocs to turn to for day-to-day guidance, he often had to teach himself new techniques and how to troubleshoot when things went wrong.

“I learned not to be fearful of new things,” Smith says. “Just because I didn’t know how to do something didn’t mean I couldn’t figure it out.”

He says the experience transformed him into a more independent researcher and someone who is willing to dive headfirst into unfamiliar problems.

Before beginning graduate school, Smith spent seven months at the Battery Innovation Center in Newberry, Indiana, an experience that broadened his understanding of how scientific discoveries become real technologies. Working alongside materials scientists, chemists, mechanical engineers, and chemical engineers showed him that no single discipline can solve the challenges of battery development alone.

“It requires a huge team effort,” Smith says. “It requires a lot of different types of knowledge.”

He says the experience also helped him better understand where his own expertise could make the greatest impact and when collaboration across disciplines is essential.

Outside the lab, Smith makes time to stay active through MIT’s intramural sports program, where he plays soccer, ultimate frisbee, football, and volleyball on teams with fellow graduate students. The games offer a chance to unwind after long days of research while strengthening the friendships he’s built throughout graduate school. He also enjoys fishing around the Boston area with friends and exploring New England’s coastal towns, museums, and historic sites.

As he prepares to graduate in the winter and pursue a career in battery research and development, Smith hopes to continue designing technologies that support the transition to clean energy. 

“Lots of smart people have already made wind and solar very cheap,” Smith says. “The issue is reliability, and batteries can help solve that problem. I hope the work I’m doing helps to affordably unlock the transition to an electric grid powered by reliable clean energy, and an electrified transportation network.”

© Credit: Adam Glanzman

As school districts prepare for the 2026-2027 academic year, persistent school bus driver shortages are prompting transportation departments to expand recruitment efforts while families face the possibility of canceled routes, longer rides and interruptions to students’ education.

School buses remain a primary means of transportation for millions of children. The National Center for Education Statistics reported that school bus transportation was available at 87 percent of public school districts. On average, school districts reported that 40 percent of their students traveled by school bus on a typical day.

When there are not enough drivers to operate every route, districts may consolidate routes, adjust pickup times, or ask existing drivers to complete additional runs. Those changes can lead to earlier mornings, longer trips and delayed arrivals for students. If a route is canceled entirely, families without flexible work schedules or access to another vehicle may struggle to get their children to school.

Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland said it began the 2025-2026 school year with open routes because of a school bus driver shortage. Although the district expected every route to be covered, it warned families to prepare for longer travel times, transportation delays and schedule adjustments.

To help families manage anticipated delays, the district launched a portal identifying open routes and schools where transportation delays were expected. It also continued using a bus-tracking app that provides estimated arrival alerts while increasing customer-service staffing and expanding contracted transportation services.

Reliable transportation can play an important role in attendance. A peer-reviewed study published in Education Finance and Policy examined student data and transportation policies from Michigan’s 50 largest school districts. The study found that eligibility for school-provided transportation increased attendance and reduced chronic absenteeism, with the strongest effects among economically disadvantaged students.

The U.S. departments of Education and Transportation have also identified safe, accessible and reliable transportation as a strategy for reducing chronic absenteeism.

Recruiting enough drivers, however, remains difficult. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, school bus drivers held approximately 387,300 jobs in 2024, with a median annual wage of $47,040. Part-time work is common, and drivers’ hours are often limited because they typically work only when school is in session. Those scheduling conditions may affect the pool of applicants available to districts.

Some districts are using hands-on events to make the job more approachable for prospective applicants.

Wentzville School District in Missouri held “Drive the Bus” recruitment events every Monday and Tuesday throughout July. Interested participants could operate a bus, submit an application, and complete an on-the-spot interview. The district also promoted transportation aide positions and district-paid employee benefits.

Forest Hills School District in Ohio held a similar event July 25. Participants with valid driver’s licenses could operate a school bus under the supervision of an experienced driver without already possessing a commercial driver’s license. The district said paid CDL training was available to accepted applicants.

By allowing community members to experience the driver’s seat before applying, districts hope to reduce anxiety about operating a large vehicle and introduce candidates to the responsibilities of transporting students.

For children who rely on the school bus, the success of those efforts can determine more than whether a vehicle arrives. Consistent staffing helps protect students’ access to class, predictable daily routines, and the educational opportunities that begin after they reach school.

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Related: Go Riteway Hosts ‘Drive the Bus’ Events Amid Wisconsin Driver Shortage
Related: Florida School District to Host Transportation Hiring Event
Related: Driver Shortage Could Lead to Bus Route Disruptions, District Warns
Related: (Free Webinar) Short-Staffed and on Schedule: Tackling the Student Transportation Driver Shortage

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A longtime mechanic was killed after the school bus he was repairing rolled and crushed him inside a Westmoreland County bus garage, reported CBS News.
According to the news report, Barry Barker was working on a school bus at the Lodestar Bus Lines garage in New Florence Borough when the incident occurred July 2 at approximately 9:30 a.m.

Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Steve Limani said emergency responders were dispatched around 9:35 a.m. after an employee reported the unresponsive mechanic inside the garage.

“An employee at a bus garage … said they had a mechanic that was lying inside the garage, that [he] was unresponsive, and it appears he may have had an incident where a bus drove over him,” Limani said.

Investigators reportedly said Barker had been repairing a school bus that was experiencing brake problems. Police located cutting tools near Barker that appeared to have been used during the repair, though investigators have not yet determined exactly what caused the bus to begin moving.

The bus reportedly rolled over Barker before slowly traveling across 13th Street and coming to rest in a nearby yard. Authorities said the incident appears to have been accidental.

“It just seems like a horrific tragedy and a pure accident,” Limani said via the article. “From my understanding, he has been a mechanic for quite a long time, and he has been at that garage for an extended period of time.” He added that investigators currently have no reason to believe foul play or any criminal activity was involved.

The Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office identified Barker and said the cause and manner of death remain pending following an autopsy and toxicology testing. State police continue to investigate how the school bus began moving while Barker was working underneath it.

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Related: Florida School District Begins School Bus Mechanic Apprenticeship Program
Related: 10 Taken to Hospital After School Bus, Car Crash in New York
Related: Distracted Driving Maryland Man Convicted in Fatal Crash with School Bus
Related: School Bus Driver Charged with Hit-and-Run Death of Brooklyn Girl

The post Mechanic Killed After School Bus Crushes Him in Pennsylvania Garage appeared first on School Transportation News.