Historically, School Transportation News has looked at school bus driver pay and benefits as it relates to staffing. But developing a standout department starts at the very top, as proven by the Top Transportation Teams awards sponsored by Transfinder and presented at STN EXPO West (learn more about the 2025 winners on page 28). What factors encourage transportation directors to stay at their current district versus jumping the bus to another? No surprise: The overwhelming answer is support from administration and department culture.
For Colby Stevens, spending his career at Teton County School District in Wyoming makes sense. A 2023 STN Rising Superstar, Stevens started driving a school bus for the district in 2011. Over time, he took on more responsibilities, eventually becoming a secretary and now the director of transportation, a position he’s held since 2018, when he was 29 years old.
“Though it wasn’t something that I had dreamed of, it provided an opportunity to get full-time, year-round work, which was appealing,” he said of first moving into the secretary role.
Stevens became the assistant director in 2016 and served for two years. He credited becoming director to his relationships in the department and his experience working up through the ranks. He noted that he has a very positive relationship with the district administration, which encourages him to stay at Teton Conty.
“I feel like I have the trust of the district, and they have mine,” he said. “That’s a huge reason why I’m not really interested in going elsewhere. I feel like I have support if I need it, but I also feel like I’m not micro-managed. I’m given a long leash to do my job, and so that gives me the weighty responsibility of doing what’s supposed to be done. But at the same time, I don’t feel like I’m on my own. And I think that balance, from what I have found, is rare, but it’s super important. I can imagine that would be one reason why there is burnout and turnover with directors.”
He shared that his college degree is in an unrelated field and it’s the on-the-job training that has attributed to his success. “Interacting in every sphere really prepared me for the job as well as just learning early on and [receiving] a lot of informal training from our former director,” he explained. “Learning the power and the importance of relationships, the importance of treating people with integrity and treating people with respect.”
He noted another key piece has been his involvement in the Wyoming Pupil Transportation Association, for which he is a director-at-large.
Amy Scopac and her on-the-job training has proven advantageous to her nearly 20-year career at Temple Independent School District in Texas. She explained that when her children became school age, she wanted to rejoin the workforce yet be on their same schedule. She started looking for opportunities available within the school system.
“In that pursuit, I was led to transportation at Temple ISD, where I began my 19th year in June [this year],” she said. Scopac started in the department as secretary in 2007,
shortly thereafter becoming the safety and training supervisor. She became operations supervisor and then assistant director of transportation from 2012 through 2020. She has served as director since January 2021.
Certifications have been instrumental in her career development, especially as she said she sees the industry steering away from requiring traditional degrees. She currently holds the certifications of Director of Pupil Transportation (CDPT) and Supervisor of Pupil Transportation (CSPT) from the National Association for Pupil Transportation, and a Texas Pupil Transportation Official (CTPTO) from the Texas Association for Pupil Transportation. She also holds driver trainer and special needs supervisor certificates from TAPT and a School Bus Driver Trainer certificate from the Texas Engineering Extension Service.
Scopac is also a certified Texas Department of Public Safety CDL third-party examiner. She served as TAPT president from 2018 to 2019 and has served as president of her local TAPT chapter twice (2011 and 2021). She is also a certified professional development instructor through TAPT.
She noted that the requirement for a degree is gradually disappearing from job descriptions, as in the example of a recent director job posting at nearby Hutto ISD, which
states, “Qualifications include a bachelor’s degree or comparable knowledge gained through work experience.
“This shift signifies a changing trend in the industry, where the significance of a degree is diminishing,” she said. “The knowledge and skills necessary to excel as a director in this industry are not solely acquired in a college classroom. On-the-job training plays a critical role in developing these essential skills.”
She noted that a successful transportation director is a leader with strong operational and management skills. “They are required to have in-depth expertise in transportation logistics, encompassing route planning, scheduling and optimizing workflow to maximize efficiency and cost-effectiveness,” she continued. “Additionally, they are responsible for developing and overseeing substantial budgets, monitoring expenses and negotiating contracts with vendors to effectively manage costs.”
Plus, directors must understand all local, state and federal laws, regulations and safety standards and be adept at “utilizing technology, including fleet management software, student monitoring software, GPS tracking, and data-driven analytics, to streamline operations, monitor performance, and make informed decisions based on data,” she noted.
Like Stevens in Wyoming, she said the most important aspect to staying at a district is leadership and culture. “Having the support of your supervisor, superintendent and school board are critical,” she said, adding that transportation can be a demanding job.
“Having a positive workplace culture fosters engagement, productivity and loyalty. Our senior leadership team in Temple is remarkable. They support their employees and are huge proponents of professional development. There is no doubt they truly believe in you. They make you feel connected and engaged. We function like family with a real focus on collaboration, teamwork and employee well-being. Our Superintendent Dr. [Bobby] Ott signs his emails to us ‘your biggest fan,’ and there is no doubt that is the absolute truth.”
Scopac shared that being a Temple Wildcat is “truly special,” as it’s the only high school in the district. Scopac, a native of Temple, said she loves serving her community, which is experiencing a growth in population.
A Fork in the Road
For others, however, changing districts helped align with their professional growth and goals. Karim Johnson has worked in 10 school districts across four states along the East Coast and has even run his own school bus contracting and motorcoach company. He started in pupil transportation right out of high school, working as a part-time bus driver while in college. He said what started as a means to pay bills, turned into a career he fell in love with.
He’s worked in various roles in transportation, from school bus driver to dispatcher to operations manager and driver trainer. To the management side, serving as a supervisor, regional manager, director and executive director. Johnson is currently the director of student transportation at Dorchester County School District Four in South Carolina.
“My career path really breaks down into two chapters,” he said. “Early on, from the time I started driving after graduating high school through my early 40s, I moved around mainly for growth. I wanted to see the industry from every angle, so I took on opportunities that stretched me and gave me new responsibilities. Some changes were also tied to personal and family needs, but most were about pushing myself to keep learning and advancing.”
Now, he said, he looks at things differently. While professional growth is still important, he also values balance. “At this stage, the biggest factor in staying with a district is culture,” he shared. “I want to work in a place where transportation isn’t treated as an afterthought, but as a critical part of student success. When a district invests in its people, its facilities and its fleet and when leadership understands that smart investments can actually drive efficiency and save money, it creates an environment where both students and staff can succeed. That’s the kind of alignment that makes me want to plant roots and stay long term.”
While pay and benefits are importance, culture, he said, is the centerpiece. He said a district having a student-focused culture and one that understands how instructional goals and operational support work hand in hand, sets the foundation for success. “At the same time, competitive pay and solid benefits can’t be overlooked,” he added. “They allow
employees to care for their families and show up fully at work. When a district finds the right balance between culture, compensation and support, that’s when both students and staff are in the best position to thrive.”
Johnson said one of his strengths as a director is stepping into challenged operations, finding the systemic issues and leading the turnaround—all not possible without leadership that backs the process. “I don’t expect them to know every operational detail, but I do look for a willingness to make the necessary infrastructure investments, set realistic timelines for change and understand that improvements don’t happen overnight,” he said.
“Just as important, I value when leadership listens to the recommendations of their transportation professional and trusts the process. With that kind of support, transportation programs can truly transform and without it, even the best plans can stall.”
Meanwhile, Mitzii Smith, president of the Maine Association for Pupil Transportation and a 2024 STN Rising Superstar, started her career in 2005 with Bonny Eagle School District (MSAD6), when her oldest child was starting kindergarten. Smith drove a school bus and
transitioned to lead driver. In 2021, she stepped into the building to become the administration assistant. A few months later, she became the assistant director.
On July 1, she started a new role as director of transportation for Gorham School District. “My decision to leave Bonny Eagle after 20 years wasn’t an easy one to make,” she shared. “I had an amazing opportunity for career advancement. Gorham is a neighboring district in a wonderful community. This is a unique opportunity to build on an already solid transportation department. It’s exciting to bring my vision to a new team and promote professional development and growth.”
She noted that as a new director, one of the most important benefits is a strong district culture. “When there is mutual respect, open communication and a shared commitment to student success, transportation becomes more than just getting students to school; it becomes an essential part of supporting their overall educational experience,” concluded Smith, who is also a school safety specialist.
Editor’s Note: As reprinted from the October 2025 issue of School Transportation News.
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