Farm Foundation has announced the recipients of its prestigious 2025 awards, recognizing outstanding individuals dedicated to addressing critical issues in food and agriculture. The honorees exemplify Farm Foundation’s work of fostering innovation, leadership, and thoughtful public policy dialogue.
The recipients of the 2025 Farm Foundation Awards are:
Innovator of the Year: Robbie Dye, CEO, and Tyler Speer, COO, co-founders of Our Farms. Emerging Leader Award:Dr. Shandrea Stallworth, Senior Agronomist and Global Resource, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Regenerative Agriculture, Nestlé Purina North America. RJ Hildreth Public Policy Award: Dr. Keith H. Coble, Vice President for the Division of Agriculture, Forestry, and Veterinary Medicine, Mississippi State University. Book of the Year: Land Rich, Cash Poor by Brian Reisinger, award-winning writer, rural policy expert, speaker, and consultant.
“We received a remarkable range of inspiring nominations this year, and these four honorees stood out for their exceptional contributions,” said Tim Brennan, vice president of programs and strategic impact at Farm Foundation. “Their dedication to tackling critical issues in food and agriculture is vital to improving our food system.”
The awards ceremony will take place during the July 2025 Farm Foundation Round Table meeting in Spokane, Washington.
2024 recipients of Farm Foundation Awards include Dr. Jayson Lusk of Oklahoma State University; Dr. Robert Fraley, former executive vice president and chief technology officer at Monsanto Company; Dr. Yangxuan Liu of the University of Georgia; and Dr. Stephen Adejoro of the Livestock Industry Foundation for Africa.
Though she doesn’t have her CDL (this photo was staged for the magazine), Crystal Hill took the figurative steering wheel as superintendent of Charlotte- Mecklenburg Schools in the summer of 2023 and hasn’t looked back. Cover design by Kimber Horne Photo courtesy of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
The cover story this month features Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools superintendent Crystal Hill as she discusses what it takes to drive an entire district towards success. Read more about the new GM and VP of IC Bus as well as articles on technological upgrades, AI & predictive technology, benefits of using a third-party contractor plus more on the unclear future of electric school buses and clean energy funding.
Breaking Barriers & Navigating Uncharted Territory
Crystal Hill, the superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina, shares how she started her career in education, her perspective on the importance of student transportation, and the potential impacts of cuts in federal funding.
Features
Seeing Into The Future
AI and predictive technology hold many promises for student transportation professionals, especially those in charge of servicing school buses and ensuring optimum uptime.
The Steps To A Technology Upgrade
Upgrading technology comes with many questions such as staying with the same provider and looking at expanded features. Directors weigh in on the items and processes they value most.
Who, What, When, Where and Why?
While contracting operations isn’t for every school district, those that use third-party services discover the benefits of technology and safety equipment adoption, cost savings and vehicle variety.
Special Reports
Passing the Torch
Charles Chilton has big shoes to fill as the new GM and VP of IC Bus. But his experience as a school bus driver and engineer are proof he is more than up to the task.
Clean School Bus Program
School districts are left wading in the deep end of regulatory and funding uncertainty, especially when it comes to purchasing new electric school buses under the EPA’s Clean School Bus program.
To wrap up Women’s History Month, Senior Editor Taylor Ekbatani interviewed women in student transportation during the Trade Show at the STN EXPO East conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. Watch to hear their advice on achieving success in the industry.
CONCORD, N.C. — There are three ways a person can transition themselves into a top performer: Win the mental game, own the day, and adapt and thrive.
That was the message author and trainer Scott Welle provided to attendees with his keynote address on the penultimate day of STN EXPO East and its inaugural year hosted in North Carolina.
Win the Mental Game
Welle said the average person has 50,000 thoughts a day, 80 percent of which are negative. But starting with a negative belief translates to thoughts, behaviors and results.
He shared that his brother has always been extremely smart, and growing up the speaker developed a belief that he would never be as smart as his brother. Welle said he felt demotivated, which led him not applying himself to his schoolwork. That resulting in Welle being an average. Receiving C grades, he added, furthered his belief that he was not smart.
That was until one day in college, when he decided he was going to apply himself.
“I remember waking up one day [thinking], ‘You’re paying a lot of money to be average,’” he recalled. “… It got the spiral going back in the other direction.”
Welle eventually got a master’s degree in sports psychology.
He said without his realization, he would have never had the courage to start his own business, write books and be standing in front of STN EXPO attendees Thursday morning at the Embassy Suites Charlotte-Concord convention center. He asked attendees to think about the belief system their operation under and the story that they’re telling themselves.
Having better thoughts, gives better feelings, which leads to better results.
Out-performers are intentional, Welle commented. That not just with what they need to do every day, but how they want to show up to everything they do, every day.
“What one word/phrase describes how you want to show up on the field that represents the best version of you?” he asked attendees.
Todd Silverthorn, transportation supervisor with Kettering City Schools in Ohio, said he wants to come into any situation “full force” and be his authentic self. Being vulnerable in certain situations shows leadership, he said.
The audience shared several suggestions to be a strong leader: Make it fun, be solid, stay above the line, be positive, and stay present.
Welle said it’s important to show how you want to be perceived because that represents the best version of you. He added that defining what one actually does for a job or in life, in the very deepest meaning, rather than what they say they do provides connection on a greater level.
For example, school transportation employees don’t just drive or route school buses, they provide access to transportation. Remind yourself of your purpose, when days are longest and arduous, and when having unpleasant parent conversations, he advised.
A graphic demonstrates the importance of describing the impact of a person’s job responsibilities goes far beyond a simple title.
Own The Day
The next piece of advice Welle provided was owning the day before the day owns you. He said the hardest part of the day is getting something started. He provided ways to own the day, such as being grateful, challenging oneself, focusing and organizing, self-care, and exercise.
He asked attendees to turn toward to their neighbor and share one thing that they’re grateful for. Many shared they’re grateful for family, career, health, and to be at STN EXPO. He said the human brain can’t have simultaneous competing thoughts, meaning one can’t be grateful and also negative, jealous or angry.
Welle said changing one’s mindset to think about what’s good doesn’t allow them to reflect on the bad, or what is lacking. One attendee shared she lost her two parents, a step-parent) and her two brothers within a seven-year span. That resulted in her being grateful for her life. She said she couldn’t let herself fall into depression but instead had to fight through the pain and keep going.
The attendee said when she says good morning, she means it, because it’s another day she wakes up alive.
“A lot of kids don’t hear good morning from their parents,” she said of the importance of sharing joy with students. “We have to remember who we are servicing.We have to be resilient.”
Welle also lost both of his parents in the before his 38th birthday. He added that there were days he couldn’t get out of bed. But he, too, had to focus on being grateful and carrying on his family legacy through the lessons his parents taught him.
The road construction in life is the barriers and distractions that are blocking you from focusing on the things that matter and that you can control, Welle added. To be in control, one needs to automate, delegate and eliminate.
“Outperformers think strategically on how to clear the path to make it simpler to have success,” he said.
“Shift happens,” Welle said. “We have to be able to respond to it. How do we adapt and thrive, when, not if? Change happens, stress happens, uncertainty happens.”
He said the people who experience the most hardships, suffering and adversity become the most resilient. He said people all know they need to get back up, but they want to have to get knocked down first.
He asked attendees to recall a difficult time in their life when they couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. He said to use that experience as a reference point, as it taught resilience, strength and internal dialogue.
“If I got through that, I can get through this,” he said, adding that outperformers use their experiences to show what they’re capable of. “Don’t discount the tough stuff that you’ve been through in your life.”
However, Welle said, no one outperforms without the support of others. He recalled running a 100-mile ultramarathon. There was a point he wanted to quit, but his friends pushed him to keep going.
“As you think about adapting and thriving in your life, choose the people you surround yourself with wisely,” he said. “People that don’t just love and support you, but who will also call you out and tell you what you don’t want to hear but what you need to hear.”
He said it’s the small wins that stack up over time that lead to massive movements and massive outcomes. He said it’s not about getting to the top of the ladder, but just to next rung. What is the next milestone, benchmark, small win?
Becoming an out-performer happens one step at a time.
“The main thing is, [Welle] made me realize who I am as a person, that I don’t give myself credit, that I have a lot on my plate, but I do a good job with it,” Paul Johnson, transportation manager for Wicomico County Public Schools in Maryland told School Transportation News following the session. “It motivates me to go further.”
Johnson said he related to Welle. All through his life, he said he felt that he was the average person. He added that he believes he has other levels to achieve and wants to show his drivers, associations and specialists that they, too, can reach another level.
CONCORD, N.C. – During the exclusive Transportation Director Summit at STN EXPO East, author and trainer Scott Welle shared aspects of sports psychology to enhance leadership in the workplace.
Take Care of You
“You cannot get the best out of others if you cannot get the best out of you,” Welle told the room of student transportation supervisors and vendor partners at Topgolf Charlotte – South.
He reminded listeners to stay present in the moment and to strike a balance between high achievement and personal fulfillment.
It all starts with a belief system. About 80 percent of an average person’s 50,000 daily thoughts are negative, Welle shared. “Our beliefs drive our thoughts, which drive our feelings, which drive our behaviors, which produce or don’t produce results in our lives,” he said.
“If you were mic’ed up, as far as your inner thoughts, what would we hear?” Welle, who has a master’s degree in sports psychology, questioned to sheepish laughs throughout the room. He posited that most people are capable of more than they think but are held back by lack of belief in their own prowess.
Gratefulness is key to positive thinking as it’s hard to be both grateful and negative, Welle pointed out. Recharging your batteries through breathing techniques, stress management and self-care is also important, he confirmed.
“It’s not selfish,” Welle stated. “I’m telling you to focus on yourself because that’s how you have sustained high performance.”
Transportation directors commiserated on the difficulties of taking time off but agreed that good leadership depends on it, especially since they are the go-to person for any issues in their departments.
Scott Welle discusses goal-setting during 2025 Transportation Director Summit at STN EXPO East.
Good Goal-Setting
Despite their popularity around the New Year season, Welle shared that only 3 percent of people set a concrete goal and around 90 percent of those fail to achieve it. Referencing SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-based) goals, he advised also having DUMB (Dream Driven, Unrealistic, Meaningful, Benefits Others) goals.
There is a greater chance of success when choosing a goal that is meaningful to you, he said, a determination that is intensely personal. For instance, Welle said he is an avid marathoner and has run 34, including a 100-mile ultra marathon.
“Telling someone to be realistic is telling them to be limited,” he declared. “Any goal is achievable with an intelligent plan to accomplish it.”
The last point of a DUMB goal is significant since successful pupil transportation benefits the millions of students transported between home and school daily, he noted.
He advised using the O.P.P. framework to set goals: setting a valued Outcome which is achieved through committed Performance and a consistent Process.
If it’s hard to follow through, he suggested just looking at the next step or the next rung on the ladder and motivating the team with little wins because they count too.
He advised focusing on the intersection of things that matter and things one can control for optimal effectiveness and satisfaction.
Superman and Beyonce
Some childlike optimism and imagination is required to set up a performance-enhancing alter ego, Welle quipped.
Just as Clark Kent enters the phone booth and emerges as Superman, transportation leaders may need to tap into an alter ego in order to overcome human nature shortfalls and lead effectively, or to make hard daily decisions like personnel corrections or dismissal.
Sharon Moore, operations supervisor for Newport News Public Schools in Virginia, shared that her team can recognize her alter-ego which is “more black and white” with the rules while her normal temperament “gives more grace.”
Welle shared that he tells himself that he may fail but he “can’t not” try, so he creates a better, more enhanced version of himself that he steps into on stage.
Far from making one look fake, he stressed that doing this frees the most authentic version of oneself and eventually melds the two selves into a fully realized person, much like how Beyonce started performing under the artist persona of Sasha Fierce and is now famously known by her bold mononym.
He advised using a trigger like an article of clothing which can help a leader “step into” their alter ego and perform at a top level even if they don’t feel like it. “You can do this – there’s no reason why you can’t,” he encouraged.
Welle shared how his high school football coach performed exercises along with the team, illustrating how leaders have the choice of elevating or deflating workers.
“It all starts with meeting people where they are,” he said.
He advised starting with empathy and using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to help employees feel psychologically safe. Attendees agreed that vulnerability, communication and trust are crucial here.
Under an effective leader, Welle said, the sense of belonging will go deeper than a forgettable mission statement tucked away on a school district website. Additionally, team members will be regularly appreciated for the valued pieces of the puzzle that they are.
At the top of the Hierarchy sits self-actualization, where team members will be challenged to continually learn and grow.
The ‘Outperform the Norm’ series author closed the session with asking tables to share one concrete takeaway they will work on. “The norm does information, the outperformer does implementation,” he reminded.
Scott Welle will present a keynote session at STN EXPO East on Monday, March 24 from 10:20-11:50 a.m. EDT.
Photos below from both days of the TD Summit by Vince Rios Creative.
A Kentucky school bus driver saves the day after he gifts a pair of pajamas to a student on board, reported Goodnews Network.
According to the article, a child identified as Levi was crying when his bus driver, 35-year-old Larry Farrish Jr., arrived at his stop to pick him up.
Farrish told local news reporters that he quickly asked the child what was wrong. It turned out that it was Pajama Day at Engelhard Elementary School, but Levi didn’t have any, so he was going to miss out on the fun.
After dropping Levi at school, Farrish, who has been both a truck driver and a correctional officer but found his calling with driving children to school, rushed to a store and bought some pajamas then hurried back to Engelhard and surprised Levi in class.
According to the article, Levi hugged the pajamas closely and thanked his bus driver for the gift.
RICHMOND, Va. — The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) has hired Joel Stutheit as senior manager of business development for its on-road market portfolio.
In his new role, Stutheit will be responsible for growing propane autogas market share for on-highway light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles. He will be focused on the implementation of strategic market plans that support research and development of innovative technologies, product launches, maintenance and growth in existing market segments, as well as new market expansion opportunities.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Joel to the team and we’re looking forward to him making a big impact for our mission,” said Tucker Perkins, president and CEO of PERC. “Not only does Joel bring invaluable expertise to our organization, but he also has first-hand experience adopting propane autogas and knows what fleet managers are looking for when evaluating alternative fuels.” Prior to joining PERC, Stutheit spent over 20 years in the education sector, serving in assistant principal roles at several schools and then as director of Bethel School District in Spanaway, Washington. As director, Stutheit led a variety of projects and operations, including overseeing an $18 million annual budget. He established the district’s propane autogas school bus program, procuring $2.5 million of buses yearly with the assistance of grants he helped secure. The program earned statewide recognition for its cost savings and progress toward clean energy goals. Stutheit holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Eastern Washington University as well as a master’s degree in educational leadership from Heritage University.
About PERC: The Propane Education & Research Council is a nonprofit that provides leading propane safety and training programs and invests in research and development of new propane-powered technologies. PERC is operated and funded by the propane industry. For more information, visit Propane.com
In the hectic, fast-paced world of school transportation, performing with excellence isn’t just a feigning, casual interest—it’s a necessity. An obligation. The daily mission of safely and efficiently transporting students requires the optimization of every resource available: mental clarity, physical energy and emotional resilience. These three components are the building blocks for peak performance, and when they’re aligned, you’ll know you’re bringing your “A game” to the field of play of school transportation…as well as life.
Here’s how outperformers optimize these three key resources:
Mental Resource Optimization: Clarity and Focus
As motivational speaker and author Tony Robbins says, “Where your focus goes, energy flows.” Mental sharpness is non-negotiable in school transportation. From route planning to handling last-minute changes, cognitive overload and poor decision making can lead to errors and unnecessary stress.
Focus on the intersection:
Outperformers channel their mental focus on the intersection of the “Things That Matter + Things They Can Control.”
The Venn diagram, below, appears to be common sense, but it’s not always common practice. Focus too much on outcomes outside of your control and your mental resources are drained by stress, fear, worry and anxiety (“I’m really nervous about the results from this new process.”) It’s giving too much weight to what might happen instead of what you’re doing. It’s okay to visit there, but you don’t want to live there.
On the other hand, if you focus too much on tasks that aren’t impactful, you’ll feel mentally overwhelmed and frustrated (“I have too much to do and not enough time to do it.”) Try trimming your lengthy to-do list into a limited strategic priorities list. Then, watch what happens to your mental bandwidth.
Savor the small wins:
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! Especially when we’re faced with complex or daunting tasks, it can be human nature to mentally disengage. Usually, this is because the enormity of the situation engulfs us, and we feel like we’re never going to get to the other side. It makes it hard to start and even harder to sustain.
The above image is from my book, “Outperform The Norm: Daily Execution. Extraordinary Results.” The remedy is to separate the tall “ladder” into smaller rungs, steps, milestones, benchmarks, wins, etc. When you do this, you’ll instantly become more mentally motivated. As you start making progress, you’ll not just focus on how much farther you have to go; you’ll also be empowered by focusing on how far you’ve come!
Mindfulness breaks:
We can all benefit from slowing down to speed up. Specifically, find time in your daily routine for mindfulness breaks where you consciously slow down your breathing (and, in turn, your mind). This allows you to speed up your mental game later.
Try taking two breaks throughout the day—ideally around times that are most stressful—and focus on nothing other than breathing in through your nose for a count of four (your shoulders should not come up when you do this!), then breathing out through your mouth for a count of four. Do 10-15 breathing cycles and you’ll feel calmer and mentally refreshed afterwards.
Physical Resource Optimization: Energy is Everything
As I was writing this article, I was recovering from a 10-day cold. I was saddled with a cough, congestion, aches, sore throat, fever And a SEVERE lack of energy. Have you been there? When you don’t have energy, doesn’t everything—including basic, day-to-day tasks— feel much, much harder? This is where a lot of Americans exist. Not necessarily in sickness, but in a depleted state of energy. And in a field with early mornings and long hours, optimization is impossible without physical vitality.
Prioritize sleep:
Sleep is our greatest source of energy renewal and quality matters more than quantity. One of the best ways to ensure a higher quality of sleep is to employ the 3-2-1 method:
• 3 hours before bed: Avoid caffeine and alcohol
• 2 hours before bed: Finish eating
• 1 hour before bed: Stop screen time (phone, iPad, etc.)
A golden rule for all mental, physical and emotional optimization is to focus on progress, not perfection. Are you always going to stop screen time exactly an hour before bed. Probably not. But can you make progress from where you are now? Absolutely. That progress will lead to more energy and better sleep.
Movement is medicine:
Quality movement / exercise is the greatest performance-enhancer on the planet. Nothing else replicates the benefits we get from moving our body:
Exercise doesn’t have to be a one-hour bootcamp. Any movement matters—it can be a 10-minute stretch in the morning or a 20-minute walk over lunch. These things add up. Small wins become big wins over time.
Fuel your body, nourish your brain:
Most people don’t link what they put into their body and how it impacts the way they think, feel and perform. It does. And instead of worrying about the totality of going on a “diet,” simply strive to make a healthy choice for breakfast (a piece of fruit and glass of water, for example). Behavioral researchers call this a “micro-commitment” and you’ll be committed to making more healthy choices for the rest of the day.
Emotional Resource Optimization: Resilience and Connection
The emotional component of school transportation is often overlooked, but it’s arguably one of the most important areas for optimization. Handling student behavior, navigating parent concerns and thriving through change requires emotional resilience and connection.
Remember what you DO:
If we met for a cup of coffee and I asked what you do, you’d probably say that you work in school transportation efficiently. What are the consequences if you don’t show up and perform with excellence? Far too often this gets lost in the day-to-day craziness of
our lives. The challenges, struggles and conflicts tax our emotions and cloud our connection to the good we do. Remember the students you serve. It matters. You matter!
Be elastic:
There is a common misconception about resilience (or “mental toughness,” as it’s called in athletics). Resilience does NOT mean that you’re impervious to emotional letdown, anger and doubt, and bulletproof to any adversity that comes your way.
Emotional resilience means you’re elastic, like a balloon. If something doesn’t go your way, how long does it take you to “bounce back into shape” (the definition of resilience)? Optimization comes from lessening the time of experiencing negative emotions, recognizing they aren’t benefiting you and consciously choosing to move onto something better.
Leverage your reference points:
Have you ever been faced with a challenging situation where you couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel? Or you doubted getting to the finish line at the end of the “race?”
We all have. Reference points are emotionally challenging events in your life that you’ve faced and overcome. The Norm looks at these times and discounts them, wondering why they had to go through it.
Outperformers see it differently. They look at these events as growth experiences that taught something about their own courage and fortitude. These situations, then, become reference points, giving a reservoir of emotional strength and internal belief with which to fight future battles—for you and for your team.
Your Call to Action
Imagine a school transportation department where dispatchers are mentally sharp, school bus drivers are energized, and leaders foster a connected, emotionally resilient environment. The impact goes beyond operational efficiency—it creates a culture of peak performance that benefits students, parents and the entire community.
But mental, physical and emotional optimization aren’t a one-time effort. It’s a daily commitment. Start by identifying ONE area where you or your team can make a small but meaningful improvement. Then, apply “speed of implementation,” where you take an action step as fast as possible toward this commitment. Remember—progress, not perfection! Keep outperforming!
Editor’s Note: As reprinted in the March 2025 issue of School Transportation News.
Scott Welle, author and speaker, will give his keynote session at STN EXPO East
Scott Welle is a sports psychologist, author, keynote speaker and trainer. This month at STN EXPO East in Concord, North Carolina, he shares with TD Summit participants how exceptional leaders inspire others. He also provides his “Outperform the Norm” message to all conference attendees with a keynote on March 24. Learn more at stnexpo.com/east and scottwelle.com.
Ryan and Tony discuss federal government shifts and how the industry could be affected, as well as how to keep the core values of transporting students safely and efficiently.
“The driver shortage isn’t an excuse.” In an interview full of phrases you could put on a t-shirt, Heather Handschin, supervisor of bus operations for Prince William County Public Schools in Virginia, discusses tools, processes and training to retain drivers, run operations smoothly, and serve community families well.
Dr. Walter Gonsoulin, Jr., the superintendent for Jefferson County Schools in Alabama, was named the 2025 National Superintendent of the Year during the National Conference on Education in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the first Alabama superintendent to receive the award since the program began in 1989.
AASA, alongside award sponsors Corebridge Financial and Sourcewell, recognized Gonsoulin for promoting school choice, tackling complex problems with the goal of improving learning environments for students, and thinking beyond high school by championing other ways to support students in the path they want to take.
During his acceptance speech, he thanked the Jefferson County School Board, the parents, and the 35,000 students. He also thanked the district’s 4,500 employees, calling out bus drivers and maintenance workers specifically.
Gonsoulin spoke with School Transportation News last month about the importance of transportation in getting students to and from Signature Academy Programs. Additionally, he was instrumental in a project to put Wi-Fi hotspots on all school buses, so students can be connected during their long bus routes.
Dr. David K. Moore, the superintendent for the School District of Indian River County in Florida, referred to school bus drivers as transportation professionals, adding they are the first team members to “greet our students in the morning and the very last team members to wish them a good evening after school.”
At a Glance: Indian River Schools
Number of drivers: 72
Number of routes: 68
Student transported daily: 7,000
Miles traveled yearly: 1.6 million
Moore noted that school bus drivers have an “incredible responsibility” to transport students safely to and from school. In addition, transportation plays a role in transporting students to and from a variety of enriching and extracurricular activities offered by Indian River.
“We depend on our transportation professionals to support students in arriving to school on time so that we can maximize the instructional time that we have,” he added.
One major district initiative, Moore said, is sustaining the rate of accelerated achievement outcomes and expanding focus on school innovation to create a portfolio of offerings for the community.
“We continue to build and maintain robust data systems and infrastructure to not only drive unprecedented rates of improvement in student achievement, but also to ensure fiscal and organizational responsibility through our system,” he said.
Indian River also operates a 100-percent, propane-fueled school bus fleet with a current project focusing on adding a new propane fueling station.
Ahead of the 2025 Superintendent of the Year being named on March 6 at the National Conference on Education in New Orleans, Louisiana, School Transportation News sat down with those in charge of transportation operations at the respective districts to gain a better understanding of how the services function. The Superintendent of the Year Award is sponsored by AASA: The School Superintendents Association, along with Corebridge Financial and Sourcewell, to celebrate the contributions and leadership of public-school superintendents.
This year’s four finalists were selected from 49 state superintendent award winners (Hawaii was not included) and were judged based on their exhibited leadership for learning, communication, professionalism and community involvement.
A $10,000 college scholarship will be presented in the name of the 2025 National Superintendent of the Year to a student at a high school the winning superintendent graduated from or from the school district the winner now leads.
Jennifer Idlette, director of transportation, said workplace culture is positive with a strong teamwork foundation. She noted that the team is often acknowledged and appreciated for their efforts.
She noted transportation is able to maintain drives in excess of routes, but face challenges when illnesses, absences and academic and athletic trips are added in.
“We are required to split (double-up) routes frequently,” she said. “We focus on recruiting and hiring year-round, $300 recruitment bonus paid to district employees for referrals who are hired, and we offer an optional 40-hour work week for drivers by assigning them as school support during mid-day break.”
Idlette said Moore informs his departments of district initiatives and provides support when needed to address and resolve concerns in a timely manner.
Dr. Moore’s Education History
Moore said he started his education career as an exceptional student education teacher and school counselor. Five years in, he began serving in a variety of district leadership roles until he became the superintendent at Indian River County five years ago.
He shared that his father served as a principal for 21 years at the same school and had the greatest influence on cultivating his unwavering purpose as an educator.
“Naturally a very quiet man, my father would come to life when speaking about teaching and learning,” Moore added. “Many of the times I felt most connected to dad was when we would discuss his life’s passion for education, a passion that would be replicated in me. I watched my father cultivate growth, ownership and ambitious expectations at the school he led.”
Without realizing it, Moore said he was learning how “leaders adapt, inspire, and invest in people.
“Looking back, I was observing the intangible elements of culture that have shaped my beliefs and actions throughout all my leadership experiences and formed the building blocks for building sustainable, high-quality learning environments that our students deserve,” he added.
Moore said that being a finalist of the AASA Superintendent of the Year is something he is proud of for the recognition it brings his entire school district team.
“For them to be recognized across the state for their unwavering investments in and collective commitment to providing high quality educational experiences for all students, while realizing unprecedented academic outcomes,” he said. “Individually, I see this as an opportunity to be an ambassador and advocate for public education, to uplift all public education leaders in being authors of our own reform, and to demonstrate that public education can deliver the outcomes that all students deserve.”
This year has started off with a flurry of activity. We have new leadership at Blue Bird, IC Bus and Thomas Built Buses. Last month, President Donald Trump was sworn into office. A new political trifecta has been created with the House of Representatives and Senate maintaining a Republican majority. Amid the leadership changes, federal legislators have been targeting improved school bus safety especially in the Danger Zone. Enter the Enhancing Necessary Data (END) Illegal Passing Act and the School Bus Safety Act.
As Illegal passing of school buses continues to occur across the country at alarming rates, the Jackie Walorski END Illegal Passing Act was reintroduced by Reps. Julia Brownley and Rudy Yakym. These two congressional members continued the mission of Walorski, who tragically died in a vehicle collision in August 2022. The bill represents a vital component in the quest to curb this safety epidemic.
The School Bus Safety Act aims to improve the safety of students when traveling to and from school on buses. There have been multiple attempts at the federal level to pass this law, but these efforts have been met with mixed results.
It would primarily address the issue of drivers illegally passing school buses when their red lights are flashing, indicating that children are either boarding or exiting. Key components of the act include increased penalties for passing a stopped school bus, enhanced enforcement and monitoring, awareness campaigns, and stronger laws for school bus safety. The overall goal is to reduce accidents and fatalities involving school children, making it safer for students when they are boarding or exiting school buses. States may adopt different versions of the law, but the core aim remains to keep students safe as they travel to and from school.
There is certainly a need for both laws. According to a study conducted by the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation (NASDPTS), an estimated 45.2 million illegal passing violations occurred during the 2023-2024 school year. NHSTA is also developing a campaign similar to “Click it or Ticket” that targeted increased seat belt usage in 1993. This time, NHTSA wants to increase awareness of illegal passing of school buses. A Super Bowl commercial would be the ultimate awareness platform, if funding would be authorized.
A recent national study by NHTSA of 3,500 respondents found that over 30 percent of people said “They didn’t care” when passing a school bus illegally. That kind of disrespect for the yellow school bus can’t be ignored. A quarter of motorists said they were in a hurry and nearly the same amount said they didn’t know the law. Another 12 percent said they were distracted.
Illegal passing was a hot-button issue last month at the National School Transportation Association (NSTA) Midwinter Meeting. So was the topic of alternative transportation. I sat in a presentation by NASDPTS Executive Director Ronna Weber and President Mike Stier, as they shared a new position paper that calls out the safety of school buses compared to vans and other vehicles. NASDPTS issued 17 recommendations to address the safety of these alternative vehicles as well as their drivers.
I have seen the growth and demand increase exponentially for this type of alternative transportation service, but providers lack clear industry safety standards and guidelines. This has been an ongoing point of concern among industry stakeholders as more school districts utilize this type of home to school transportation service for students with disabilities and students served by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. It will also be a major topic of conversation at the upcoming National Congress on School Transportation (NCST) meeting held in Des Moines, Iowa, May 3-7.
Also, during the NSTA meeting last month, I listened to discussions about the future of the EPA Clean School Bus Program, fuel tax exemption, safety fitness determination, national employer notification of driving violations, federal minimum limits for financial responsibility (insurance), and protection against unfair competition by public transit in provision of home to school bus transportation. New safety technology and device mandates were discussed, too.
The school transportation industry is poised for significant advancements and change this year. Join us next month at STN EXPO East in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area, where you’ll have the opportunity to enhance your leadership, safety and operational expertise. Explore cutting-edge technology, innovative safety equipment and exciting new OEM product launches. We look forward to seeing you there.
Editor’s Note: As reprinted in the February 2025 issue of School Transportation News.
DENVER, Colo. – EverDriven, the leader in Alternative Student Transportation, announced today the addition of Adam Warner as Vice President of Field Operations for the Eastern Region of the U.S. and Head of Safety. As Vice President of Field Operations, Warner will lead operational strategy across the Eastern region, focusing on optimizing efficiencies and strengthening partnerships with school districts to ensure best-in-class operations and exceptional experiences for students and families.
As Head of Safety, Warner will spearhead EverDriven’s safety strategy and execution nationwide, reinforcing the company’s unwavering commitment to safety and advancing industry-leading safety standards.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Adam to the EverDriven team,” said Mitch Bowling, CEO of EverDriven. “Adam’s wealth of industry knowledge and leadership aligns with our mission to transform student transportation and deliver safe, reliable, and efficient rides to school. As we continue to grow our presence on the East Coast, Adam’s support will be key in achieving the highest level of service across the region.”
Warner brings more than two decades of experience in transportation, mobility, and operational leadership. In his new role, Warner will oversee EverDriven’s field operations strategy on the Eastern half of the country, ensuring that technology-driven solutions and operational excellence work together to deliver seamless transportation experiences. He will focus on strengthening relationships with school districts, enhancing EverDriven’s safety-first approach, and refining operational processes to maintain the company’s position as the industry leader.
EverDriven’s dedicated local field teams provide real-time, on-the-ground support to school districts, ensuring responsive service. Under Warner’s leadership, these teams will continue to play a vital role in maintaining strong district partnerships, proactively addressing transportation needs, and delivering a seamless experience for students and families.
Warner began his career at CarMax, where he spent 17 years in senior leadership roles, refining his expertise in operational strategy, team development, and customer-centric service delivery. He then transitioned to Lyft, where he played a key role in expanding the company’s fleet division as Regional Director of Global Operations, overseeing market growth and efficiency across the Midwest region.
Most recently, Warner served as Head of U.S. Operations at inDrive, a global ridesharing platform operating in 600+ cities across 47 countries, where he led the company’s expansion into North America and established a scalable, high-performance operational model.
“I am passionate about EverDriven’s commitment to creating opportunities for children of all backgrounds,” said Warner. “I understand the transformative power of reliable transportation in shaping a child’s future. I am committed to driving operational excellence at EverDriven, ensuring every district, parent, and student can count on us to deliver safe, seamless transportation.”
To learn more about EverDriven and how its solutions support student transportation, visit https://www.everdriven.com/.
About EverDriven:
With nearly 700 school district contracts and over 28,000 students served last year alone, EverDriven is the leader in safe and technology-enabled Alternative Student Transportation. Leveraging proprietary routing technology and customized transportation services, the company has been instrumental in addressing driver shortages, reducing chronic absenteeism, accommodating varying bell times, and serving unique student needs related to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, special needs, ESSA, hard-to-serve trips, and out-of-district placements. For more information, visit everdriven.com.
Tony and Taylor are back, discussing news headlines and why it’s valuable to attend conferences like the upcoming STN EXPO East in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“I didn’t know you could get an award for doing something you liked already,” Superintendent Dr. Walter B. Gonsoulin, Jr. said of a childhood reading award that draws parallels to his current nomination for Super of the Year from AASA, The School Superintendents Association. He and Transportation Director Kevin Snowden discuss the passion, care, technology and collaboration that serves the students at Jefferson County Schools in Alabama.
Dr. Walter B. Gonsoulin, Jr., noted that becoming a finalist for the 2025 National Superintendent of the Year award was the culmination of a lot of hard work put in by a lot of people at Jefferson County Schools in Alabama.
He explained the importance of staff, administrators, teachers, students and parents who played a role in the honor.
“Yes, I am the leader of the school district, but a leader is only as good as the people who support him or her,” he said. “I have a tremendous cabinet and team of administrators who work tirelessly to do what’s best for students. Our teachers ensure that our students are learning and getting the best education possible. Our students work hard and take ownership in their own education. Our parents partner with us to ensure that their students are successful. I did not accomplish this by myself.”
Ahead of the 2025 Superintendent of the Year being named on March 6 at the National Conference on Education in New Orleans, Louisiana, School Transportation News sat down with those in charge of transportation operations at the respective districts to gain a better understanding of how the services function. The Superintendent of the Year Award is sponsored by AASA: The School Superintendents Association along with Corebridge Financial and Sourcewell to celebrate contributions and leadership of public-school superintendents.
This year’s four finalists were selected from 49 state superintendent award winners (Hawaii was not included) and were judged based on their exhibited leadership for learning, communication, professionalism and community involvement.
A $10,000 college scholarship will be presented in the name of the 2025 National Superintendent of the Year to a student at a high school the winning superintendent graduated from or from the school district the winner now leads.
Kevin Snowden, the transportation director for the district, is in his second year running the department after coming out of retirement. Snowden has served in various roles in student transportation, including as the state director at both the Florida and Alabama departments of education and as president of the Southeastern States Pupil Transportation Conference.
He explained that while Jefferson County is fully staffed, sub-drivers are hard to come by when a route driver calls out. They district is in the process of working to increase the sub pool. However, he noted many transportation office staff members and mechanics have their commercial driver’s licenses and help when needed.
To encourage driver attendance, he said drivers with perfect attendance are invited to a special event hosted by transportation. One driver, Peggy Coats, hasn’t missed a day of work in six years.
Initiatives Involving Transportation
One of the biggest initiatives over the past few years that directly involves transportation, Gonsoulin explained, involves the district’s Signature Academy Program. He explained the district has 13 high schools assigned into four zones (North, South, East and West.) Within that geographic region students can apply to any of the Signature Academies, classes that focus on a field of interest. Such as culinary arts, cybersecurity, engineering, and more.
Typically, students take a bus, provided by transportation, for their one academy class. Transportation then brings the student back to their home school following that class, where they will remain for the rest of the day.
“These educational opportunities absolutely would not be possible without our dedicated transportation staff,” he said. “They ensure that each student gets to their academy destination safely and on time.”
Additionally, transportation is working to install Wi-Fi hotspots on all district buses. Jefferson County provides each student with a Chromebook, that they will be able to use to complete school assignments while riding to and from school.
“They’ll be able to review for a test or start their homework before even getting to their house,” he added.
Snowden noted that some routes are 45 minutes to an hour one way. The district was able to utilize federal funds from the E-Rate program to make the purchase happen.
Jefferson County Schools: At a glance
Number of school buses 488
Routes: 552, 97 of which are special needs
Student’s transported: 20,000
Miles traveled yearly: 4,000,640 miles
He explained that Wi-Fi-equipped buses will also allow for additional technology to be implemented on the buses such as turn-by-turn navigation, utilizing a driver time clock — as opposed to time sheets— adding another form of communication on the bus, and student tracking. It’s unknown how the district would proceed if the Supreme Court of the U.S. ends the Universal Services Funds.
While the current fleet of school buses is 100 percent diesel Jefferson County recently purchased 40 gasoline school buses that should arrive in April.
“We have longer routes, and so we don’t know that propane, electric or CNG would be necessarily a good fit for us,” Snowden explained, adding that neighboring districts do use alternative fuels and energy.
Building Relationships
Snowden noted during this tenure in transportation that he’s worked for at least three good superintendents and ranked Gonsoulin among the best. “He’s a cut above many superintendents, good leader, good spokesman, just a good person,” he said.
He provided examples, such as not only listening but asking follow-up questions on department needs.
Dr. Walter B. Gonsoulin, Jr., superintendent at Jefferson County Schools in Alabama, is a finalist for the 2025 National Superintendent of the Year award.
“He makes good decisions and promotes the board in our direction, as far as being able to present our needs to the Board of Education,” Snowden added. “So, when they vote on things, they vote favorably. He’s very supportive in getting the job done when we have a need.”
Snowden noted Gonsoulin makes department heads feel comfortable telling him their needs.
Gonsoulin added that having a working relationship with the transportation department is important because school buses are an integral part of the school system.
“We run over 450 routes every single day,” he noted. “This is a massive operation. I have to have my pulse on what is happening with that department and have good people running it. If it’s not running well, and students aren’t getting to where they need to be and on time, that is going to cause a ripple effect throughout the instructional day.”
He added that school bus drivers are the first school employee that many students see in the morning and the last that they see before going home in the afternoon.
Dr. Walter B. Gonsoulin Jr. was the first person in his immediate family to graduate from high school and attend college. Growing up his mother worked three jobs, and his father drove for a taxi company. He said his parents stressed to him and his sisters the importance of education and the doors it could open. He grew up in New Iberia, Louisiana and has had many different positions in education, including teacher, coach, principal, assistant superintendent and now superintendent of Jefferson County Schools in Alabama.
“I think I’ve always had a love for education,” he shared. “When I was in elementary school, I got an award for reading. And I remember thinking, ‘I can get an award for this?’ I didn’t read to get the award. It wasn’t anything intentional. I read because I enjoyed reading and enjoyed learning new things.
“I think over the years, that love for learning evolved into wanting to help others learn,” he continued. “The desire to help others, and the nudging from a relative who was already working in education, is ultimately what led me to make it my career. I have been in this field for 35 years now, and I still love waking up in the morning. Coming to work every day is still such a joy!”
“They are an essential part of the learning process,” he said. “They can set the whole tone of the day for a student. They’re not just drivers, they’re teachers, mentors, and people our students admire.”
Gonsoulin said transportation should be an important part of the job for any superintendent.
“Our drivers are the people we trust to get our children safely to school and back,” he continued. “Our mechanics are the ones we trust to make sure the buses are safe and in good working order. Our transportation administrative staff ensures that all those routes run smoothly and that our personnel are properly trained.”
He advised other districts to find a process that works and stick with it, noting that Snowden reports directly to one of his deputy superintendents. “This chain of command facilitates the movement of information extremely quickly,” he said. “If there are any issues that arise, I’m one of the first people notified.”
He added that school administrators all have a point of contact at the district transportation office, which ensures everyone is on the same page if a route is running late or there’s mechanical issues.
Snowden said it takes a team effort. If the team is not going in the same direction, he said they won’t arrive at the location.
“Every part of education, whether it be your child nutrition program, your nursing program, your maintenance program, your transportation program, if everybody doesn’t have a common goal for the safety of the students, for the welfare of the students, we’re never going to get there,” Snowden concluded. “We all have to be focused in the right direction. And Dr G is great at pointing us in that direction.”
School Transportation News has opened registration for its third-annual Innovator of the Year award, which features a private school bus contractor employee who exemplifies the adoption of cutting-edge technology and programs.
Qualifications include making “significant, tangible contributions” to the school transportation industry within the past 12 months. Innovations could include technology implementation, operations, safety initiatives and green energy adoption.
Read about & hear podcasts with previous years’ winners:
“I believe that change begins with the ability to recognize an innovator when you meet one. It is vitally important to share the achievements of our leaders to help elevate our industry. School Transportation News is honored to share this story of innovation with the entire school transportation industry,” said Tony Corpin, publisher of STN magazine and president of STN Media Group.
This year’s winner will be announced at the NSTA Annual Meeting and Convention held July 21-24 in Nashville, Tennessee, and featured in the July edition of STN magazine.
School districts and transportation departments seek clarity on tariff impacts, federal funding sources, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency raids on or around school buses.
“You need the money there to attract people in – but when they come in and you have good people, you need that culture there to keep them.” Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat, superintendent of Peoria Public Schools District 150 in Illinois, is a finalist for the AASA Superintendent of the Year award. Transportation Director Joshua Collins pulls back the curtain on how the district smoothly collaborates to retain school bus drivers and support student success goals.
Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat recognizes that every student’s schedule is different and should offer flexible options to ensure no student gets left behind. It often falls on transportation to provide access to those resources.
This adds up to 19 different bell schedules at Peoria Public Schools in Illinois that transportation must accommodate. Joshua Collins, director of transportation and fleet services for the district, likened a bell schedule to an individual student schedule, 19 throughout the day from morning to afternoon to evening. In addition to home-to-school, Collins said Peoria transports students to vocational schools, CTE programs, pre-k programs and half-day, pre-k, as well as various other programs for students with special needs, which could be full-day or half-day programs.
Peoria Public Schools: At a glance
School bus drivers: 106
Routes: 82
Student’s transported: 6,500
Route miles traveled yearly: 1.5 million
“We are busy, and then you throw field trips on top of that, and athletics on top of that,” Collins said. “The need is there. [The students are] important. It’s worth the sacrifice. It’s worth the effort to try to figure it out. Because especially the students we have, they need these programs. And at the end of the day, I keep that in mind, that this is not for my comfort, it’s for our kids.”
Kherat, who’s going on her 10th year as superintendent at Peoria, said she recognizes the work transportation does for the success of the students and how it aligns with Peoria’s five-year strategic plan, which concludes in 2026. However, she noted that the plan “is a reimagined education that ignites passion and empowers students to be responsible and successful.”
Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat, superintendent at Peoria Public Schools in Illinois, is a 2025 finalist for the AASA National Superintendent of the Year award.
“We wanted to really be bold and move away from the one-size-fits-all sort of programming,” she explained, adding that transportation plays a huge role. “Josh and I talk very regularly. What I like about him, no matter how challenging, it might be a difficult ask but he will do everything in his power to really make it happen and squeeze it in. And that’s part of our success, really. We will not continue to thrive on this traditional schedule.”
She noted the district also has options for students who have jobs or attend trauma-based programs, in total offering about 15 different alternative options.
“Thinking outside the box and providing lots of opportunities and options for students,” she said of district goals. “We have an international baccalaureate program for students from all over the city. We have a middle school gifted program that is one of the top schools in the state of Illinois. They pull kids from all over the city.”
Collins noted he has drivers start as early as 5 a.m. to transport students protected under the McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance Act, and some drivers who are working till 11 p.m. on field and athletic trips. All of this is accomplished fully staffed.
Collins said to combat a personnel shortage, Peoria invested in the school bus drivers and monitors, making their salaries competitive for the next three to four years. Over the past couple years, Peoria increased its driver pay by almost $10, with starting wages at around $26 an hour next year.
Ahead of the 2025 Superintendent of the Year being named on March 6 at the National Conference on Education in New Orleans, Louisiana, School Transportation News sat down with those in charge of transportation operations at the respective districts to gain a better understanding of how the services function. The Superintendent of the Year Award is sponsored by AASA: The School Superintendents Association along with Corebridge Financial and Sourcewell to celebrate contributions and leadership of public-school superintendents.
This year’s four finalists were selected from 49 state superintendent award winners (Hawaii was not included — STN reached out to AASA to confirm why) and were judged based on their exhibited leadership for learning, communication, professionalism and community involvement.
A $10,000 college scholarship will be presented in the name of the 2025 National Superintendent of the Year to a student at a high school the winning superintendent graduated from or from the school district the winner now leads.
Transportation also partnered with a local advertising agency. “It was just so difficult to try to do everything that you do and manage all of these different advertising opportunities,” he said.
Collins’ staff and the agency collaborated on a QR code that takes potential applicants to an online landing page for a pre-screening questionnaire.
The true challenge for Peoria has been a shortage of vehicles. Kherat said she is in the process of asking the school board for money to purchase new school buses, as prior to 2020 the most recent orders were in 2009 and then again in 2015 due to budget constraints. The district is now trying to get caught up on its replacement cycle, and over the past five years have replaced nearly 80 buses. This year, the school board received a request for $3 million to purchase 34 buses, but the final amount approved was about half that. In addition to the increased district programming discussed above, Kherat said the district needed the buses due to the increase in students, schools and routes.
“It’s a good place to be,” she said of district growth. “We just need folks who are willing to have that elastic mindset as well as the mindset around doing the work differently. … In order to continue to thrive and ensure that our kids are well positioned for success in society and in the workforce, we have to think outside the box for them.”
Creating Culture from the Top Down
Kherat said the culture at Peoria is focused on being collaborative and collective. She noted success hinges on listening to the needs of departments, getting feedback, and making adjustments.
One way to foster culture, she said, is through recognition to boost district morale. She noted that Collins mirrors and replicates in transportation what’s happening on national and district-wide levels. For example, Collins said he celebrates Black History Month this month and Women’s History Month in March.
“It’s one thing to recruit, but you have to retain, if you’re not keeping the people that you’re recruiting, then you just end up recruiting all the time,” he explained. “Then you can’t [fully] train them, so you’re always just doing level one training, because that’s all you can do because you’re constantly turning over new people.”
He explained that celebrating cultures is one way to focus on the employees and show appreciation. “I like to celebrate our diversity,” he added. “We have a lot of different people here, a lot of different folks that represent a lot of different mindsets and a lot of different ways that they approach transportation. So, we try to celebrate that, we try to celebrate who our folks are and what they represent.”
Kherat added that retention isn’t all about the money, but instead who people work for.
“People don’t quit their jobs,” she said. “I think they quit their people.”
Breaking Down Initiatives
Because retention is important, not just in transportation but district-wide, Kherat said she focuses on employee interviews to learn what’s working and what isn’t. She said getting this information helps her administration know what will keep teachers on staff. She noted that when she joined the district in 2015, teacher retention was at 78 percent, last year it increased to 88 percent. Kherat said she would like to see that number in the 90s.
She noted another way to keep staff is by allowing people to serve the district in non-teacher positions, without certifications, with the goal of eventually getting their license, paid for by the district. The only requirement is to sign a promissory note that they will remain at the district for three years. The same model can work with school bus drivers.
Another initiative Kherat mentioned was the district’s incorporation of electric school buses, with the goal of having a 20 percent EV fleet with its first purchase. Infrastructure updates at the transportation facility have already begun. The district received a grant from the EPA Clean School Bus Program of about $5.9 million for 15 electric school buses. Despite the Trump administration’s attempt to freeze program funding, sources indicated it will continue unfettered. But when remains a question, as many grantees from across the country have yet to see the funds flow. Meanwhile, the district is contributing $4.5 million for infrastructure and another four electric school buses with wheelchair capability.
“From a point of view of environmental impact, they are going to be better locally than some of the diesel vehicles, especially some of the older ones that we’ve been running,” Kherat said.
Additionally, she noted the district is installing solar panels on the roofs of high schools to offset utility costs and serve as a backup power generation.
She noted that in January the district rolled out a new bus app that allows parents to communicate with transportation and view routes and bus information more effectively. Additionally, transportation is migrating its routing software.
Building a Relationship
Collins noted that Dr. Kherat is relentless, which is exactly what the district needs.
“If you do a little bit of research about Peoria, Illinois, what you will find is we have a Zip code that is one of the most impoverished in the state,” he said, adding maybe even across the nation. “Poverty leads to a lot of social and economic issues, and we need somebody who is relentless, who will push, push, push, push because that’s what these children need. If we want to break this cycle of poverty … if we want to stop what’s going on in our community, we have to educate our children.”
He noted that even after accomplishing one task, she doesn’t stop there.
“It keeps you moving and keeps it going,” he explained. “I hate to say it this way, but nothing’s ever good enough, and it shouldn’t ever be good enough for the kids. And I appreciate that, and I that is a tremendous asset I think that the district has.”
Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat has lived in Peoria, Illinois, for over 40 years. She first arrived as a teenager from St Croix, Virgin Islands to attend Bradley University and ended up staying. She said she built her entire career out of the city, serving in various educational roles.
“I just love people,” she said. “I have a lot of educators in my family. I did not originally set off to get into education. I had a different major but somehow ended up in West Lake Hall, which is the building at Bradley University that provides a lot of support and guidance to education majors, and did my student teaching and student observation all in Peoria Public Schools.
“We talk about this work and life, it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and that’s what we’re experiencing every day,” she continued. “This work is all about making a difference and fighting for the children and understanding that everyone can thrive with the right supports and resources.”
She said when she was named the state superintendent of the year and a finalist for the national honor, she didn’t believe it was real.
“It’s humbling,” she said, adding that she’s not taking the recognition for granted. “I’m just the face. It’s the work of PPS, everybody in Peoria Public Schools, from the board down to the community as well.”
In terms of transportation, he said it’s critical to have a good relationship with the district administration .
“The administration has to trust you, you need to really have that relationship where you can go to administration and say, this is what you need, or this is a situation, or and trust that you know you’re not trying to hide something or you’re not trying to cover something up,” she said. “Trust to know that you’re going to handle situations.”
Collins said transportation provides more than trips. “Transportation deals with logistics,” he explained. “There are logistical problems throughout the district that a good transportation department can be a part of to help navigate and or solve. But you have to have that trust there.”
His advice to other transportation directors is to get involved at the district level. “If you’re not in the cabinet, get yourself in cabinet. If there’s a meeting coming up about curriculum, just be the fly on the wall. Learn everything that you can through all those meetings,” he noted.
Sooner or later, he said the director can start raising their hand and offering solutions, and how transportation can help.
“And then then you are viewed as more of a resource than just getting the kids to school, he added.
Kherat agreed, noting that without transportation, many children wouldn’t have access to education.
“It’s integral to a smooth operation of a school district,” she said. “We need to have a well-functioning transportation department that helps provide equal opportunity to all of our children, no matter where they live.”
She added that her departments are all on the same page.
“We have an indomitable spirit about us that we may be knocked down, but we get up and we keep plugging away,” said Kherat, who considers herself a servant-leader. “And that’s pretty much everybody on the team, just ensuring that every kid has a fighting chance for a good life, whether it’s through traditional or through unorthodox [education].”
Dr. Debbie Jones knows the importance of prioritizing her staff and surrounding community, whether through a parent school choice program or dedicated housing for district personnel.
Ahead of the 2025 Superintendent of the Year being named on March 6 at the National Conference on Education in New Orleans, Louisiana, School Transportation News sat down with those in charge of transportation operations at the respective districts to gain a better understanding of how the services function. The Superintendent of the Year Award is sponsored by AASA: The School Superintendents Association along with Corebridge Financial and Sourcewell to celebrate contributions and leadership of public-school superintendents.
This year’s four finalists were selected from 49 state superintendent award winners (Hawaii was not included — STN reached out to AASA to confirm why, but Hawaii superintedenets oversee complexes, which is different than the other states) and were judged based on their exhibited leadership for learning, communication, professionalism and community involvement.
A $10,000 college scholarship will be presented in the name of the 2025 National Superintendent of the Year to a student at a high school the winning superintendent graduated from or from the school district the winner now leads.
One highlight of Bentonville Public Schools in Arkansas, where Jones serves as superintendent, is that it is fully staffed in transportation. Don Hoover, executive director of student services, lauded Transportation Director Jason Salmons and his team for their advertising and recruiting efforts.
We’re recruiting friends and colleagues and people they may go to church with, or friends from the neighborhood,” Hoover said. “We’re lucky this community responds. We’re fully staffed right now. We even have some wonderful teachers who help us out, teachers who work their full-time teaching job then help us out in the morning or the afternoon, if their schedule allows.”
Jones added another way the district has combatted the school bus driver shortage is by encouraging coaches to obtain their CDLs, so they can drive to their sporting events.
“When I came here, I was accustomed to coaches driving their bus,” Jones recalled of her previous experience. “[Bentonville] didn’t do it at the time. In fact, we wouldn’t allow it, and we needed more bus drivers.”
Jones said she started to encourage coaches, especially because home-to-school transportation is the priority. “And if that means you can’t get to your football game or baseball game because you don’t have a driver, it’s on you,” she noted. “They understand that now everyone needs a CDL [driver] on their team.”
Breaking Down Initiatives
Jones said one of the district’s biggest initiatives for transportation is related to Arkansas being a parent-choice state. Parents can enroll their children in private school, homeschool, public school, and charter schools as well as open enrollment for public school. This, she said, encourages Bentonville to be more competitive.
“We’re offering parents all kinds of different opportunities within our own school district,” she said, adding that this year Bentonville created a parent choice model for its schools downtown. “We’re a growing district of about 20,000 students and we grow a lot every year. Most of our families can afford to live out on the border of our zones.”
She explained that downtown Bentonville is very expensive. Plus, last month Walmart Home Office opened in the city, which is bringing in more people. Because people can’t afford to live downtown, she noted that four or five elementary schools don’t fill to capacity, whereas the schools closer to the district boundaries are at capacity. To draw more people to downtown schools, the district created the policy that it will provide transportation.
That also presents challenges.
“It’s hard to get enough bus drivers,” she said. “Increasing routes makes it even more difficult.”
To address this, she noted that over the past three years, Bentonville has reduced door-to-door school bus service that the community was accustomed to. Instead, the district transitioned to consolidated bus stops. Jones said transportation is handling the new parent choice model “beautifully.”
Bentonville at a glance:
District enrollment: 19,600 students
Students transported: 12,967
Daily routes: 132
Number of drivers: 152
Coaches that have their CDL: 19
Number of school buses: 168
Total miles driven yearly (route, field trips, sporting events): 1,899,866
Another initiative is creating staff housing, due to the expensive city of Bentonville. She noted the district wants to continue to hire top-quality staff, and she wants them to be able to live in Bentonville and not elsewhere which leads to longer work commutes. As a result, she noted the district partnered with a nonprofit to design 40 teacher cottages with rent far below market that staff can live in for up to five years based on income. The monthly rent payments are then saved for the employees so that when they move out, they receive the lump sum back. This can be used as a downpayment on a home.
The staff housing will also feature a 3,000-square-foot childcare center. Jones added that she expects some transportation staff will live there.
One last initiative Jones discussed was the district’s career program. Professional career programs are popular across Arkansas, and since 2016 Bentonville has offered a nonprofessional studies program that students are transported to via the school bus.
“Our bus drivers are driving to all of these opportunities for high school kids, from their high schools to the professional studies building from the high schools the junior college — We have welding programs — so [transportation is] taking care of all of these one-off programs,” Jones explained. “We have behavior classrooms too. Some of those can be tough [trips] for drivers and for aides.”
She added that Hope Academy is a trauma-based school located outside of the district, so Bentonville doesn’t receive funds for students going there. “We provide transportation free of charge,” she said, adding that they’re losing money for this service. “But it is a service to the district because the kids are getting the help they need and they’re not being disruptive.”
Culture
Meanwhile, Hoover in student services noted that Salmons in transportation does a great job visiting and speaking with his employees. “The most important thing is a very safe and really a nurturing ride to school and from school,” he added. “The bus driver may be the first adult kids see, the first adult interaction they have in a day outside of mom and dad. And sometimes Mom and Dad are going to work [in the morning]. We obviously want our drivers to have a big smile on their face and set the tone for a good day for all the kids as they’re going to school. So, when they get to school, they’re ready to learn.”
That same welcoming culture continues once students get to school. “They have welcoming principals and teachers at the classroom doors,” Hoover continued. “It’s the next wave of people who are greeting a student every morning to make them feel special and want to be part of Bentonville schools.”
Bentonville is continuing to run a majority of diesel and some gasoline school buses. Hoover noted that Salmons is looking into propane to determine if it’s a viable option. Bentonville doesn’t contract out any aspect of its transportation service.
In terms of technology, transportation uses several different platforms, one of which is student accountability through a badge scan system. “When the students come on, they badge on, they badge off,” Hoover explained. “It’s just a really good safety measure to have with your students. Our principals back at the campus can see that on the software program and their computers and know where their kids are at all times. And the individual parent through an app can know where their bus is on the route and when to expect their student home.”
Dr. Debbie Jones, superintendent for Bentonville Public Schools in Arkansas. Jones is a 2025 Superintendent of the Year finalist by AASA.
Building Relationships with Administration, Transportation
Dr. Debbie Jones, the superintendent of Bentonville Public Schools in Arkansas and one of the four finalists for Superintendent of the Year Award, said her family has a long history in education. She shared that her dad was a teacher, coach and farmer and was on the school board at one point. She recalled being the little girl hanging out with the high school cheerleaders. She said she views being a superintendent as continuing the tradition.
Additionally, she shared her husband Dale Jones is a coach and teacher. “It’s just part of the fabric of who we are as a family. And I love it still today, because getting to be around students of different ages,” she said, adding that she taught high school but also enjoys sitting in the elementary classrooms. “It’s refreshing. It’s inspiring. When I talk with high school kids at the secondary level who are really getting started in their careers, it’s so good to see that excitement in their eyes, the curiosity and it keeps you young in this job.
“I can easily get bored in a job, and this is one of the first jobs that I’m never bored,” she continued, adding that the day to day is different every hour.
Jones – a mother of five children, the youngest of which is finishing college, and a grandmother to two – said she’s traveled and worked in Tennessee and Kentucky but moved back to Arkansas 30 years ago. She is going on her ninth year as superintendent for Bentonville. When asked what being a Superintendent of the Year finalist award means to her, Jones shared there’s a new sense of responsibility.
“I was so surprised,” she said. “We have really such high-quality superintendents that were nominated, and I’m honored. And there’s a sense of responsibility to speak up for what we need in education, to fight for those things.”
She said that meeting the other three finalists in Washington, D.C., was reinvigorating and showed her that Bentonville is on the right track. “We’re doing some progressive things that are very good. Keep going, push harder,” she said. “Whether you’re the finalist or not is immaterial to me at this point. It is really about enjoying the process, learning from the process and it’s bringing the best that you can bring to the district and to the state.”
Jones noted that transportation staff tend to be more transient in their employment, as many school bus drivers are older and retiring. As a result, the department is constantly hiring and training people.
“We have to be very aggressive in marketing and paying,” she said. “We also have to have good relationships.”
She explained that currently transportation has a really great culture and leadership team. “It’s really important for each one of our schools, our principals, assistant principals, our teachers, to appreciate bus drivers, which they do. They show them lots of love,” she said.
Jones provided an example. During each school board meeting, the district recognizes an employee who goes the extra mile, nominated by anyone in the community. For January, the Extra Mile recipient was school bus driver Sonia, who was nominated by a teacher. Sonia was nominated because she decorates her bus for each holiday. Jones noted that when the teacher’s first grade class got on the bus to go on a Christmas field trip, Sonia played Christmas music that instantly put the children in the holiday spirit.
“We do try to show our drivers love,” Jones added. “They’re super high-quality employees. We’re really proud of them, and they take great care of our students, and we can’t function without them. The world stops when you have to start canceling bus routes, and we try to do everything we can to make that not happen.”
Hoover noted that Jones has an open-door policy and listens to the needs of all departments. He added that if Salmons has a particularly urgent problem, he can report it directly to Jones.
Hoover added that he has bi-monthly meetings with each department he oversees, including transportation, to discuss any operational needs.
“Dr. Jones is always very quick to respond and help us form the solution that is needed,” Hoover said. In speaking on the driver shortage again, he noted that Jones was very supportive with their advertising efforts to hire more drivers, as well as the needs of physical resources like new buses.
“We have support financially, have support to hire at all times, and it’s crucial we have that opportunity for open communications,” Hoover said. “She’s a superintendent that definitely wants to listen to what the departments need when they have those needs.”
Across a career’s worth of pioneering product designs, Doug Field’s work has shaped the experience of anyone who’s ever used a MacBook Air, ridden a Segway, or driven a Tesla Model 3.
But his newest project is his most ambitious yet: reinventing the Ford automobile, one of the past century’s most iconic pieces of technology.
As Ford’s chief electric vehicle (EV), digital, and design officer, Field is tasked with leading the development of the company’s electric vehicles, while making new software platforms central to all Ford models.
To bring Ford Motor Co. into that digital and electric future, Field effectively has to lead a fast-moving startup inside the legacy carmaker. “It is incredibly hard, figuring out how to do ‘startups’ within large organizations,” he concedes.
If anyone can pull it off, it’s likely to be Field. Ever since his time in MIT’s Leaders for Global Operations (then known as “Leaders in Manufacturing”) program studying organizational behavior and strategy, Field has been fixated on creating the conditions that foster innovation.
“The natural state of an organization is to make it harder and harder to do those things: to innovate, to have small teams, to go against the grain,” he says. To overcome those forces, Field has become a master practitioner of the art of curating diverse, talented teams and helping them flourish inside of big, complex companies.
“It’s one thing to make a creative environment where you can come up with big ideas,” he says. “It’s another to create an execution-focused environment to crank things out. I became intrigued with, and have been for the rest of my career, this question of how can you have both work together?”
Three decades after his first stint as a development engineer at Ford Motor Co., Field now has a chance to marry the manufacturing muscle of Ford with the bold approach that helped him rethink Apple’s laptops and craft Tesla’s Model 3 sedan. His task is nothing less than rethinking how cars are made and operated, from the bottom up.
“If it’s only creative or execution, you’re not going to change the world,” he says. “If you want to have a huge impact, you need people to change the course you’re on, and you need people to build it.”
A passion for design
From a young age, Field had a fascination with automobiles. “I was definitely into cars and transportation more generally,” he says. “I thought of cars as the place where technology and art and human design came together — cars were where all my interests intersected.”
With a mother who was an artist and musician and an engineer father, Field credits his parents’ influence for his lifelong interest in both the aesthetic and technical elements of product design. “I think that’s why I’m drawn to autos — there’s very much an aesthetic aspect to the product,” he says.
After earning a degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, Field took a job at Ford in 1987. The big Detroit automakers of that era excelled at mass-producing cars, but weren’t necessarily set up to encourage or reward innovative thinking. Field chafed at the “overstructured and bureaucratic” operational culture he encountered.
The experience was frustrating at times, but also valuable and clarifying. He realized that he “wanted to work with fast-moving, technology-based businesses.”
“My interest in advancing technical problem-solving didn’t have a place in the auto industry” at the time, he says. “I knew I wanted to work with passionate people and create something that didn’t exist, in an environment where talent and innovation were prized, where irreverence was an asset and not a liability. When I read about Silicon Valley, I loved the way they talked about things.”
During that time, Field took two years off to enroll in MIT’s LGO program, where he deepened his technical skills and encountered ideas about manufacturing processes and team-driven innovation that would serve him well in the years ahead.
“Some of core skill sets that I developed there were really, really important,” he says, “in the context of production lines and production processes.” He studied systems engineering and the use of Monte Carlo simulations to model complex manufacturing environments. During his internship with aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, he worked on automated design in computer-aided design (CAD) systems, long before those techniques became standard practice.
Another powerful tool he picked up was the science of probability and statistics, under the tutelage of MIT Professor Alvin Drake in his legendary course 6.041/6.431 (Probabilistic Systems Analysis). Field would go on to apply those insights not only to production processes, but also to characterizing variability in people’s aptitudes, working styles, and talents, in the service of building better, more innovative teams. And studying organizational strategy catalyzed his career-long interest in “ways to look at innovation as an outcome, rather than a random spark of genius.”
“So many things I was lucky to be exposed to at MIT,” Field says, were “all building blocks, pieces of the puzzle, that helped me navigate through difficult situations later on.”
Learning while leading
After leaving Ford in 1993, Field worked at Johnson and Johnson Medical for three years in process development. There, he met Segway inventor Dean Kamen, who was working on a project called the iBOT, a gyroscopic powered wheelchair that could climb stairs.
When Kamen spun off Segway to develop a new personal mobility device using the same technology, Field became his first hire. He spent nearly a decade as the firm’s chief technology officer.
At Segway, Field’s interests in vehicles, technology, innovation, process, and human-centered design all came together.
“When I think about working now on electric cars, it was a real gift,” he says. The problems they tackled prefigured the ones he would grapple with later at Tesla and Ford. “Segway was very much a precursor to a modern EV. Completely software controlled, with higher-voltage batteries, redundant systems, traction control, brushless DC motors — it was basically a miniature Tesla in the year 2000.”
At Segway, Field assembled an “amazing” team of engineers and designers who were as passionate as he was about pushing the envelope. “Segway was the first place I was able to hand-pick every single person I worked with, define the culture, and define the mission.”
As he grew into this leadership role, he became equally engrossed with cracking another puzzle: “How do you prize people who don’t fit in?”
“Such a fundamental part of the fabric of Silicon Valley is the love of embracing talent over a traditional organization’s ways of measuring people,” he says. “If you want to innovate, you need to learn how to manage neurodivergence and a very different set of personalities than the people you find in large corporations.”
Field still keeps the base housing of a Segway in his office, as a reminder of what those kinds of teams — along with obsessive attention to detail — can achieve.
Before joining Apple in 2008, he showed that component, with its clean lines and every minuscule part in its place in one unified package, to his prospective new colleagues. “They were like, “OK, you’re one of us,’” he recalls.
He soon became vice president of hardware development for all Mac computers, leading the teams behind the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro and eventually overseeing more than 2,000 employees. “Making things really simple and really elegant, thinking about the product as an integrated whole, that really took me into Apple.”
The challenge of giving the MacBook Air its signature sleek and light profile is an example.
“The MacBook Air was the first high-volume consumer electronic product built out of a CNC-machined enclosure,” says Field. He worked with industrial design and technology teams to devise a way to make the laptop from one solid piece of aluminum and jettison two-thirds of the parts found in the iMac. “We had material cut away so that every single screw and piece of electronics sat down into it an integrated way. That’s how we got the product so small and slim.”
“When I interviewed with Jony Ive” — Apple’s legendary chief design officer — “he said your ability to zoom out and zoom in was the number one most important ability as a leader at Apple.” That meant zooming out to think about “the entire ethos of this product, and the way it will affect the world” and zooming all the way back in to obsess over, say, the physical shape of the laptop itself and what it feels like in a user’s hands.
“That thread of attention to detail, passion for product, design plus technology rolled directly into what I was doing at Tesla,” he says. When Field joined Tesla in 2013, he was drawn to the way the brash startup upended the approach to making cars. “Tesla was integrating digital technology into cars in a way nobody else was. They said, ‘We’re not a car company in Silicon Valley, we’re a Silicon Valley company and we happen to make cars.’”
Field assembled and led the team that produced the Model 3 sedan, Tesla’s most affordable vehicle, designed to have mass-market appeal.
That experience only reinforced the importance, and power, of zooming in and out as a designer — in a way that encompasses the bigger human resources picture.
“You have to have a broad sense of what you’re trying to accomplish and help people in the organization understand what it means to them,” he says. “You have to go across and understand operations enough to glue all of those (things) together — while still being great at and focused on something very, very deeply. That’s T-shaped leadership.”
He credits his time at LGO with providing the foundation for the “T-shaped leadership” he practices.
“An education like the one I got at MIT allowed me to keep moving that ‘T’, to focus really deep, learn a ton, teach as much as I can, and after something gets more mature, pull out and bed down into other areas where the organization needs to grow or where there’s a crisis.”
The power of marrying scale to a “startup mentality”
In 2018, Field returned to Apple as a vice president for special projects. “I left Tesla after Model 3 and Y started to ramp, as there were people better than me to run high-volume manufacturing,” he says. “I went back to Apple hoping what Tesla had learned would motivate Apple to get into a different market.”
That market was his early love: cars. Field quietly led a project to develop an electric vehicle at Apple for three years.
Then Ford CEO Jim Farley came calling. He persuaded Field to return to Ford in late 2021, partly by demonstrating how much things had changed since his first stint as the carmaker.
“Two things came through loud and clear,” Field says. “One was humility. ‘Our success is not assured.’” That attitude was strikingly different from Field’s early experience in Detroit, encountering managers who were resistant to change. “The other thing was urgency. Jim and Bill Ford said the exact same thing to me: ‘We have four or five years to completely remake this company.’”
“I said, ‘OK, if the top of company really believes that, then the auto industry may be ready for what I hope to offer.’”
So far, Field is energized and encouraged by the appetite for reinvention he’s encountered this time around at Ford.
“If you can combine what Ford does really well with what a Tesla or Rivian can do well, this is something to be reckoned with,” says Field. “Skunk works have become one of the fundamental tools of my career,” he says, using an industry term that describes a project pursued by a small, autonomous group of people within a larger organization.
Ford has been developing a new, lower-cost, software-enabled EV platform — running all of the car’s sensors and components from a central digital operating system — with a “skunk works” team for the past two years. The company plans to build new sedans, SUVs, and small pickups based on this new platform.
With other legacy carmakers like Volvo racing into the electric future and fierce competition from EV leaders Tesla and Rivian, Field and his colleagues have their work cut out for them.
If he succeeds, leveraging his decades of learning and leading from LGO to Silicon Valley, then his latest chapter could transform the way we all drive — and secure a spot for Ford at the front of the electric vehicle pack in the process.
“I’ve been lucky to feel over and over that what I’m doing right now — they are going to write a book about it,” say Field. “This is a big deal, for Ford and the U.S. auto industry, and for American industry, actually.”
“So many things I was lucky to be exposed to at MIT,” Doug Field says, were “all building blocks, pieces of the puzzle, that helped me navigate through difficult situations later on.”
Login
