When Kara Sands took a job as a school bus driver at the age of 21, she wasn’t sure how she would like working with children. Today, she’s on a mission to further safety and prevent school bus accidents.

Sands, transportation lead trainer and driver at Hanover Community Schools Corporation in Indiana, was selected to receive the inaugural “Dick Fischer School Bus Safety Scholarship,” a continuing education scholarship named for industry veteran Richard “Dick” Fischer, who successfully petitioned President Richard Nixon in 1972 to create the first federal recognition of National School Bus Safety Week. The scholarship provides one safety-oriented student transportation professional the opportunity to attend the STN EXPO West conference in Reno, Nevada.

Sands said her introduction to the world of student transportation began with a surprise pregnancy discovered on her 21st birthday while she was in college. She explained that the bus company she applied to in Illinois offered child-care and paid well, which led to her first job driving a school bus. She discovered that she loved working with the students.

“Kids became everything to me,” said Sands. “Just seeing the smiles on their face and knowing that I could teach them something that they might keep with them for the rest of their lives. That’s my favorite part about driving.”

Sands continued that as her career progressed as a driver, she always wanted to further higher education. In between supporting her husband through various health conditions, she tries to further her career and education.

Despite any setbacks she encounters in life, Sands said her mantra remains the same. “Whatever I try to do, I always try to make sure I do it 100 percent. I try to make the best out of whatever I have,” she shared.

When speaking about her passion for school bus safety, Sands said that she has seen a lot of “close calls.” She shared that a pivotal moment for her was when her daughter’s best friend died in a car crash three years ago. She explained that her drive to train for increased safety “was kind of like a tribute to her, in a way. I looked at the whole accident scene and tried to see what the problems were, what happened, how could this have been prevented. It made me train totally different,” she recalled.

“I ended up putting a face with every story, every lesson,” she said.

Sands continuously works to get the message to as many people as possible to prepare for the worst-case scenario. She continued that awareness has always been a hurdle as she tries to convey to school bus drivers how important their job is and that it’s never “just a job.”

In between her time at her first school bus driver job and starting at Hanover in 2017, Sands said she has driven students pretty much everywhere from Chicago to Indiana in a myriad of environments. She shared that there are unique challenges that come from driving in a cityscape to being on roads made of gravel and sand that could sink under you.

Sands said a resource she has relied on for about six years is Fischer’s email newsletter sent daily throughout the school year to provide news and commentary on safety issues affecting student transportation. She added she appreciated Fischer’s meticulous record keeping and started attending local conferences where she was taught his training. She explained that she hadn’t been interested in some of the more recent conference options, so she emailed Fischer to inquire about potential opportunities. He pointed her to the STN EXPO website, where she discovered the scholarship opportunity and said the education offered was “right up her alley.”

She continued that she has filled every available window of time for her time STN EXPO West, saying she wants to learn “anything and everything” she can. She said she’s looking to share resources and ideas as well as discuss challenging training situations, such as getting through to someone who might have a personality that is hesitant to accept instruction.

“I try to keep an open mind. I try to take it all in, you know, whether someone has got more experience at something than me or not. There’s always something I learn new every day. But sometimes people just don’t see that way…For me that is something I would like to discuss with [other] trainers,” she explained.

In her application for the scholarship, Sands stated that she was specifically looking forward to the “School Bus Accident Investigation: Be Prepared for a Lawsuit” presentation on Friday, July 11 taught by Fischer and Pete Baxter, a former president of both the National Association for Pupil Transportation and National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services as well as an NAPT Hall of Fame inductee. While she said she’s been very fortunate that she has not personally had to handle a school bus crash, she understands that there is a lot to learn in that realm of preparedness. She also noted that she’s interested in seeing different technology and hardware options, such as new stop-arms and equipment for buses used on special needs routes, which will be on display at the Trade Show in Reno.

Sands shared that she would like to see herself step into a safety consultant role like Fischer’s one day. She recalled attending one of Fischer’s classes early on in her career. She laughed remembering that she was 30 seconds late for the class and that Fischer “really let me have it.” But after the class, she called him, and he spent 45 minutes on the phone with her answering her questions.

“Nobody does that. I don’t know anybody that does that.” she said. “I’ll never forget that.”

Registration remains open on-site for the STN EXPO West conference in Reno, Nevada at the Peppermill Resort. Find the conference agenda, speaker information, trade show vendor lists at stnexpo.com/west.

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Michael Miller, the transportation director for Sycamore Community City School District in Ohio, was named the 2025 Outstanding Transportation Director of the Year.

Ohio Association of School Business Officials Foundation for School Business Management released a statement that Miller had won award. It was created by the OASBO Foundation to recognize the accomplishments of Ohio’s school business officials in their exceptional service to their districts, community, and the profession.

Miller, who is also the current president of Ohio Association for Pupil Transportation (OAPT), was nominated by Brad Lovell, assistant superintendent of operations in Sycamore Community City School District. The awards also provide a $1,000 scholarship for a high school senior from the recipient’s district.

With 36 yeas of expertise and deep understanding of Ohio’s school transportation policies, Miller transformed Sycamore’s transportation operations into a model of efficiency and safety.

According to the statement, Miller oversees daily operations for over 4,000 students and manages a dedicated team of 70 staff members with precision and care. His strategic consolidation of over 600 bus stops reduced routes from 55 to 45, saving the district significant resources while maintaining high-quality service.

Miller, who has been a licensed school bus driver for 31 years and an onboard instructor for 21 years, has shared his expertise with many colleagues across the state. As a three-term president of OAPT, he has shaped the organization direction and advocacy efforts.

Previously, Miller served as a pupil transportation consultant with the Ohio School Boards Association and spent 10 years at school bus contractor Petermann Transportation as a transportation director and area operations manager. Currently, Miller is in his 11th year as the transportation director at Sycamore Community Schools. He was also honored with the 2017 William Rice Award that recognizes administrators who exhibit outstanding leadership.

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While attending the STN EXPO East conference in March, School Transportation News connected with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools student transportation professionals in North Carolina. One of these individuals is Monique Jackson, an education veteran who recently wrote a children’s book focused on school bus safety.

Jackson is an area manager for Charlotte-Mecklenburg, the second largest school district in the state. One of 14 area managers, Jackson oversees services for over 5,000 families across 12 different schools. Jackson recalled her time as president of her senior class in high school, where in the yearbook she had said that she would like to be a kindergarten teacher. Little did she know, that would only be the start of her over 25-year career working with students.

Her educational career began at Crispus Attucks Children’s Center, a non-profit childcare center in Roxbury, Massachusetts as a preschool teacher. Jackson transitioned from early childhood care to a program director in Boston that led to her education advocacy work with a group that she described as a “inner city network of childcare provider professionals.”

She later became the president of this group, serving for three years. Her job included working on legislative bills to provide quality and affordable child-care for all the children in the community. She also led the Dorchester Neighborhood Cluster, an organization that utilized funding from the state’s Department of Education for parent advocacy, continuing education for educators, training and workforce development.

Additionally, she was the director of court child-care, where she helped to provide a safe and therapeutic environment for children whose parents were in the courtroom, so they would not be exposed to all the things being discussed in courts.

“I’ve been around for quite some time in terms of the education field,” said Jackson. “I have worked in diverse programs, that are traditional and nontraditional.”

After moving to North Carolina in 2004, Jackson continued her educational journey in after-school care programs and later as a teacher for another five years before entering the world of student transportation.

As a young child, Jackson shared that her mother would walk her to school. However, she rode the school bus for one year during middle school.

“One of the things that we were dealing with at the time, which is really sad, was some issues around racism, because they integrated the schools, and we were basically bused into areas [where] people that look like me did not live,” she recounted.

She described a traumatic incident when someone outside the bus threw a glass soda bottle that struck her black school bus driver in the face.

“I have never forgotten that as a child on the bus and seeing that happen,” she said, adding she believes that everything happens for a reason and there was a silver lining to witnessing the shocking event.

“I think for me, it helped me to realize I still want to work in education and work with children and families. However, it made me realize the importance of cultivating and fostering an environment that is inclusive and inviting for all, and then, of course, focusing on the component of safety as a core value,” she said.

This sentiment is highlighted in Jackson’s first children’s book, “Mommy, Why is Everyone So Mad?” Published in 2020, Jackson shared the book unfolds the feelings surrounding the lack of acceptance that many people face in today’s world and, despite that, how we can all model respect and kindness in our interactions.

“You know, children have a squabble in the sandbox. They go back to being friends again. They forgive each other. They give second chances,” said Jackson. “And sometimes as adults, we lose that softness and that ability to be forgiving and to realize that guess what, we’re human beings. We’re not perfect, we’re going to make mistakes, you know, different things are going to happen. But we have to remember that it’s all about building community and supporting each other.

“We need to breathe,” she continued. “Recognize our humanity. That’s the piece that’s missing. Because when you look at humanity, it doesn’t matter about color, race, politics, religion, socioeconomic background. It matters about people, and what people need to thrive and grow and be successful and happy in our lives.”

Before joining student transportation, Jackson went back to graduate school to obtain a master’s degree in school administration with the goal of becoming a principal. She expressed that she was looking for something different, and a friend recommended that she apply for an open position of transportation manager for the Hopewell area. She was hired and she has stayed in the transportation arena since 2018.

Jackson channeled her love of storytelling, education and safety into her latest children’s book, “Gus the Talking Safety Bus.” The two characters are based on her own twin granddaughters, Ava and Libby, who know all about Gus, a robot used by CMS to train students in kindergarten and first grade about school bus safety.

Jackson said Gus served as her inspiration to use a familiar face to teach children about the importance of safety in the Danger Zone at bus stops and onboard the bus.

She explained that it’s important for students to know what is expected of them from a safety perspective before they get on the school bus. She outlines five safety basics in her book, which she hopes is used as a teaching tool. Her advice is to confirm the expectations, restate them to students, and develop a routine so that they know exactly what to do. This ranges from waiting until the bus has come to a complete stop to how to sit securely in the school bus seats.

Of course, school bus safety doesn’t rely simply on the students but also the school bus drivers. Jackson said she considers her drivers to be “rockstars.”

“Drivers do a lot behind the wheel and then also keep those students safe every day. This is a tough job, and I tell people the same way teachers have a tough job, school bus drivers do too,” she said. “Who knows what it’s like to get behind the wheel of a one-ton machine, and you have precious cargo on board? They don’t realize the things that drivers face and what they run into every day in order to keep those children safe and to get them to school and get them back home every day.”

She said she tries to provide a strong safety foundation by encouraging her drivers to keep in mind that it takes 21 days to form a habit. She encourages them to start the new school year by reinforcing safety rules consistently with the students and modeling them. This sets the tone for the year and can be adjusted to developmental age with each route.

Jackson said she makes sure to let her drivers know that they are fully supported by her, which means following up on behavioral incidents that may require action from school administration. She said she makes sure to follow due process, which includes reporting incidents as referrals to lead drivers and forwarding to school administration. If a resolution isn’t reached, she said she can pull evidence of past referrals as well as videos of the infractions to ensure that the driver is best equipped to handle the school bus and students safely.

As she shared on Episode 254 of the School Transportation Nation podcast, Jackson said she supports a multi-prong approach to school bus and Danger Zone safety, an effort that includes transportation leadership, the drivers, the students and their families and educational material.

Jackson’s passion for educational access and transportation safety is evident to anyone who interacts with her. “I love children and families, and I think that it’s important that all children have access to a quality education, whether it’s before school, after school, of course for our daily school routines as well,” she said.

To add to her ever-growing list of accomplishments, Jackson is also the founder of Kingdom at Work, an online faith platform that she created during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide support for people struggling during a time of isolation. She said of transportation “when there’s a crisis, we transform,” and that the group assisted in transporting educational materials, devices and meals to students.

Jackson said she is excited to continue her journey as an author and has plans for future writing projects. Her books are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and directly from her website.

Related: School Bus Driver Creates Children’s Book to Promote School Bus Safety
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Jimmy P. (Jim) Elliott is being fondly remembered by colleagues following his death on April 20 at Mennonite Friendship Communities in Hutchinson, Kansas. He was 90.

Elliott started his career in the petrochemical industry and worked in the cellular phone business before joining the student transportation field. He joined Collins Bus and worked various sales management positions at the company until 1994.

He then took a job at Masters Transportation working as a sales representative to provide Collins Bus buses throughout Kansas. In 2013, he rejoined the Collins team as a sales consultant and stayed there till his retirement in 2020.

“Jim was more than just a valued member of our team for over 20 years—he was a legend in the school bus industry and a true embodiment of kindness, professionalism, and dedication,” said Collins Bus via a social media statement. “His contributions to Collins Bus and the school bus industry will not be forgotten. More importantly, neither will the person he was.”

Joe Leggett, currently the sales business development manager at REI, was the Collins Bus director of sales from 2017-2022 and worked directly with Elliott. He remembered Elliott as a “longtime friend, mentor and peer.”

“To say he was well-liked would be an understatement. He was one of those rare individuals who left every room brighter than he found it — a true gentleman, a steady presence, and a passionate advocate for safety and excellence in our industry. His wisdom shaped countless careers, and his kindness touched even more lives,” said Leggett in a statement posted on LinkedIn. “He wasn’t just a legend because of how long he worked in this space — he was a legend because of how he worked: With heart, humor, tenacity, and humility. I feel grateful for the time we shared and the many conversations that helped guide me personally and professionally. He’ll be deeply missed by many, but his impact will be felt for years to come.”

Many other professionals in the student transportation industry voiced on social media their condolences and fond memories of learning from and working with Elliott. Tony Augsburger, director of sales at Collins Bus, recalled being hired by Elliott and later spending time together reminiscing.

“We spent 2 hours talking about the good old days at Mid Bus and Collins Bus. The friends we shared in common. Even in his late 80’s Jim was still thinking about Collins Bus and all of the great products the company offered to transport student safely. Jim was certainly the pioneer of the MFSAB (Multi-Function School Activity Bus) product line,” Augsburger said. “He was more than [a] boss, more than a mentor, but he was a true friend and treated everyone with respect and we are all so blessed to have Jim in our lives.”

According to his obituary, Elliott attended the University of Kansas on a track scholarship and convinced NBA Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain to join the team as a high jumper. Later, Eliott was known for being an avid golfer. His obituary requested that memorial funds be donated to the Jim Elliott Memorial Fund for supporting young golfers pursuing the sport.

He is survived by Shiela, hiss wife of 28 years, a son, daughter, stepsons, and multiple grandchildren and great grandchildren.

A memorial service is planned for June 21 at Trinity United Methodist Church in Hutchinson, Kansas.

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