Reading view

There are new articles available, click to refresh the page.

Tech-Forward Approach to Staffing

Many school transportation operators I have spoken with lately continue to struggle with finding qualified school bus drivers, mechanics and fleet managers. But how are they marketing themselves?

Are we simply being out-marketed by other companies and industries that are seeking candidates in the same job categories? How do you compete against corporate giants like Amazon and Walmart for talent? Marketing to qualified candidates seeking jobs in 2025 demands forward-thinking. Social media platforms like TikTok (if your district allows it), YouTube Shorts, Facebook and Instagram continue to gain traction and popularity, and both offer paid and free opportunities.

Executing a paid media strategy allows you to fine tune your target audience within your hyperlocal community, using geographic and demographic data like relevant job titles, certifications (CDL holders) or interest groups to reach key candidates. That could be retirees looking for meaningful part-time work, a stay-at-home parent wanting mid-day flexibility in their schedule, military veterans with transferable logistics skills, or gig economy workers seeking stability.

My suggestion is to build a thoughtful and authentic content strategy. The team of school transportation professionals that work in your operation are your biggest assets. Those individuals can share stories of why your district or company is a great place to work. It’s word of mouth amplified to the Nth degree. Consider that a video can be used on your website, email and on social media platforms.

Making video clips of team members sharing experiences like a day-in-the-life showcases typical responsibilities of a bus driver or mechanic and gives prospects a realistic and relatable perspective. Testimonials are very powerful, too. Interviews or stories from current employees on job satisfaction, work-life balance and company culture make a real impact. Also, short form reels are great for quick engaging clips of team camaraderie, well-maintained buses, or “behind-the-scenes” fun.

Audience engagement is important for this type of campaign to work. Use ideas like behind-the-scenes tours highlighting facilities, buses, workshops or training areas to reduce job apprehension. Host an interactive Q&A session with HR or current employees to answer applicant questions in real time.

Prospective employees don’t just evaluate your fleet. They evaluate your investment in the overall experience you are demonstrating. That includes newer buses, modern GPS and routing software, and digital tools that streamline daily operations. These can be big selling points to a prospective employee.

Hiring the right people is just the beginning. Retaining them and helping them thrive requires consistent leadership, strategic investment and a culture that blends human empathy with technological support.

Once you’ve built your team, keeping them engaged is key. Many departments now use mobile apps and communication platforms to interact with staff in real time sending schedule updates, reminders and even recognition messages.

An emerging trend is the use of AI to track performance metrics like on-time arrivals, safety records or attendance to trigger personalized recognition or feedback. These tools make appreciation immediate, meaningful and data informed.

Competitive pay is still essential but so is a benefits package that reflects the real lives of employees. Districts offering flexible schedules, retention bonuses and easy-to-access benefits dashboards are seeing greater success in retaining drivers and technicians.

Some districts are providing monthly meals, wellness perks and even transportation specific, career development plans to deepen loyalty and satisfaction.

Positive reinforcement remains one of the most powerful tools for retention. From digital shout-outs to monthly awards, recognition programs create a culture of appreciation. Add ongoing professional development, mentorship and AI-driven training, and you’ve built a workplace people don’t want to leave.

And let’s not forget safety, as recognizing employees can result in a positive impact on performance and morale. Whether through improved communication, fewer accidents or higher job satisfaction, a valued employee is a safer, more committed one. As the world evolves, leaders in school transportation have a chance to embrace change while adjusting to the new standards and norms team members and prospective employees expect.

Editor’s Note: As reprinted in the June 2025 issue of School Transportation News.


Related: Social Media’s Influence on Student Transportation Industry Hard to Track
Related: Social Media as a Recruitment Tool: School Bus Driver Influencers
Related: (STN Podcast E263) Not an Easy Button: Expert Gives School Bus Routing Technology Tips
Related: (STN Podcast E259) Feel the Passion: Debates on Wi-Fi, Technology, Alternative Transportation & Safety

The post Tech-Forward Approach to Staffing appeared first on School Transportation News.

Tips from a Wisconsin librarian: How can you know if what you’re reading is false?

Librarian Kate Hinnant defines misinformation as the mistaken sharing of erroneous information. Hinnant shared her guide to double-checking sources on the internet, plus her thoughts on what people, governments and companies could do to reduce misinformation.

The post Tips from a Wisconsin librarian: How can you know if what you’re reading is false? appeared first on WPR.

Republican riot bill could have chilling effect, advocates warn

Protesters gather in Kenosha the second night of protests on August 24th, 2020. This was before the clashes with police later that night. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Protesters gather in Kenosha the second night of protests on August 24th, 2020. This was before the clashes with police later that night. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Imagine you hear about a protest in your community and,  curious, you join your neighbors who are marching in the street. Although the protest is loud and slows down  traffic, it appears peaceful and non-violent. Then suddenly, someone throws a rock or spray-paints a building, and now you find yourself among those apprehended for felony rioting, regardless of whether you committed an act of vandalism or  know who did.

Civil rights advocates fear such a scenario if under a Republican bill that defines a riot as a public disturbance, an act of violence or a “clear and present danger” of property destruction or personal injury involving at least three people. A similar bill was introduced in 2017 by Rep. John Spiros (R-Marshfield). A new version is  (AB-88), authored by Rep. Shae Sortwell (R-Two Rivers) and Sen. Dan Feyen (R- Fond du Lac). 

People who say their property was damaged or vandalized during what the bill defines as a “riot” would also be able to seek civil damages from people or organizations that “provided material support or resources with the intent that such support or resources would be used to perpetrate the offense,” under the bill. It also prohibits government officials with direct authority over law enforcement agencies from limiting or restricting those agencies’ ability to quell vandalism or rioting, as defined by the bill.

The Wisconsin Examiner’s Criminal Justice Reporting Project shines a light on incarceration, law enforcement and criminal justice issues with support from the Public Welfare Foundation.

Jon McCray Jones, a policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin is concerned that the bill’s definition of a “riot” is too vague. “Using that definition, a riot could be three teenagers driving around in a car knocking off mail boxes,” McCray Jones told Wisconsin Examiner. “Technically, with this definition, a riot could be a food fight.” The bill’s language concerning people who “urge, promote, organize, encourage, or instigate others to commit a riot” is also vague according to McCray Jones, who says this aspect of the bill would open protest leaders and organizers up to criminal and civil liability, regardless of their involvement in rioting.

Sortwell and Feyen did not respond to requests for comment for this story. In written testimony before the Assembly Committee on Judiciary on May 7, both lawmakers said that riots have become more common in recent years. “We saw the destructive riots a few years ago in several metropolitan areas, including right here in Madison and Kenosha,” said Sortwell, referring to George Floyd-inspired protests and unrest in 2020. “Taking a walk down State Street, one would see busted doors and windows of businesses, products stolen, and a smashed statue of a Civil War hero. Several business owners, employees, and citizens had their lives upended.”

Feyen said that “peaceful protests are a cornerstone of our public discourse and will always be protected under the First Amendment, but a line needs to be drawn when those protests go from being peaceful to being destructive and violent.” Although the bill does not  mention specific protests, Feyen wrote, “stricter penalties are needed to deter protesters from crossing that line from protest to property destruction, vandalism, arson, and physical violence.” 

Although scenes of burning buildings and looted stores received a lot of news coverage in 2020, studies suggest that at least 96% of Black Lives Matter protests during the movement’s peak in May and June of 2020 were peaceful. Reports by TMJ4 found that 74.3% of the nearly 200 people who’d been placed on an intelligence list by police in Milwaukee county that year had never been charged with a misdemeanor or felony. Some reports, however, using data derived from insurance claims, estimate that as much as $2 billion in damage nationally occurred due to protests in 2020. 

Some residents of Kenosha – a city referenced by the bill’s authors – recall how months of non-violent protest in Kenosha after Floyd’s death were overshadowed by the unrest that  occurred in August 2020. The shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha officer Rusten Sheskey, which paralyzed Blake, led to days of protest and unrest, millions of dollars worth of property destruction, and ended when  then-17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot two people and wounded another, in what a jury later ruled was an act of self-defense

Kenosha law enforcement form up with riot shields, long rifles, and armored vehicles. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)
Kenosha law enforcement form up with riot shields, long rifles, and armored vehicles during unrest in the city in August 2020 after the police shooting of Jacob Blake. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

During committee hearings on May 7, Sortwell said that the bill seeks to punish not only people who commit vandalism but also “those people who put together the riot.”

Several groups have either lobbied or spoken out against the bill. The Wisconsin Civil Justice Council submitted written testimony opposing the bill on the behalf of “16 business associations working together on civil liability matters.” The council said that the bill would allow for civil compensation for emotional distress stemming from property destruction, noting that emotional damages are generally limited. AB-88 would also allow for any civil compensation to include attorneys’ fees, which would be another departure from current law, the council wrote. Others spoke against the bill in person on May 7, pointing to the bill’s broad language and the chilling effect it could have on political movements. 

“This bill is just a blatant attempt to stop people from protesting,” said McCray Jones. “This is a way to silence organizers from fighting for political change and threatening the status quo in power.” Organizers could potentially be sued for anything that happens at a protest, or even just for transporting someone to a protest that later turns into a riot, as defined under the bill. 

What counts as urging or promoting a riot is broad enough to include common protest chants, like “no justice, no peace,” McCray Jones said. “And if you have ambitious or politically motivated district attorneys…politically motivated prosecutors, the vagueness of this bill could be weaponized … free speech now gets criminally turned into inciting a riot.” 

McCray Jones added that he wonders what a police figure like former Milwaukee PD Chief Harold Breier — notorious for targeting and surveilling Black, brown and LGBTQ communities — would have been able to accomplish had such a law been at his disposal. 

Protesters march toward Wauwatosa as the curfew sets in. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)
Protesters march toward Wauwatosa in 2020. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

As police departments develop their social media surveillance capabilities, it’s possible under the bill that making posts encouraging people to attend a protest could be seen as an attempt to “urge, promote, organize, encourage, or instigate” a riot under the bill. After the protests of 2020, some agencies that monitored protesters enacted new intelligence-gathering policies to help prevent broad, ideology-based surveillance.  

“I think that right now this moment gives us a very opportune chance to highlight the importance of protecting the privacy of protesters here in Wisconsin,” McCray Jones told Wisconsin Examiner. McCray Jones said he hopes debate about the bill  will become “a jumping off point to talk about not just data privacy for protesters, not just privacy from law enforcement for marginalized communities, but what does it look like to re-think our position on surveillance in the midst of this regime in D.C. that is blatantly ignoring due process, the rule of law, and civil rights.” 

 

❌