La Porte ISD transportation director outlines fleet upgrades, safety push and staffing gains

The La Porte ISD director of transportation summarized a string of operational changes and equipment purchases Monday night and told the Board of Trustees the department has added staff and new tools intended to shorten repair times and improve safety.

Alyssa, the district’s transportation director, told trustees the department handles daily routing and logistics for roughly 32,100 student rides—about 45% of district enrollment—and logs roughly 700,000 miles a year for route work. The department maintains a fleet of about 150 vehicles, including 81 school buses and about 50 “white fleet” vehicles, and staffs expanded supervision and training positions created last year.

The update highlighted several recent procurements and upgrades meant to reduce downtime. The district has added mobile heavy-duty lifts for buses, dealer-level diagnostic laptops and a new Freightliner semi to pull a van trailer. “They have been a game changer,” Alyssa said of the mobile lifts, describing large reductions in the time needed for maintenance and safer undercarriage access.

Alyssa also described recent and pending bus orders. The district completed delivery of 16 new Thomas C2 buses last month and has an additional order for about 20 buses partially paid by a Texas Emissions Reduction Program (TERP) grant of $1,400,000. That planned order would include 15 72-passenger route buses and five 41-passenger special-needs buses, officials said.

On staffing and training, the department said it created four supervisor positions; added two split-shift dispatchers; and introduced a bus-driver training post that provides an extended 90-day licensing pathway. Transportation said it has successfully trained four drivers through the new program and three others are in training.

Safety and discipline work is handled in coordination with campus administrators, the transportation office said. Drivers and monitors submit incident reports and video; transportation reviews footage and prepares materials for campus disciplinary actions. The department also described outreach and partnerships for accident mitigation, and trustees discussed forming a local task force with La Porte police to address drivers passing stopped school buses.

Other operational notes included a mobile battery-operated bus wash that doubled cleaning throughput, purchase of Chevrolet Suburbans and Ford Transit vans to replace aging maintenance vehicles, and a continuing program to certify mechanics through TASBT and ASE programs. The department also uses Buster the Bus, a demonstration robot, for student safety presentations and will expand demonstrations for “Love the Bus Month” in February.

The transportation director said the department has added more monitors on buses and expanded field-trip service—about 1,200 student field trips a year—while noting that distracted drivers passing stopped buses remain a persistent hazard.

Trustees praised the transportation team’s progress and cited the department’s responsiveness to neighborhood access and safety issues.