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Transportation director outlines GPS routing, fleet strain and CDL training
Summary
District transportation staff showed a GPS‑based routing system, said the district covers 596 square miles, described a shortage of spare buses and outlined local CDL training and recruitment steps.
Transportation Director Davis and assistant Hurd briefed the board on route mapping, GPS tracking and fleet capacity, and asked the board to approve purchases to refresh vehicles.
Davis said the district covers 596 square miles, making routing and spare‑vehicle planning unusually complex: "our district itself is 596 square miles," he said. Staff demonstrated a mapping system that generates stop maps, produces parent letters with pickup and drop‑off times, and provides GPS location, idle time and fuel‑use reports.
The presenters showed live and historical GPS data for buses, and explained driver supports — printable route sheets, turn‑by‑turn notes and an option to install tablets on buses to display routes. Davis said the GPS helps dispatchers answer parent calls about bus whereabouts and can flag long idling or mechanical alerts from vehicles.
Capacity and staffing: Davis told the board the district transported roughly 2,200 students this year and that the fleet lacks spare buses; several routes are run as doubles because there are not enough units available. The team reported 6 drivers in CDL training now and said the district is the only Jefferson County site that can legally train school‑bus drivers, with plans to set up a local testing site at the bus garage.
Funding and procurement: staff presented quotes for a new 2026 diesel 89‑passenger bus (quoted in packet) and two used buses (a 2020 Bluebird at $84,900 and a 2019 unit with wheelchair lift); staff asked the board for permission to pursue purchase of used options and later presented vehicle purchase motions for capital outlay funding. Davis also described grant opportunities for electric buses and charging infrastructure the district is pursuing.
Training and retention: Hurd said the district trains drivers and asks trainees to commit to work for the district for a period after receiving a district‑funded CDL. "If we train you to get your license... you at least have to do a year with us," Hurd said, describing an effort to reduce churn of newly trained drivers.
Next steps: Staff will proceed with purchase approvals the board authorized in the purchasing section (capital outlay) and continue to pursue state and grant funding for fleet modernization and tablets for buses.
