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Transportation director outlines safety upgrades, new tracking tech and planned bus purchases
Summary
Transportation Director Corey Sanders told the Morgan County Board of Education the district has expanded safety partnerships, adopted BusRite tracking to cut parent calls, is pursuing interior cameras for vans and plans two new buses next year while evaluating capital projects including badge entry and maintenance/GPS software.
Corey Sanders, the district’s transportation director, told the Morgan County Board of Education that safety partnerships, technology and modest fleet renewal are the department’s top priorities going into the next school year.
Sanders said the district has worked with the Transportation Security Administration for the past eight to nine months on a site analysis and additional training, praising the TSA’s contribution: “They’ve been fantastic,” he said. Sanders described planned, unannounced on-site reviews and said the TSA would bring an explosive-detection expert to a driver training session to help staff “know what to look for.”
On day-to-day operations, Sanders credited BusRite GPS and trip-management software with sharply reducing parent phone calls: parents can now see where buses are and when students will be picked up, which Sanders said is a key metric for success — “If the phone’s not ringing, then the drivers and the software is doing its job.” He also explained that schools will be able to enter trip requests directly in BusRite, creating time-and-date stamps and a clear audit trail to reduce lost or missed requests.
Sanders said the district is pursuing grant funding for interior cameras in vans and Suburbans used for nonroute trips, hoping to deploy them to reduce fuel and mileage costs by allowing those vehicles to serve additional runs. He described the value of on-board video for resolving parent disputes and confirming or disproving reported incidents.
On the fleet, Sanders reported two new buses are scheduled for delivery in August next year and the district hopes to add a third route bus the following year to retire vehicles with more than about 200,000 miles. He said replacing older vehicles could allow the district to pause major purchases for a year or two if enrollment and growth remain steady.
Looking at capital upgrades, Sanders proposed badge-entry control for the transportation facility and district-wide maintenance and GPS-tracking software that would allow drivers to perform pre-trip checks on devices, submit photos of defects, and route maintenance requests directly to mechanics. He estimated camera replacements on older buses at roughly $4,000 per bus, and noted the operations team is weighing costs against safety and performance benefits.
Sanders closed by reporting the transportation department is fully staffed following recent hires and thanking the board for its support. The board asked operational questions about fueling logistics and whether drivers would use personal phones or district tablets for pre-trip checks; Sanders said the department is evaluating options.
Next steps: Sanders said the district will continue to pursue grants for safety hardware and to develop a phased procurement plan for software and vehicle replacements tied to budget cycles.
