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Transportation manager outlines services, funding and new real‑time GPS plans
Summary
Transportation manager Michael Tedesco reported on special‑education and general‑education routes, named vendors (Durham School Services, JFK Transportation, Ever Driven), cited annual district transportation costs of about $3.8 million with LCFF support and a state reimbursement that added roughly $1.3 million, and previewed a live GPS system rollout.
Michael Tedesco, the district's transportation manager, presented a comprehensive update on routing, vendors, funding and safety systems used to transport students.
Tedesco told the board the district provides special-education individual routes and general-education routes and contracts with three vendors: Durham School Services (buses), JFK Transportation (buses and vans) and Ever Driven (an on‑demand vehicle provider). He said the district's annual transportation cost is about $3,800,000 and receives roughly $1,000,000 from LCFF specifically for transportation. Tedesco credited a change in state law that increased reimbursement to up to 60% of transportation costs and said that change brought an estimated $1,300,000 in ongoing funding for the district.
Tedesco reviewed operational details: specialized routing software, incident reporting and follow-up, average routing timelines (special-ed and gen-ed routing often completed within a day, with longer waits only in vendor acceptance scenarios), and safety measures including DriveCam in-vehicle cameras, GPS tracking ('Zone R' for non-real-time route review), and annual evacuation drills. He said the district is piloting a real-time GPS system (named in the transcript as 'bike curve' or similar) that would show vehicle location live and enable real-time parent and staff communications when implemented.
He also highlighted that the district supports many field trips (39 planned with 18 fulfilled as of Nov. 12, and an estimate of roughly 350 trips annually in recent normal years) and coordinates special provisions for students experiencing homelessness and foster youth through cooperative funding and county-based supports.
Board members thanked staff and asked clarifying questions about timelines, incident handling and routing for vulnerable students; staff said they coordinate with the LA County Office of Education and can set up individualized transportation and reimbursement where appropriate.
