NAEHCY 2013 Transportation Panelists
Dee Dee Wright
Hearth Liaison
Polk County School Board
Polk County, FL 51580
863.534.0801
deedee.wright@polk-fl.net
Consists of 163 schools serving over 94,000 students
Polk County is mainly rural - 2,010 square miles (larger than the state of Rhode Island)
What has your district done that has been cost effective and efficient? Please share any lessons learned.
Our district prefers to transport students in school buses. It may take 3 -5 school days to arrange a new
bus route for students remaining in their school of origin. Therefore, with private donations, a van was
purchased that provides transportation to the school of origin for students that have no way to school until
a bus route is established. This minimizes the number of days that a student may miss while waiting for a
bus route to be arranged. On occasion the district will contract with parents that have their own
transportation to transport their students and the district reimburses them for mileage used.
Dr. Jeffrey P. Turner
Director of Transportation
Troup County Schools
100 North Davis Road
LaGrange, GA 30241
706-812-7935
turnerjp@troup.org
What has your district done that has been cost effective and efficient? Please share any lessons learned.
We have learned that every situation is different. In Troup County we are resolved to exploring all
options in meeting the transportation needs of our McKinney-Vento students.
Over the past two years, Troup County School System has been working to improve the process of
coordinating McKinney-Vento out-of-zone transportation. We began FY13 by reassigning the
responsibility for assigning transportation to the supervisor over special needs transportation. This
decision was made because this supervisor was already accustomed to creating out-of-zone
routes. Another effective change we made last year was to designate two buses as McKinney-Vento
buses. Although the buses do not accommodate all of our student needs, they allow us to meet most of
them.
A final positive change made in FY13 was the receipt of McKinney-Vento grant funds to assist with
transportation. This school year, we have focused on improving the documentation process and created
forms to be used in different types of transportation situations: for transportation by bus and/or by
parent. Data has been shared with stakeholders throughout the year. Most McKinney-Vento
transportation requests (62%) were met within 3 days. Of the requests made, 56% were for elementary
school, 22% for middle, and 22% for high. Overall, parent feedback has been very positive. One concern
voiced by a parent was the “need [for] more bus drivers & buses for the program.” This concern is shared
by the system, and discussion is taking place about how to best handle transportation needs next school
year.
In solving transportation needs, we first look to see if our regular established bus routes will work to
transport the students to their base schools. If this is not a possibility, we next look at our special
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Contact Information: Diana Bowman (dbowman@serve.org, 336.315.7453)
Karen Madrone (kmadrone@serve.org, 336.315.7417)
NAEHCY 2013 Transportation Panelists
education buses being that they cross school district lines within the county. If this does not work, then
we look at our two buses that we have added just for McKinney-Vento students. If it is determined that
the utilization of buses is not in the best interest of the students(s), then we begin conversations with the
parent about reimbursing them for their mileage for transporting the student(s) to their base school.
With the development of transportation request forms, this gives us more accurate information in
determining the best method to transport students. These forms have improved our efficiency in
providing the appropriate transportation needs for the students.
Susan Markey Whitener
Region 1 McKinney-Vento Monitor
Michigan Department of Education
Statewide but Primarily Northern Michigan
John A. Hannah Building
608 West Allegan Street
P.O. Box 30008
Lansing, MI 48909
517.335.2886
whiteners@michigan.gov
What has your district done that has been cost effective and efficient? Please share any lessons learned.
This area is primarily rural with few shelters and limited housing. Distance between schools is a
challenge, (average 20 miles) but size of districts (100 t0 1000 students) provides opportunities for
developing strong ties between liaisons and the communities. Creativity is the key as well as
collaboration. Michigan districts belong to McKinney-Vento consortiums, made up of schools belonging
to the same Intermediate school district, where liaisons and /or transportation directors meet regularly,
share resources and devise transportation strategies. Small towns develop close relationships between
staff, students and parents.
Examples of recent strategies identified by liaisons:
 Local districts are purchasing or obtaining donated minivans to use instead of buses for
special trips: i.e. homeless students, etc.
 Bus routes are coordinated to meet between districts and transfer students
 Gas reimbursements are negotiated to cover the cost of driving the student to the nearest bus
stop. Little or no public transportation.
 Special Education buses are often empty and have been used when allowed
 Funding provided to local shelters to help transport students.
 Transportation directors are often drive as well, and are familiar with bus routes.
 School employees “take in” unaccompanied youth: small town mentality: we take care of our
own.
 Students ride with school employees.
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Contact Information: Diana Bowman (dbowman@serve.org, 336.315.7453)
Karen Madrone (kmadrone@serve.org, 336.315.7417)
NAEHCY 2013 Transportation Panelists
Cynthia Martinez
Wichita Public Schools USD
McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Liaison
Wichita, KS 67217
316.210.3309
Cmartinez@usd259.net
2013-14 Enrollment 26,243
89 Schools
McKinney-Vento Homeless Students 2,249 2012-13
What has your district done that has been cost effective and efficient? Please share any lessons learned.
 Transportation Analyst sets up all transportation for McKinney-Vento Students with approval
from McKinney-Vento Office
 Utilize bus routes already set-up
 Provide mini-buses/vans for shelters and students living in hotels or not on a regular bus route
 Work with neighboring districts on transporting students-we transport one way they transport the
other way or we pick up the cost for our students and they pick up the cost for their students
 Transportation Contract set-up with other districts when transportation is shared
 Utilize taxi’s for immediate transportation until transportation is set-up
 Buy student City bus passes, 20 ride or single for High school students not on a regular school
bus route
 Provide gas cards (depends on situation)
 Meet quarterly with shelters.
 Transportation agreement if necessary
Catherine Knowles
Homeless Education Program Supervisor
Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools
Support Services Department
2601 Bransford Avenue, Portable #3
Nashville, TN 37204
615.259.8729
catherine.knowles@mnps.org
What has your district done that has been cost effective and efficient? Please share any lessons learned.
 Provide parents, school staff and shelter providers with written details of all transportation
options and a brief summary of the process and time frames for service.
 Use mapquest to calculate mileage and fuel.gov to calculate reimbursement rate based on
vehicle year, make and model.
 Monitor usage of monthly city bus passes issued for school transportation.
 Monitor student attendance to ensure transportation plans are working.
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Contact Information: Diana Bowman (dbowman@serve.org, 336.315.7453)
Karen Madrone (kmadrone@serve.org, 336.315.7417)
NAEHCY 2013 Transportation Panelists
Kim Snell
ATLAS Liaison
Rutherford County Schools
2240 Southpark Blvd.
Murfreesboro, TN 37128
615.893.5812
snellk@rcschools.net
What has your district done that has been cost effective and efficient? Please share any lessons learned.
Rutherford County Schools is one of the fastest growing school districts in the state of Tennessee and the
fifth largest, with 46 schools and more than 41,000 students. We encompass urban, suburban, and rural
areas, but have very limited public transportation. We are located in the geographic center of the state,
adjacent to and just southeast of Metropolitan Nashville. Approximately 43% of our students qualify for
the federal nutrition program.
We have a point of contact at each school who identifies homeless students at that school and requests
transportation and other services for them. These contacts are trained twice yearly, and transportation
issues are discussed at the trainings. We also encourage communication between the schools attended by
siblings, to ensure that services are requested and provided for all members of the family.
In the transportation department, one person handles all transportation requests for homeless students
within the district. The transportation department uses Edulog Transportation Software to develop and
modify bus routes. Rutherford County is somewhat unique in that our school buses are all owned and
operated by independent contractors. Sometimes we are able to take advantage of the fact that the driver
lives in one area and his or her route is in a different part of the county. McKinney-Vento funds are not
used for bus transportation.
When providing out of county transportation, we rely heavily on gas reimbursement for the parent or
unaccompanied youth, and work with neighboring districts to share the cost. We use Mapquest and
fueleconomy.gov to determine the amount we will offer the parent. McKinney-Vento funds are used for
gas reimbursement.
Jody Elrod
Director of Transportation
Bartow County Schools, GA
PO Box 200007
Cartersville, GA 30120
770.606.5873
JElrod@BARTOW.K12.GA.US
What has your district done that has been cost effective and efficient? Please share any lessons learned.
In Bartow County we try to coordinate as many M-V requests as we can within our special needs routes.
With our district having specialized services offered at certain schools we were already covering a large
portion of our county servicing several schools in and out of the traditional school zones. In addition, we
have provided after school care to some elementary school students then coordinated them into a regular
ed route with their older siblings that attend the local middle/high school thus making one trip to transport
home in the afternoon vs two trips due to the afternoon release times being different for elementary than
middle/high schools.
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Contact Information: Diana Bowman (dbowman@serve.org, 336.315.7453)
Karen Madrone (kmadrone@serve.org, 336.315.7417)