As the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS) celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2018, here’s a look back at past and present state directors.
PHOTOS: State Pupil Transportation Directors Through the Years
Ernest Farmer (right), who was Tennessee’s longtime state director, is seen here receiving School Bus Fleet’s Administrator of the Year award in 1991 from then-Publisher Frank Di Giacomo.
Past Illinois state director Alvida Petro is seen here at a NASDPTS conference circa 1998.
Former Alaska state director Joe Precourt is seen here at a NASDPTS conference circa 1998.
Former Wyoming state director Leeds Pickering (left) and former North Carolina state director Derek Graham partake in some hijinks at the 2006 conference.
Mike Simmons served as Arkansas’ state director of pupil transportation for more than 16 years. He retired from the position at the end of 2016.
Current California state director Anna Borges takes in the Cincinnati, Ohio, skyline at the 2011 NASDPTS conference.
Lt. Brian Reu (left) was appointed director of the Minnesota Office of Pupil Transportation Safety after the retirement of Lt. Ed Carroll in 2012.
State directors pose for a group photo at the 2012 NASDPTS conference in Memphis, Tennessee.
Derek Graham speaks at a back-to-school safety press conference in 2014 during his tenure as North Carolina state director.
Hollander, seen here in 2016, will conclude her term as NASDPTS president at this year’s conference in late October. Indiana state director Mike LaRocco will then step into the role.
Six past state directors are seen here in 1984 at the Southeastern States Pupil Transportation Conference. From left: Norfleet Gardner of North Carolina, Buster Bynum of Virginia, an unidentified state director, another unidentified state director, Larry McEntire of Florida, and Paul Stewart of West Virginia.
Former Virginia state director Buster Bynum (right) was inducted into the National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT) Hall of Fame in 1999, along with Ed Bobit, founder of Bobit Business Media, which publishes SBF.
Past South Carolina state director Ralph Hendrix (left) is seen here with several unidentified state directors in 1972.
Donald Tudor served as South Carolina’s state director of pupil transportation for 20 years. He retired in 2011.
Former California state director Ron Kinney, seen here in 2018, attended his first NASDPTS conference in 1982 and later served as president of the association.
Mike Roscoe, seen here in 2002, is one of the only people to have served as state pupil transportation director in more than one state — in his case, West Virginia and Kentucky. Photo by Jaime Gallego
Former New Mexico state director Gilbert Perea (left) is seen here at the 2005 conference with current state directors and NASDPTS board members Diana Hollander of Nevada and Max Christensen of Iowa.
Hollander (left) and Christensen (near left, with red tie) are seen here with more than two dozen now-former state directors at the 2006 NASDPTS conference. In the bottom row (near center, in dark suit) is Charlie Hood, then the Florida state director.
Former California state director John Green (right) and his California Department of Education colleague Dano Rybar are seen here at the 2006 conference.
NASDPTS board members pose for a photo at the 2008 conference. From left: Allan Jones, then Washington state director; Graham (back); Hood (front); Christensen; Bruce Little, then Colorado state director; Bob Riley, then NASDPTS executive director; Joe Lightsey, then Alabama state director; Pete Japikse, then Ohio state director; David Peterson, representing the State and National Associations Council; and Rick Lehnert, representing the Supplier Council.
Pete Baxter, who retired as Indiana state director in 2010, is one of the few people to have served as president of both NASDPTS and NAPT.
Former Washington state director and later Zonar VP Don Carnahan, who died in 2014, also held the distinction of having served as president of both NASDPTS and NAPT.
Past Oklahoma state director Randy McLerran gives a presentation at the NAPT conference in this undated photo.
At the 2013 NASDPTS conference, Dale County (Ala.) Schools Superintendent Donny Bynum discussed an event that shocked the industry earlier that year: An intruder fatally shot school bus driver Charles Poland and took a student hostage for nearly a week.
Air Force veteran Ron Love retired in 2016 from his longtime role as Delaware’s state director of pupil transportation.
Seen here is the 2016 NASDPTS conference in Kansas City, Missouri.
The U.S. Capitol looms behind Graham and Hood, who is now executive director of NASDPTS. They were in D.C. for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s December 2016 meeting on safety issues outside of the school bus.
Kevin Harrison succeeded Graham as North Carolina state director in 2017.
Leon Langley is seen here in 2015, when he was NASDPTS president and Maryland state director. He stepped down from both roles in 2016 to take a school district position.
Gabriel Rose succeeded Langley as Maryland’s state director in 2017.
For more than 20 years after Ernest Farmer’s retirement as Tennessee state director, the position remained unfilled. That changed after the 2016 fatal school bus crash in Chattanooga, which led to the appointment of Dr. Tammy Knipp as state director of student transportation at the Tennessee Department of Education in 2017.
State directors pose for a group photo at the 2017 NASDPTS conference in Columbus, Ohio.