Taking on monuments

In my opening News & Views article (“Big family takes on big goals,” November 2005, pg. 18), I indicated that the NAPT Board of Directors would “review and renew” our strategic policy.

In fact, I said that it would be a monumental effort. “Monumental” means something that is of historical or enduring significance. I believe that our strategic planning process fits that description, and I am therefore pleased to be able to provide you with additional information about that project.

In 1995, the NAPT Board of Directors created the association’s first strategic plan, which has guided the work of our association for the past decade. In the years since, that plan has been updated twice — first in 1999, when most of the original goals had been accomplished, and then a second time in 2003, when most of the 1999 goals had been accomplished.

Each of these efforts was a notable example of the board’s focus on the association’s responsibility to NAPT members and the industry. They also had enduring significance to our association.

The 2003 plan created the following strategic priorities:

• Expand NAPT’s role in coordinating industry activities.

   

• Complete and distribute NAPT’s Training and Professional Development model.

   

• Develop a methodology to enable NAPT to collect quantitative information about the industry.

   

• Develop a specific membership growth strategy.

  We have had some success in accomplishing the goals we established in 2003. We also clearly have a great deal left to do. We have therefore associated each of our priorities with a specific national monument in an effort to focus our time and resources.

  For example, the Washington Monument stands nearly 555 feet high. From a distance, it appears larger than life, asserting dominance over the other monuments in the National Mall. This magnificent obelisk points toward the sky to symbolize our nation’s potential for growth.

  Training and Professional Development is the NAPT equivalent of the Washington Monument. It is the 800-pound gorilla among our priorities; it dominates our thinking and is always at the core of our planning and budgeting. We have therefore designated the Washington Monument as the symbol of our goal to complete and distribute our Professional Development model.

  Each of the magnificent monuments that stands in our nation’s capital has a caretaker — someone who has special pride in that particular edifice and cares about its meaning and appearance.

  Each of our strategic priorities needs a caretaker, too. We have therefore asked each of our regional directors to be a caretaker for one of our strategic priorities. NAPT Region 2 Director Bob Peters, for example, has been asked to take responsibility for leading our Training and Professional Development initiatives and turning them into a monument that will be held in high esteem by our members.

  Each of our board members will explain the work that is being done to build their “monuments” in future News & Views stories. In the meantime, I encourage you to visit our Website, www.napt.org, and take a look at the rest of our “monumental” plan to keep NAPT in the forefront of industry developments.

  Lenny Bernstein is president of the NAPT and transportation coordinator at Haverstraw-Stony Point Central School District in Garnerville, N.Y.

   

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  NAPT appoints marketing and communications specialist

  ALBANY, N.Y. — The NAPT has hired Lynn Martin to serve as the association’s marketing and communications specialist.

  Martin, who is not related to NAPT Executive Director Mike Martin, was selected from a field of more than 86 applicants after an extensive search and interview process.

  “I am very excited to have Lynn Martin join our staff,” President Lenny Bernstein said. “I am looking forward to introducing her to the NAPT family and watching her put her tremendous skill set to work for our members.”

  Since January 2005, Martin has been the executive director of a charitable foundation that provides funding for children and young adults with physical disabilities in the Saratoga Springs, N.Y., area.

  Prior to her work at the foundation, Martin spent five years as project coordinator and public relations specialist for Living Resources, a community-based nonprofit agency that cares for individuals with disabilities.

  In addition to her management, marketing and public relations experience, Martin is a reporter. She writes for an upstate-New York business journal in her spare time.

  “Lynn brings a great deal of experience, potential and enthusiasm to our team here at NAPT headquarters,” Mike Martin said. “She is going to add a whole new dimension to our marketing and communications efforts.”

  Lynn Martin can be reached at lynn.martin@napt.org.

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  New professional training in the works

  DALLAS — The NAPT Professional Growth Committee met here on Jan. 22 and 23 to discuss the association’s Training and Professional Development initiative.

  Committee members reviewed the framework of the NAPT Professional Development Series (PDS) and recommended that the NAPT Board of Directors authorize the development of 22 new courses during the next 21 months.

  Eleven courses will be completed prior to NAPT’s 2006 Conference and Trade Show in Kansas City, Mo., in November, and the remaining 11 courses will be completed before the 2007 event. (See tables below for course details.)

  A pair of committee members volunteered to help oversee development of the courses. The committee also identified individuals that will be asked to act as “content experts” for the courses under development. The goal will be to have one content expert from each region for each course. Content experts will also be the first group of instructors qualified to teach the new courses.

  The committee is also evaluating the concept of an online learning campus (OLC) that will always be available to both NAPT members and non-members. Participants will have the ability to purchase subscription packages that will enable them to use the OLC whenever their schedule permits. The OLC will provide single-point-of-entry access to all member and non-member options by linking systems that enable NAPT to:

  1. Track PDS and other courses offered by NAPT’s vendor online.

  2. Provide secure communication and collaboration for individual members with other members.

  3. Provide access to content libraries for members and non-members.

  4. Provide the option to offer sub-campus portals and subscription access to those portals to NAPT state association members, state and national agencies and other industry-related associations.

  Additional information about the online learning initiative will be available later this year.

  Courses to be developed by November 2006
  Title--------------------Number----Hours
  Presentation Skills-----------202--------4
  How to be a Great
    Communicator--------------203--------4
  Team Communication
    Tactics--------------------204--------4
  Parent/Public/
    Administrator Outreach-----208--------4
  Basic School
    Transportation Accounting--301--------8
  Budget Management---------303--------4
  Human Resources
    Management---------------401--------4
  Fleet Maintenance
    and Management: II--------502--------8
  Facility Planning-------------505--------4
  Transportation Program
    Planning and Evaluation-----604--------4
  Strategic Planning-----------704--------4

  Courses to be developed by November 2007

  Title------------------Number----Hours
  Media Relations-----------205---------4
  Labor Contract Negotia-
    tion and Management----403---------4
  Human Resources
    Critical Issues-----------404---------4
  School Bus
    Manufacturing-----------504---------4
  School Bus Routing
    and Scheduling: II-------602---------4
  Transportation
    System Concept---------603---------4
  School Transportation
    Contract Management---605---------4
  Legal Issues in Public
    School Transportation---607---------4
  Accident Investigation----609---------8
  Personal Skills and
    Enhancement-----------703---------4
  Crisis Communications----902---------4

   

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  Larson award deadline draws near

  The deadline to apply for the 2006 Larson Quality Award is April 1.

  The award, which was named for long-standing industry guru Leland E.G. Larson, seeks to acknowledge those who exemplify the highest quality standards in student transportation.

  Fleets with fewer than 150 buses — district-owned or contracted — are encouraged to apply. Fleets are categorized by size and evaluated every other year on a rotating basis. These smaller fleets may reapply in 2008. In 2007 (and again in 2009), fleets with 150 or more buses will be eligible.

  The application process, a methodical analysis, highlights in-place quality standards and illustrates areas that need improvement. The prestigious prize is the culmination of a comprehensive, peer-reviewed evaluation that includes on-site scrutiny of facilities, equipment and operations.

  The winner, which will be announced at NAPT’s 2006 conference in Kansas City, Mo., in November, will receive a plaque and $1,500.

  Additional information on the Larson program is available at www.napt.org in the “Awards Program” section under “About NAPT.”