The Iowa Department of Education held its sixth annual “Best of the Best Technician’s Training & Competition” on June 12.  The winner was Mike Ehrlich, a bus technician from Western Dubuque Schools.
 
The competition was held in Waterloo at Hawkeye Community College and was sponsored by School Bus Sales of Waterloo, the Blue Bird dealer in Iowa.

“We had a nice turnout, with 16 participants from 11 different schools in our event this year,” said Max Christensen, executive officer, school transportation, Iowa Department of Education. “It was a great effort by all of the participants, plus a great deal of time and effort was put in by the 'Best of the Best Committee' in bringing it all together this year and making it such a successful event."

The winner will now advance to the “America’s Best” competition to be held in November in Kansas City, Mo., at the National Association for Pupil Transportation Summit, Christensen added.

Participating schools included:

•    Adel-Desoto-Minburn School District, Adel, Iowa
•    Allamakee Community School District, Waukon, Iowa
•    Benton Community Schools, Van Horne, Iowa
•    Dallas Center-Grimes Community School District, Dallas Center, Iowa
•    Johnston Community School District, Johnston, Iowa
•    Nevada Community School District, Nevada, Iowa
•    Norwalk Community School District, Norwalk, Iowa
•    South Winneshiek Community School District, Calmar, Iowa
•    Southeast Polk Community School District, Pleasant Hill, Iowa
•    Washington Community Schools, Washington, Iowa
•    Western Dubuque Community School District, Farley, Iowa

News related to the Iowa competition last year:

•    Iowa school bus tech takes state title