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Zonar, NAPT Award 2016 Don Carnahan Memorial Grants

More than 30 school districts receive up to $50,000 each for school bus security, safety, and efficiency technology hardware.

November 7, 2016
Zonar, NAPT Award 2016 Don Carnahan Memorial Grants

Zonar awarded eligible customers with a scholarship to offset the cost of registration for the NAPT Summit. Three of the five award recipients are shown here standing with Zonar's H. Kevin Mest, left.

3 min to read


Zonar awarded eligible customers with a scholarship to offset the cost of registration for the NAPT Summit. Three of the five award recipients are shown here standing with Zonar's H. Kevin Mest, left.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Fleet management technology provider Zonar and the National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT) announced the 2016 winners of the annual Don Carnahan Memorial Grant here on Sunday.

This year’s 36 recipients, with combined fleets of nearly 2,000 school buses, will receive up to $50,000 each for Zonar school bus security, safety, and efficiency technology hardware.

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“Continually improving the transportation experience of students to and from school is of the utmost importance to the Zonar team,” said H. Kevin Mest, senior vice president of passenger services at Zonar. “We look forward to working with the grant recipients to enhance their school bus operations with our smart fleet technologies.”

The winners are:

• Alhambra (Calif.) Unified School District
• Banning Unified School District, Riverside County, CA
• Becker (Minn.) Independent School District 726
• Brea Olinda Unified School District, Orange County, California
• Champaign (Ill.) Community Unit School District 4
• Clinton Central School Corp, Michigantown, Indiana
• Community School Corp. of Southern Hancock County, New Palestine, Indiana
• Dorchester County School District, Summerville, South Carolina
• East Stroudsburg (Pa.) Area School District
• Jurupa Unified School District, Jurupa Valley, California
• La Habra (Calif.) City School District
• La Mesa-Spring Valley School District, San Diego County, California
• Lakewood (N.J.) Board of Education
• Littleton Elementary School District #65, Avondale, Arizona
• Logan (Ohio) Hocking Local School District
• Lucia Mar Unified School District, San Luis Obispo County, California
• Manteca (Calif.) Unified School District
• Mapleton Public Schools, Denver, Colorado
• Midway Public School, Inkster, North Dakota
• Murfreesboro (Tenn.) City Schools
• Oxnard (Calif.) Union High School District
• Pajaro Valley Unified School District, Watsonville, California
• Palermo Unified School District, Butte County, California
• Pembroke Central School District, Corfu, New York
• Pocono Mountain School District, Monroe County, Pennsylvania
• Ramona Unified School District, San Diego County, California
• Sonoma (Calif.) Valley Unified School District
• Spring Branch Independent School District, Hedwig Village, Texas
• Spring Independent School District, Harris County, Texas
• St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School, Alexandria, Virginia
• Temecula (Calif.) Valley Unified School District
• Unified School District #320, Wamego, Kansas
• Ventura (Calif.) Unified School District
• Wabash (Ind.) City Schools
• Wadsworth (Ohio) City Schools
• Washington County (Md.) Public Schools

The rolling grant opportunity has been made available annually to eligible NAPT members since 2011. Grant recipients will be awarded Zonar fleet management technology, including Electronic Verified Inspection Reporting (EVIR) found on the Zonar 2010, 2020, and Zonar Connect; GPS V3; real-time engine diagnostic reporting; student tracking (Z Pass); and Ground Traffic Control web-based software.

Recipients of the grant are NAPT members that were selected based on their proposed plans with expected return on investment for using Zonar’s fleet management solutions.

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"NAPT is excited to partner again with Zonar on this grant opportunity, and we are pleased that this opportunity helps school districts become safer and more efficient," said Mike Martin, executive director of NAPT.

In addition to the Don Carnahan Memorial Grant, Zonar awarded eligible customers with a scholarship to offset the cost of registration for the NAPT Summit.

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