The Transportation Joint Agreement operating at Crystal Lake (Ill.) School Districts 47 and 155 receives the grant at the 2012 NAPT Summit. Officials say the money will be used to outfit school buses with a combination of Zonar’s Electronic Vehicle Inspection Report, V3 telematics platform and ZPass.
Read More →Effective Jan. 1, Steve Hemmerlein will join North America Central School Bus Holding Co. LLC as the CEO; current CEO and founder Bruce Barr plans to retire. H. Kevin Mest is serving as the interim CEO, and he also assumes the position of chief operating officer. The new team includes Patrick Earley as chief financial officer as well.
Read More →Danny Kelly and Michael Kniser are charged with burglary for stealing 25 batteries from First Student buses in June. Bail for Kelly is set at $30,000, and bail for Kniser is set at $50,000.
Read More →Thieves in Collinsville, Ill., make off with more than 35 batteries from a contractor's buses. In Peoria, Ariz., about two-dozen batteries are ripped off and buses are damaged at a school district lot.
Read More →The General Assembly passes House Bill 4029, which would require that school districts award school bus contracts by first considering the bidder most able to provide safety and comfort for students, and stability of service. Then price may be considered. The legislation now awaits approval or veto from Gov. Pat Quinn.
Read More →The Illinois State Board of Education is expected to draft a bill that would eliminate the requirement for public school districts to transport students and base state-to-district reimbursements on an average per-student or per-mile rate. Districts could charge parents a fee to make up the difference between the state reimbursement and the actual cost of transporting students.
Read More →The school bus contractor has invested more than $22,000 in programs for its drivers, including a discounted membership program with Charter Fitness, and removed junk food and soda from its subsidiaries' vending machines, among other efforts. Employees are reportedly losing weight and interacting with one another more.
Read More →Under legislation that will take effect Jan. 1, school bus operations can test drivers for alcohol or drugs if the driver is suspected of using such substances. If a driver refuses to submit to a test or fails it, the law requires the driver's school bus permit to be suspended for three years.
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The Illinois General Assembly fails to restore the funds, cut by Gov. Pat Quinn, in an extended veto session last week. But state pupil transportation director Cinda Meneghetti tells SBF that salaries were restored for personnel at Regional Offices of Education, which perform services including school bus driver training.
Read More →Sheriff's deputies and fire personnel respond to a report of buses on fire and find four school buses aflame in the school's parking lot. Officials are considering the fire suspicious in nature but are not labeling it arson.
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