With budget cuts becoming more expected than job security for school districts across the nation, efficiency has become an obvious focal point.
For Kelvin Gibson, the new transportation director for the Starkville School District, he sees a practical example of the concept on a daily basis.
“I sit there and watch my five-year-old play with an iPad,” he says. “He is figuring things out that I don’t even know how to do.”
That says it all for Gibson: Technology equals efficiency. The longer you utilize it, the more dividends it pays, and if you don’t believe him, give it six months.
Throughout the district, technological tweaks are being slowly implemented by the new administration in an effort to cut costs and save time. Nowhere is this more true than in the transportation department.
With a school district that stretches past city limits into the county and puts nearly 60 buses on the road daily, Gibson and his crew have had their work cut out for them, but thanks to the current and pending upgrades, they will be able to better track all aspects of their department, from mileage to disciplinary referrals.
New high-resolution cameras will be installed not only in the buses, but outside as well. Mounted on top of the stop sign on the swinging arm, these cameras will assist bus drivers in identifying people who pass them while stopped, a first offense misdemeanor under state mandated Nathan’ Law.
Chris Reed, camera specialist for SSD’s transportation department, says this will decrease report time ten-fold because, “If you ran a stop sign before, the bus driver had to try and record your plate and description of your vehicle. Then they had to go to the police station themselves and file an affidavit. Now we can pretty much just show the police the video.”
Part of a $10,000 project to install high-resolution cameras on 10 new buses the district will put into action later this semester, Gibson says the ultimate goal is to decrease distractions for the bus drivers, while helping them in stay in control.
“In my opinion, the bus is the same as the classroom,” he says. “Drivers are being trained to conduct their buses as a teacher would be expected to conduct her classroom. It’s in the job description.”
Currently the district buses have one of two cameras, an old version and a new version. Though the older ones are not upgradeable, the new cameras can be undated as the technology changes. One of those upgrades that the new cameras can accommodate is a software that can conceal the identity of students on the bus while making the offending student’s image available to parents or even law enforcement. Previously, only administration could view video taken on the bus because of those privacy concerns. , something
“With this new system you can zoom in and out and figure out more precisely what happened,” says assistant superintendent Tori Holloway. “It just removes personal conflict or bias from an incident. None of that he said, she said stuff.”
Just two weeks into the school year, the transportation department has already helped solved several incidents thanks to the cameras
Though the cameras simply record the action to a master hard-drive now, Reed says if the district wanted to install wireless routers, administration could watch video feeds in real time.
Gibson says the money saved off the top definitely comes with a price (12 bus monitors positions were discontinued this year).
“I don’t talk about it a lot but by eliminating those positions, we are saving $80,000,” he says. “That is just off base salary too, not even including overtime.”
But spending money to make money, or in this case, save money, is still an apparent guideline, albeit unspoken.
The 10 new buses SSD will acquire later this semester are part of a lease to purchase program with Waters Truck and Tractor of Columbus that will cost the district an estimated $800,000 over a three-year period, and new fleet maintenance and routing software will total around $25,000. The district also purchased new radios for all of their buses that will allow communication with offices throughout the district.
Gibson says the fleet maintenance and routing software will be a huge factor in pinching pennies. Analyzing the data these programs collect will hopefully not only increase its efficiency, but also give Gibson something to take to the school board and show them exactly where funds are needed most and where they should be diverted.
“We will know fuel mileage, how much we are spending on parts, how much time is being spent working on certain things, we will have all these things,” Gibson says. “It seems like a lot, but if someone needs to see some data, I can be as specific as they need me to be.”
Since he arrived, Gibson says he has pretty much left alone the routes that were already in place, but shortly each driver will receive a handheld device that they will keep for three weeks. Drivers will press a button on the device at every stop on their route. The information will be recorded and sent to the software company, which will build options for the most efficient routes and send them back to Gibson.
“We just want to be more aware,” he says “This fleet maintenance software gives us more alerts that let us know when a bus should be serviced and collects and records mileage data automatically. That’s some good record keeping right there.”
Only time will tell if the improvements and innovations taken on by the SSD’s transportation department will pay off, but either way, Gibson says he doesn’t plan on letting his department get comfortable.
“It’s been a team effort,” he says. “There is always a better way to do something.”
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.