By Molly McGee Hewitt, PhD, CAE Have you ever heard someone describe their leadership philosophy or explain how they do business, only to quickly see that their actions tell a very different story? Leaders who “talk a good game” but fail to walk their talk quickly lose the trust, respect, and support of their teams and followers. Walking our talk is about living authentically in every aspect of our lives. From how we treat our families, how we engage in our communities, and how we show up at work is evidence of our leadership. For example, I once worked for a leader who spoke constantly about accountability. Yet deadlines were routinely missed, and established policies and procedures were often ignored. Accountability was demanded of staff but not modeled at the top. The result was high turnover, low morale, and a culture of frustration. It was a powerful reminder that leadership standards must begin with the leader. Walking our talk is not always easy. Sometimes, our words sound great and we believe them at the time, but life intervenes. We preach one thing and end up delivering a separate message. Many times, no one calls us on this discrepancy, and we may not even notice that we are not in alignment with own words. Sometimes, we may even extend courtesy to ourselves and grace for our failings while we refuse to share that forgiveness with others! Leadership requires more of us. It demands self-awareness and emotional intelligence that start with looking inward. Reflection, honesty, and intentional thought are essential. The more senior you are in leadership, the less people may want to share concerns or challenges with you about you! That makes personal accountability and self-monitoring even more critical. Personally, I find that journaling is a good way for me to reflect. I will take an issue or a challenge and try to write out my thoughts or concerns. I ask myself some questions that only I can answer. For example, did I add to this issue or did I show leadership? Did I expect more from others than I contributed? Was I clear in my communication? Did I listen to other people? Did I keep my word and did I keep commitment? Holding myself accountable enables me to understand how I lead and to acknowledge what I need to work on! Another powerful way to strengthen leadership is through collaboration with other leaders. Engaging in our industry and participating in state and national associations creates opportunities to connect with peers who face similar challenges. Having trusted peers and colleagues where you can share and honestly address issues is priceless. I am blessed to have that in both my personal and professional life! These professional colleagues offer me new perspectives and an honesty that enables me to improve and grow. So, how about you? Are you walking your talk as a leader? December is a natural time for reflection, and an ideal moment to make thoughtful leadership commitments as we prepare for 2026.

  Presented by Zūm Being able to plan trips easily and efficiently benefits drivers and school and district administrators — and paves the way for a smooth, reliable ride. Modern, tech-enabled trip management software and tools can ease every step, but only when they provide role-based features and capabilities to address each user’s unique needs and each step in the process from booking to billing, including tools that enable teachers, school administrator, and coaches to request and book a trip, administrators to approve trip requests, dispatch and operations teams to assign drivers and vehicles, and billing and invoicing capabilities to streamline and manage payments according to each district, department, or school’s correct budget codes.  “When it comes to booking and managing trips, every stakeholder deserves a seamless experience with top-notch service,” says Ritu Narayan, Founder and CEO at Zum. “A state-of-the-art transportation solution makes planning a trip easier by saving time and allowing administrators to manage all aspects of the process on a single platform.”  Easy Booking, Invoicing, and Trip Management The benefits of using an all-in-one technology platform for planning and managing trips include: • Seamless trip requests: Schools or departments can request a trip via the platform, provide all required trip details, and preview pricing and equipment requirements. • Simplified workflows: Once a trip is requested, automated approval workflows route requests to the proper channels and departments for budget reviews, principal or department approval, and more. • Accurate assignments: Before assigning a trip, transportation team members can preview all trip details.  • Fast, reliable data: Trip management software captures data in real time and allows for immediate, accurate, and timely invoicing. • Streamline and manage billing and payment: Tools to manage invoicing and billing according to each district, department, or school’s correct budget codes. Increased Efficiency and Driver Benefits A tech-enabled transportation solution saves time every step of the way and improves the experience for every stakeholder, including drivers, students, families, school and district administrators, and dispatch and transportation team members. The right tools and solution improve safety, communication, and efficiency for all. • Locating drivers and maximizing fleets: The platform makes it easy to identify which drivers and vehicles are available to cover trips based on availability and location, creating a faster, fair, and efficient trip assignment. • State-of-the-art driver app: The driver app provides detailed instructions for drivers to safely and reliably deliver service for trips, including route details, pickup and dropoff instructions, and any special equipment requirements. • Communication and transparency: The platform communicates trip assignments to drivers, schools, and administrators. Easy-to-Manage Operations Need to make a last-minute change? Trip management software makes it easy, whether administrators need to assign a new vehicle or driver, or communicate any updated pick up / drop information, or adjust the school, department, or booking contact. The same platform also allows for timely and accurate billing and invoicing, which includes the ability to add the department or billing code when booking a trip. The driver app also captures extra hours to ensure accurate payment for drivers. “Being able to manage every aspect of a field trips, athletics, or extracurricular transportation needs on a single platform is a game-changer,” says Kim Raney, Executive Director of Transportation & Procurement & Warehouse in Oakland Unified School District. “With Zum, all of our needs are handled on one easy-to-use platform that simplifies communication and provides real-time data. This helps ensure everything before, during, and after the trip will go smoothly.”    A modern transportation solution with state-of-the-art trip management software provides the tools to easily manage planning, scheduling, communication, billing, and daily operations. Knowing a trip is booked with the right vehicle and equipment and all ride related details in place saves time, gives all stakeholders peace of mind, and ensures quality service.

School BUSRide spoke with Kara Arundel, senior reporter for K-12 Dive (www.k12dive.com), about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) marking its 50th anniversary. She spoke about the milestone’s significance, the impact of IDEA on transportation, and how transportation professionals can continue to stay involved and enhance services for students with disabilities. We are marking 50 years of IDEA. How significant a moment is that, in your opinion? Kara Arundel: It’s a significant anniversary because IDEA began as a civil rights movement on the heels of a landmark Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education. Before IDEA, there was no federal guarantee of a free, appropriate public education for students with disabilities. Now, some states did go ahead and make that guarantee, but it wasn’t uniform nationwide. What I also think is significant is the evolution over time of the implementation of IDEA. When the federal law first began, students with disabilities were allowed in the school building; that was a big moment. But fast-forwarding to now, there are accountability systems in place and best practices to ensure that students with disabilities have access to grade-level academic standards and that they are meaningfully included in other aspects of school life. How would you characterize the impact of IDEA on our education system and on the lives of the children it has served? Do you feel it has achieved what its framers set out to achieve all those years ago? Arundel: I think the impact of IDEA has been tremendous. I mean, parents have told me really heartbreaking stories of their children getting a disability diagnosis at a very young age and being told what their child wouldn’t be able to do, both as a young child and even looking into adulthood. It was always negative. I think IDEA has helped change that mindset and change the future of millions of students and children with disabilities because they’re getting educational support and peer interactions; interactions with their classmates who don’t have disabilities. I’m not an expert in the day-to-day, but I’ve really thought about this question because I think it’s important. One thing I’d say is that it should start with relationships and relationship building. That’s something that I hear a lot from special education experts. For kids, the school bus driver is the hero. So, the bus driver’s kindness and attention to each student and their family matters a lot. Is it perfect everywhere? No. But there has been a major focus for decades on supporting students with disabilities and also supporting those educators who work with those students and, really importantly, the families who have children with disabilities. To repeat something I heard recently: “Don’t forget that special education students are general education students first.” Our members are engaged daily in getting yellow school buses to transport 25 million children to their education, and that includes many students with disabling conditions. Can you comment on that role that we play? Arundel: Under IDEA, the student’s individualized education program team (whichincludes administrators, educators, parents, related service providers, and sometimes the students when they’re older) needs to consider whether each student needs transportation accommodations to support academic progress. That might mean having an aide support a student on the bus. Or it could mean the student is entitled to a pickup right in front of their home. Whatever the accommodation, it’s based on each student’s individualized need on a case-by-case basis. Under IDEA, this is at no cost to parents if the accommodation is listed on the student’s IEP. But it’s important to say that doesn’t mean school systems must transport students with disabilities separately from general education students. IDEA has a provision called “least restrictive environment,” which is about determining the best setting for students with disabilities, starting with the most general inclusion alongside their non-disabled peers. This applies to transportation, too. So, students with disabilities can and often do ride alongside their non-disabled peers when that’s the best setting. But sometimes students need a more restrictive setting, which might mean a specialized school bus. Again, this is decided case-by-case. How can we get more training and preparation for school bus drivers to help them do their jobs for students with disabilities and IEPs? Arundel: I’m not an expert in the day-to-day, but I’ve really thought about this question because I think it’s important. One thing I’d say is that it should start with relationships and relationship building. That’s something that I hear a lot from special education experts. For kids, the school bus driver is the hero. So, the bus driver’s kindness and attention to each student and their family matters a lot. The other aspect is safety. In addition to driving a bus and staying alert to traffic, a bus driver is monitoring student behavior. If a student with disabilities has accommodations specific to their bus ride, like special seating or loading/unloading protocols. The driver really should be aware of those. That goes back to relationships between transportation experts and the school or district administration. What do you see coming on the horizon that gives you hope for IDEA and special education, including implications for transportation? Arundel: I think we’ll see more innovative practices. Hopefully, that includes helpful technology for drivers as they safely transport students. I’m also thinking of overall road safety. I live in Washington, D.C., and some of these roads are really difficult to navigate in my small car. So I’m hopeful for more road improvements, maybe backed by technology like road-calming practices that can help traffic safety overall. Specifically for school buses, cameras that capture cars illegally passing stopped buses are hopefully helping decrease that behavior. As for special education, districts are struggling with teacher shortages as well as driver shortages, and that pressure extends across the entire school system, which all supports students with disabilities. That makes it harder to ensure best practices reach every area – not just the classroom but extracurriculars and the school bus. That’s why school experts Read More >

Bob Martin, transportation coordinator for Mt. Vernon School Corporation     Indiana District Ditches Startup Routing Solution for Transfinder Presented by Transfinder When Mt. Vernon School Corporation in Indiana evaluated its routing software, the decision was shaped by experience. Transportation Coordinator Bob Martin had already migrated two school districts to Transfinder’s Routefinder Pro. In 2025, Mt. Vernon became his third district transition (this time to Routefinder PLUS), bringing with it lessons learned, a structured migration plan, and a focus on long-term scalability. Martin’s path into pupil transportation began in 2008, when he became a school bus driver after owning his own business. Seeking a role that allowed him to support his family during a major life change, he discovered a profession that could grow with him. “You can make it as professional as you want it to be,” he recalled being told early on, advice that ultimately guided his career into transportation leadership. By 2013, Martin was overseeing transportation operations and confronting the limits of legacy routing software. “It seemed like I needed a computer degree just to figure it out,” he said. While data-driven by nature, he needed a platform that aligned with real-world routing decisions and student safety. That search led him to Transfinder and, specifically, to its parcel-based routing approach. “The biggest thing was the parcel point,” Martin explained. “You can assign that directly to the bus stop. I wanted to make sure they weren’t crossing the roads where they didn’t need to be.” After successfully implementing Routefinder Pro at two districts, Martin arrived at Mt. Vernon School Corporation, a growing district with approximately 5,000 students, 3,500 of whom ride the bus daily across about 50 routes. Initially, Mt. Vernon was using a different routing platform, but Martin found it lacked the maturity and functionality needed to support growth. “So, after presenting to the Superintendent and School Board, they made the decision to migrate to Transfinder,” he said. “They were all for it, just because of the capability of the product.” For districts considering a similar migration, Martin points to four core criteria that shaped his recommendation. The first is post-sale support. “By far and away, the post-sale support is tremendous,” he said, noting the role of Transfinder’s project managers, trainers, and recorded training sessions that remain available long after implementation. “The next person coming in doesn’t have to pay for more training. They just have to watch the videos that are already there, that are specific to their environment.” Second is the integration across Transfinder’s suite of tools. At Mt. Vernon, Routefinder PLUS serves as the foundation, complemented by such solutions Tripfinder, used to schedule field trips, Wayfinder, the driver app, Stopfinder, the parent app, Infofinder I which provides bus route information for parents, and Viewfinder, which provides an overview of the district’s transportation operation. According to Martin, the consistency of the interface among the various solutions simplifies training and daily use.“It really flows through on each of the products,” he said, making it easier for administrators, office staff, and drivers alike. That integration also supports staff development. Mt. Vernon’s routing specialist, a former bus driver, quickly gained confidence using the system. “With the help of Transfinder, I mean, she is just a rock star now,” Martin said, crediting both the software and the training structure for accelerating her growth. The third and fourth criteria are reporting and scalability. These are especially critical for a fast-growing district. With dozens of new subdivisions planned or underway, Mt. Vernon relies on the reporting and “sandbox” capabilities to model future scenarios in Routefinder PLUS. “I can create a new database with all the data and all the routes, and really do a comparative cost analysis between a two tier and a three tier system,” Martin said. “And it’s real data. This is the actual route. This is what it will look like.” When challenges arise, Martin emphasizes preparation and partnership. His team first researches issues internally, then leverages Transfinder’s online community, project managers, and live support. That approach paid off faced challenges on the first day of school and Transfinder assisted. “I told the superintendent, ‘We’ve got this. It’s going to be okay,’ because I knew that Transfinder would back us up,” he said. “And they did.” For Mt. Vernon School Corporation, Routefinder PLUS is a strategic tool that supports safety, transparency, and growth – all while guided by a transportation leader who has seen what successful migration looks like, three times over. Learn more about Transfinder’s award-winning technology by visiting http://www.transfinder.com/solutions, calling 800-373-3609 or emailing solutions@transfinder.com.