Summer Resolutions
- BJ
- May 24, 2021
- 14 min read
Updated: Aug 8, 2022
Just as each December 31 brings the end of another calendar year, early June represents the end of most academic school years. And just as January marks the beginning of a new calendar year replete with inevitable resolutions, commitments, promises, and programs to improve your personal lives, the summer break ushers in virtually the same opportunities for improving the health and well-being of every academic institution.
Science teaches us that all things trend toward disorder. More specifically, the second law of thermodynamics states that “as one goes forward in time, the net entropy (degree of disorder) of any isolated or closed system will always increase (or at least stay the same).” New years give us opportunities to bring better order to our lives, and summer breaks provide the same windows of opportunity to get ahead of entropy and bring order and new energy to the areas of greatest challenges for school systems everywhere.
Trust-Ed Rides represents one such source of exciting new ideas and new energy in the field of student transportation, and the summer break is an ideal time to start the program in a more comfortable and controlled environment.
In our previous blog we discussed the issue of CDL drivers finding full time work at Amazon, Walmart, and other e-commerce and mega-transportation companies. The simplicity, convenience, and unlimited product selection of on-line shopping has fueled tremendous and sustainable growth for these companies, and guarantees they can afford to pay qualified drivers full time salaries and benefits that easily surpass the compensation limits of most public schools. Making matters worse, other professional drivers are choosing to not work, and instead, rely on generous government assistance that pays them as much or more than they could make driving a school bus.
These realities are not “new news” for most Transportation departments in school districts across the U.S.. Entropy in the form of rising costs, shrinking resources, a worldwide pandemic, ever-increasing government regulations, frustrated employees, and unrelenting competition from large, deep-pocket corporations is forcing every responsible Transportation Director to look ahead and develop their own sustainable plan to address these problems and keep entropy at bay forever.
The details are important to us at Trust-Ed and we are ready to help solve every one of these challenges. What best differentiates us is that we have an actual plan to do exactly that. No marketing spin, no empty guarantees, and absolutely no exaggerations or misrepresentations of our abilities. Trust-Ed will impact your district in a very positive way and we are ready to demonstrate to you exactly how we plan to do so.
Please consider the following student transportation challenges, and the specific Trust-Ed Rides answers to these issues.
Issue #1:
Unemployment impacting hiring drivers (white fleet and CDL alike)
Trust-Ed Solution:
The Trust-Ed Driver Program directly reduces districts’ reliance upon dedicated full or part-time drivers by allowing and incentivizing district employees to transport children while they perform their daily commute. This provides these existing employees with the ability to earn significant additional income with minimal effort, while REDUCING transportation costs to the districts. Our technology allows the district’s Transportation Department to easily pair drivers with students in immediate proximity to one another to ensure the most efficient routing (lowest cost) with maximum convenience to the driver.
Issue #2:
Full time employment with benefits and above-market wages being offered by companies like Amazon for CDL candidates creates unfair competition and is luring existing drivers away from schools while these same companies dominate the market for new hires.
Trust-Ed Solution:
Open and fair competition for limited resources should not be based on brute strength or the deepest pockets, but rather should be settled on the battlefield of ideas. Trust-Ed Rides trumps these companies’ advantages by shifting school districts’ needs away from dependence on CDL drivers, and instead leveraging an obvious, natural, existing, and deep pool of qualified resources that are readily available to you – your own employees. What’s needed is the appropriate tool to bring this large and growing need and this large pool of resources together to solve the problem.
Issue #3:
The impact of Covid restrictions, Federal, State, and local regulations, and guidelines for the upcoming and subsequent school years is still unknown and evolving. How many students will be allowed on a bus (seating density)? Will traditional transportation solutions be sufficiently scalable or remain cost effective or even viable? What will concerned parents demand?
Trust-Ed Solution:
Dealing with such an unprecedented set of challenges such as those that this pandemic has caused requires districts to increase their control of their own environments. The Trust-Ed Driver Program reduces dependence on outside resources, 3rd party drivers, and other resources that are by definition, outside of the districts’ abilities to control and manage. The Trust-Ed Driver Program provides districts with the tools to take direct control over its own resources. Transportation departments everywhere become fully enabled and empowered to make informed, cost-effective decisions about transportation arrangements for specific students and drivers based on any combination of customized sets of qualifications, skills, capacity, spoken language(s), credentials, proximity, and of course, availability. In addition to the districts’ control of their employee’s qualifications and suitability to participate in the program, the choice to transport a given child is 100% optional for the district employees. As employees become increasingly comfortable with their own vaccination/immunity status, they may increase their willingness to participate in the program in order to receive the benefits of doing so.
Issue #4:
Ever increasing homeless and foster challenges. Due in part to the economic impacts of the pandemic, American families everywhere are under more financial pressure than ever, and it is very likely more families will fall into the grip of poverty as a result. As is always the case, children will be the most affected, getting moved around and ending up in federal programs like McKinney-Vento and ESSA.
Trust-Ed Solution:
Trust-Ed Rides was quite literally formed to help disadvantaged children in America. Our technology and our programs are designed to accommodate children in McKinney-Vento, ESSA, School Of Origin, SPED, and other Federal Programs. Opening up a new driver pool that will grow organically, allows much more flexibility in solving this problem.
School districts can take major steps toward solving this problem by utilizing our specialized technology and the districts’ own internal pools of resources. The management and record-keeping of transportation elements of McKinney Vento and other federal programs is immediately available to your district from day one. Detailed and comprehensive reports designed to address the requirements of these programs while also tracking and verifying their execution are available to you for the current month as well as all historic months. Audits and issue resolution are easily addressed with data-driven, exportable reports.
Additionally, our technology is constantly improving to stay ahead of the challenges created by these programs. For example, we are currently developing a simple methodology for addressing the complex issue of reciprocation with neighboring school districts. Soon, our technology will allow school districts to easily cooperate on split-responsibility trips to ensure the students’ needs are given top priority while the two school districts’ financial accommodations are simplified and automated. Everyone wins!
Issue #5:
Increasing complexities and unknowns such as those listed here force Transportation Directors to increasingly rely on vendors and outside resources. When buses cannot carry the same number of students it once did due to driver shortages or lower seating densities, reliance on vendors increases proportionately. What effect does this have on transportation budgets? Student safety and welfare? Academics? Is this ever-increasing dependence on 3rd-party vendors the districts’ desired path or even an actual plan? Or, is it simply a distasteful reality being forced upon school districts and Transportation Directors?
Trust-Ed Solution:
As already discussed, the Trust-Ed Driver Program directly reduces districts’ dependence on vendors and other 3rd-party resources by allowing and incentivizing district employees to transport children while they perform their daily commute. District employees earn additional income; transportation costs to the districts are reduced; expenditures to vendors and other entities outside of the school districts are shifted to incremental income for district employees!
Said another way…would school officials prefer to pay large amounts of money to 3rd party vendors or would they instead prefer to cycle that same money back to their own employees? It really is that simple.
Issue #6:
Increased gasoline prices burden everyone. Schools absorb the costs for gasoline price increases on their buses and white fleets as fuel prices skyrocket (up 50-100% recently). As the cost of fossil fuels steadily increases, district employees are also forced to absorb these cost increases for their personal vehicles for commuting, without relief.
Trust-Ed Solution:
With the Trust-Ed Driver Program, staff members are given an immediate remedy to this problem. Now, they can earn money during their daily commute to pay for fuel price increases with plenty left over to increase their income and improve their standard of living. These employees’ financial situations are improved while simultaneously, a difficult transportation problem for the school is being addressed. This is truly making lemonade out of lemons.
Issue #7:
Decreased budgets and increasing layoffs. Many of the schools I work with are experiencing significant cut backs. The financial realities of a devastated American economy caused by more than a year of business closures and commercial restrictions will inevitably reduce tax revenues to the federal and state governments, and impinge their ability to sustain funding levels for educational programs.
Trust-Ed Solution:
Continuing to do the same thing year after year as the business, cultural, and political landscape of the United States changes at an increasing rate, and expecting better results is dangerous and shortsighted. School district transportation departments can be leaders in finding creative, positive, and cost effective changes that actually reduce costs and allow existing expenditures to be made far more efficiently. The Trust-Ed Driver Program puts school districts in complete control of their transportation resources and gives these districts the ability to design transportation routes themselves - specifically to reduce costs.
Issue #8:
Ever increasing pressure to increase teacher and other employee compensation. Drivers, full and part-time office staff, and school officials and administrative staff are all seeking pay increases to survive and move forward in our “New Reality”. Red-for-Ed demands are not going away. In fact, this past year’s pandemic response and national unrest has forced school districts everywhere into taking necessary precautionary steps to protect students and staff that will likely lead to even greater financial pressure.
Trust-Ed Solution:
Historically, and still in place today, school districts across the country complement their own transportation resources with those of 3rd parties to address the ever-changing needs they face in transporting students. The inherent and hidden problem with this approach is that 100% of district expenditures made to contractors, fleet operators, TNC’s, leasing companies, part and full-time drivers, and other forms of transportation providers goes to these companies and STAYS with these companies.
Think about it…every penny spent on transportation service providers is a penny that goes into their financial coffers…where it stays. You may say “Well, of course it does. They are providing a valuable service to us and deserve to be paid.” Correct? Well, please consider the Trust-Ed alternative. With the Trusted Driver Program, up to 40% of transportation expenditures made are returned to the school district in the form of increased compensation for teachers and other district employees.
This represents a potentially game-changing hard-dollar financial benefit to participating school districts. Remember, overall district transportation costs are reduced (see point 7 above), but even more importantly – up to 40% of those total expenditures come right back to the school districts in the form of incremental compensation to its employees. The school districts cut costs and cause teacher and employee income to increase. Talk about killing two birds with one stone!!!
Issue #9:
SAFETY OF OUR CHILDREN. As discussed, the driver pool is not what it once was and competition for drivers will only cause this trend to worsen. People looking for work who do not qualify for unemployment are a different pool than what it was even 2 years ago, when it was already a challenge. Are the people who are willing to take these driving positions genuinely qualified to transport children? Remember, school districts do not vet these people. They depend on profit-driven companies to handle the background checks, drug testing, sexual predator status tracking, and all of the state and federal government credentialing requirements.
Do these companies have a trusted system for maintaining these driver credentials and qualifications? Independent audits indicate they do not! Do these drivers merit the trust they are so easily afforded to transport society’s most precious cargo? While this may sound harsh, it is a reality that schools are talking about and are being forced to come to grips with.
Trust-Ed Solution:
In a perfect world, who would most children, parents, and school officials prefer to transport their children to school? A stranger? Not likely – not even a stranger whose employer promises they are good, trustworthy, and qualified. School bus drivers? Yes, whenever this option is available and can be accomplished cost effectively, school buses remain the student transportation of choice. But, how are all the other transportation needs addressed?
Trust-Ed was formed with a single mission - to help disadvantaged children. Its core foundational principle is that teachers and other school employees themselves are the best possible choices to transport these children to and from school. They have all been background checked by the school districts themselves. They all have performance records and are well known by their district. Most of them work directly with children daily and have a proven aptitude for dealing with the unique nature, needs, and challenges of managing children. By virtue of being employed by school districts, they are all credentialed for legal compliance with state and federal requirements. They have all been regularly checked for illegal drug use and for sexual misconduct violations.
Perfect solutions to complex problems rarely exist in life. Is "Trust-Ed" the best idea available to date? We absolutely believe that it is. Exactly as our name states – we Trust Education and we Trust Educators (Trust-Ed).
Issue #10:
Inflation. With the massive increases in the National Debt and the corresponding increase in the supply of U.S. dollars to fund the many government programs designed to help Americans during the pandemic-related closures and unemployment, inflation has become a very real and looming threat. Unplanned cost increases impact every area and aspect of school districts, disproportionately impacting Transportation departments. Inflation can devastate budgets and leave districts in untenable situations.
Trust-Ed Solution:
It is impossible to list every impact inflation will have on Transportation departments, but describing the cost impacts of one real world scenario will illustrate the point:
Option 1: To help address non-traditional transportation needs, a school district purchases a white fleet vehicle. The district then must pay for insuring it, supplying its gasoline, repairing it when it breaks, providing materials and labor for routine maintenance such as tires, oil changes, anti-freeze, transmission service, etc..., and storing the vehicle during non-school hours/days/month. Additionally, the district must identify, interview, vet, hire, and pay and provide benefits to a driver(s). That driver then must be managed and kept sufficiently compensated as to not leave the job for one with more hours and pay (see Issues #1 and 2 above). The driver must then be provided with regular drug testing, a government fingerprint card, criminal, financial, and sexual misconduct background checks, and first-aid and safety training. As any one or more driver takes his/her credentials and leaves for another job, the entire process and expense cycle begins all over again.
Option 2: Implement the Trust-Ed Driver Program, utilize existing staff, in existing vehicles, on existing routes to solve every problem mentioned while avoiding all of the associated headaches of fleet ownership and managing high turnover employees. Under this option, the districts' costs are reduced while the districts' employees' incomes are increased which directly and significantly impacts the job satisfaction and stability of the districts' workforce.
Liability. This is a very broad topic that probably deserves a dedicated blog to address more thoroughly. For purposes of brevity, I will try to provide a general overview of some of the related topics of most relevance and importance to our readers. However, please, please, please understand that every state and municipality may have different laws and ordinances or may have different interpretations of the laws discussed in this article. Trust-Ed does not claim to be legal experts in these complex matters. We do however, continuously research these matters and feel a responsibility to explain our views and interpretations of these important topics for your consideration.
Interestingly, unless compelled by State law or local ordinance, a school district does not have a duty to provide transportation services to students. However, once transportation has been provided, a school district assumes a duty of care with respect to the service. There is a duty of due care that the law recognizes one person owes to another. This duty may arise from a contract, a statute, common sense, or a special relationship the parties have to one another. Regarding students, the courts have found that schools and their employees have the duty to supervise students, provide adequate and appropriate instruction prior to commencing an activity that may pose a risk of harm, and provide a safe environment. Usually, that duty extends to students while they are in the custody or control of the school. Schools may have a duty to supervise students off school grounds when they have caused them to be there such as while on field trips, extracurricular events, or when the bus drops them off.
Unless barred by sovereign or government immunity, a school district (public institution) may be liable not only for injuries occurring during the transportation to and from the school, but may be liable for injuries that occur at designated bus stops and while children board and disembark from the bus. This doctrine is often referred to as “Portal-to-Portal responsibility. This liability exists for the district whether the student transportation is being provided directly by the district or through a 3rd party agent of the district.
Many states have explicit Qualified Immunity protections for public officials and employees. Qualified Immunity protects state and federal employees who were performing job-related tasks at the time of an incident. The goal of Qualified Immunity is to allow officials/public employees to perform their jobs without fear of individuals suing them. It is important to understand that Qualified Immunity protections only apply to suits against government officials and public employees as individuals; it does not apply to suits against the government or the public institution itself for damages caused by that protected individual’s actions.
In the context of a standard Trust-Ed Driver Program implemented in partnership with an Education
Service Center, the driver’s relationship during the transporting of the student(s) is exclusively between the driver and the ESC. An extremely explicit Independent Contractor Agreement is put in place between the ESC and every single driver transporting students to and from school. The drivers are acting as Independent Contractors throughout the transporting of the child(ren), and as such, assume all related liabilities associated with the discharging of this contracted service. This is no different than a school district employee performing any Individual Contractor work outside of school hours. That person has every right to clean windows, perform landscaping, drive for a TNC such as Uber, do construction work, or any other form of personal services under an Independent Contractor relationship. In all these cases, the individual is responsible for their actions during the performance of that contract (the Qualified Immunity status extended to them as a public employee does not apply in those situations and does not protect them during their performing such off-duty contracted services).
For additional clarity, it is also important to understand that Qualified Immunity only covers an
individual during the performance of public institution (governmental) job-related tasks at the time of the incident. In other words, if a public employee commits a dangerous or heinous act upon a child that is clearly not a normal job-related duty, that individual is not protected by Qualified Immunity and would be subject to law suits against them individually. As a simple matter of fact, individuals committing such heinous and/or illegal acts would never be protected by the law whether they are on the (school) job, driving students, or at any other time.
What all of this means is that school districts’ institutional liabilities are not affected by the application
of Qualified Immunity or lack thereof. Qualified Immunity is purely a form of protection for individuals while they are carrying out their normal (governmental) job functions. Individual district employees are similarly unaffected as they are never protected against heinous and/or illegal behavior at any time, regardless of their Qualified Immunity status. The additional liabilities they do assume as drivers in the Trust-Ed Driver Program such as automobile accidents, vehicle damage, and/or personal injury damages incurred while discharging their responsibilities as a contracted driver are all covered by large, state-compliant insurance policies carried by Trust-Ed, the ESC, or other Trust-Ed partners. These policies are required in every state to ensure adequate protections are in place for both the students and drivers.
While these issues are nothing new, they can be easily misconstrued. I hope the views expressed here are helpful in your understanding of these tedious matters.
To Conclude:
These challenges are the tip of the iceberg in what appears to be one of the most challenging situations Transportation departments have ever faced. These challenges are real and will necessitate the strongest and most proactive leaders, armed with the best ideas and tools to deliver to their students what they are all promised – a safe, reliable method to get to and from school every day.
Trust-Ed Rides is ready to serve you and your district. and we care about doing it in a way that gives you all of the control and power. Give me a call, or shoot me an email, to discuss any of the points above. Thanks for taking the time to read and I hope to speak with you about how we can make the summer of 2021 the beginning of a new era in student transportation.
TRUST-ED Rides
Brandon M. Johnson - COO
(480)772-6783
Comments