June/July 2018 Newsletter: Employee Spotlight—Mark Desmond, Supervisor of Transportation
Mark Desmond, the Shaker Schools Supervisor of Transportation, is responsible for the safe transportation of 1,994 students to and from school each day, 2,000 annual field trips, special events, and sports team trips. His department includes a staff of 45 drivers, six substitute drivers,12 bus aides, three mechanics, and a fleet of 48 buses. His work is no easy task, but it’s one he enjoys. He is currently completing his certificate as a Master of Transportation Administration (MTA) by the Ohio Department of Education and is a veteran of the United States Air Force. Learn more about Director of Transportation Mark Desmond.
What the biggest challenge in your position?
The biggest challenge is safety—safe students, safe drivers, and safe buses. Are the students behaving on the bus? Are the drivers qualified and are they doing the right thing on the road? Are the mechanically sound and licensed? We do a lot of work also around student management because they bus drivers have to deal with all kinds of distractions from bad weather to bad traffic. We offer plenty of in-service training to make sure that they have the knowledge they need to keep our kids safe.
Many of us rode school buses as children and remember being told to stay in our seats with our feet out of the aisles. How can we help our students understand bus safety?
These are still good rules to follow. A school bus is a very safe vehicle for students to ride. The back of the seat in front of a passenger acts as a barrier if there’s an accident. If students are standing or in the aisles, they’re less protected. Also, feet in the aisle prevent drivers from seeing out the lower rear window. And while we know that students would like to sometimes have a snack to eat on the bus, there’s always a choking hazard. It’s our responsibility and state law to make bus rides safe for students. We take that very seriously.
What do you enjoy the most about your job?
Leading a team of professionals to get our students to and from school says it all. School makes a difference in every life and our drivers are often the first and last person our kids see. I have a lot of satisfaction in getting our students home the same way that they came to school. When everyone gets where they need to be safely, then it’s a good day. Also, I’ve had opportunities for professional development so that next year, I’ll be a certified Master Transportation Administrator. That support, along with the collaboration we have here among our department, the buildings and the administrators to get any issues resolved, has been outstanding.
Can you explain how the District routes students who ride buses and when you determine those routes?
Every summer, we know that we have students to remove and students to add. So we spend the summer evaluating for efficiencies and seeing where we can locate group stops. We have to consider that we don’t want students riding on a bus for too long, and most of our drivers are triple routed . Then we also have to work on routes for the late buses that take students home from after-school activities. Sometimes there are changes last minute, based on student registrations, but we work to finalize routes in the week to 10 days before the start of school.
How does the District hire bus drivers?
We follow an extensive hiring process to hire our school bus professionals. First of all, just because someone has a Commercial Driver’s License doesn’t make the qualified to drive a school bus. Drivers have to take a five-day training course on driving a school bus and then they have to drive with on-board instructors. For drivers who apply here with a CDL, it’s a three-month process to certification. In fact, even if a driver comes from another district where they’ve been certified, we still have to certify them here.
How do you like to spend your free time?
I like to ride my motorcycle, a Honda VTX 1800, and this summer, I’m taking my parents on a vacation to Antigua, which is something I’ve been really looking forward to. I have two grown daughters and we try to get together for family dinners on Sunday. I’m a pretty simple guy with a nice, quiet life.