“Behind the Wheel”

August 28, 2017

I hope everybody is having a great start to the 2017-2018 school year!

It is a busy time for Transportation Directors and Staff, hiring/training new drivers, maintaining routes and schedules, making sure the buses are operational and that we are transporting students to and from school safely.

Data indicates there is a national school bus shortage. According to School Bus Fleet magazine, a survey of the nation's 50 largest school bus operators, twenty-two percent called the shortage "severe," and 5% said they are "desperate" to find drivers…Not one of the companies surveyed said there is NO shortage. We encourage the sharing of ideas when attracting new drivers! KAPT will continually strive to provide you all the resources necessary for your operations to run smoothly.

#REMEMBERKAPTCONFERENCE! That’s right…The KAPT Conference is scheduled on September 21-22, 2017 in Lexington KY at The Embassy Suites Hotel. Kentucky’s Education Commissioner, Stephen Pruitt will be speaking on September 21st. Attending this conference will also be a great opportunity to meet individuals from other districts and to discuss issues and offer solutions that plague transportation on a daily basis. Feel free to invite your Superintendent and other Transportation Staff. We ask that you come with difficult questions; we expect lots of great answers and feedback! #COLLABORATION!

Hope to see you there!

Pam Shaffer
Assistant Transp. Manager
Simpson County Schools
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Board of Directors List

Meeting Minutes

Past Presidents

The Kentucky Association for Pupil Transportation (KAPT) was established in 1978. KAPT membership represents all 120 counties in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The Kentucky Association of Pupil Transportation is an organization that assists the 173 school districts across Kentucky in all areas of transportation. It is our goal to be first and foremost in leading, supporting and developing safe and efficient pupil transportation for our children. The KAPT has a mentoring program for new transportation directors and transportation officials that help them understand all areas of transportation including: transporting students, KDE reports, seek funding reports, our new transportation self-audit and staffing just to name a few. The Kentucky Association of Pupil Transportation holds annual conferences which offers training for all school district employees associated with the transportation department including Superintendent’s, Finance Officers, Directors, Managers, Trainers and Technician’s. We also have vendors on hand to help promote new products and KDE official’s help provide training in the 6 hour annual update for driver trainers, 4 hour update for technicians along with assistance in the yearend report filing.

The following resources are past presentations and submissions from districts throughout the state of Kentucky that can be used for training purposes. The information can be downloaded and used at your descretion.

TSA First Observer Plus	School Bus Pre-Trip Training
Seizures and Epilepsy	NHSTA School Bus Driver In-Service Training

Additional Training Resources can be located at KDE Pupil Transportation Training Resources

Stop For School Bus Stop Signs

Tentative KDE/KAPT Agenda for Leadership Seminar
September 20-21, 2018
Lexington, KY

Click Here for Tentative Agenda


If you have problems or questions feel free to contact me. BUD TARRY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
(btarry@glasgow-ky.com)
Cell Phone: 270-670-4672
Home Phone: 270-678-1728

PS: Share this with your Superintendent and all other involved with pupil transportation. We had two great seminars last year and many of the sessions we are planning could be of value to Superintendents, Finance Directors and others.

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The Southeastern States Pupil Transportation Conference (SESPTC)

is making a one-time $2,500 scholarship available to one student in each of its 14-member southeastern states, including Kentucky. Students eligible for the Buster Bynum Education Scholarship must be a high school senior, have a parent or guardian employed in the public school pupil transportation field for at least the past three years (since January 1, 2014) and be planning to attend a postsecondary educational institution in 2017. Click here for more information!