Richard Tackett, Author at School BUSRide - Page 2 of 46


Indian River Central School District and Transfinder Don’t Compromise on Safety

At Indian River Central School District, student transportation is defined by a simple but uncompromising goal: no fatalities and no missing children. For Transportation Supervisor Cecil Sisson, that mission guides every decision his department makes, especially when it comes to technology. Serving more than 3,500 students daily in New York’s North Country, the district’s transportation […]

Interview: Justin Meyers, BusPatrol President & Chief Innovation Officer

BusPatrol: Technology, Leadership & the Future of School Bus Safety BusPatrol has become a recognized name in school bus safety. How do you describe your role in the student transportation ecosystem today? BusPatrol is a mission-driven public safety company. We’re focused on one thing and one thing only: making the ride to and from school […]

The Trust Proposition in Student Transportation

  By Molly McGee-Hewitt, PhD, CAE NAPT Executive Director & CEO So often in leadership and hiring, we focus on experience, training, and licenses. School district HR offices verify employment and credentials and ensure that all requirements are checked off. They do an excellent job of confirming that applicants meet the established criteria. What we […]

ADVOCACY ALERT: March 2026

  By Peter Mannella Significant federal policy developments are underway that could impact driver testing requirements and clean school bus funding. What should a motor carrier do to assess a CMV driver’s English language proficiency (ELP) during the driver qualification process? Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy has announced recently that DOT and the FMCSA were […]

INTERVIEW: Jonathan Adkins, GHSA

Jonathan Adkins Governors Highway Safety Association Every day, student transportation professionals carry one of the most important responsibilities in education, safely moving millions of students to and from school. While the school bus itself is incredibly safe, we all know some of the biggest risks happen outside the bus, at the stop, on neighborhood roads, […]

INTERVIEW: Frank Marasco, NAPT Region 6 Director

Please introduce yourself and tell us about your career in pupil transportation. I got into this industry in the 1980s. At the time, I owned a recycling business as a young entrepreneur. My business was located across the highway from a bus depot. As I understand now how difficult it is to find drivers, the […]

Safety by Design: How Integrated Engineering Is Advancing the Modern School Bus

By Mash Angolkar Safety has always been the foundation of the school bus industry. Today, however, safety is no longer defined by a single feature or regulation. It is the result of deliberate engineering decisions, including how systems communicate, how drivers interact with technology, and how vehicles are designed from the ground up to support […]

Safety, Standard: Raising the Bar in School Bus Design

  By Brad Beauchamp School buses are the safest form of on-road transportation in the United States, bar none. Every day, roughly 480,000 school buses transport about 25 million students to and from school. That remarkable safety record did not happen by accident. It is the result of decades of engineering focus, regulatory evolution, and […]

Blue Bird Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire & Consolidate Micro Bird Joint Venture

Blue Bird Corporation (Nasdaq: BLBD) has signed an agreement to acquire Girardin Group’s stake in the 50/50 Micro Bird joint venture, thereby, taking full ownership of the enterprise. Blue Bird will pay approx. $200 million for Girardin’s joint venture share, with 30% in cash and 70% in Blue Bird common stock. The transaction is expected […]

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: NAPT Executive Committee

School BUSRide spoke with Keith Kaup, Melody Coniglio, Teena Mitchell, and Rosalyn Vann-Jackson about the NAPT outlook in 2026, the increasingly important role of technology, NAPT ACTS 2026, and more. As we begin 2026, how would you describe NAPT’s overarching vision for the association and for the school bus industry as a whole? Keith Kaup: […]