Top Transportation Teams: Built on Trust

Transfinder’s 2026 Top Transportation Teams show how culture, communication, and technology strengthen student transportation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(From Left to Right) Jennifer Gardella – director of transportation for Rockwall ISD, TX; Brad Hayn – director of transportation for Hoover City Schools, AL; Todd Livesay – director of transportation for Franklin Township Community School Corporation, IN; Antonio Civitella – President & CEO at Transfinder; Matt Hostetter – transportation and school safety clerk for Wa-Nee Community Schools, IN; Amy Zimmerman – 19A trainer and school bus driver for Pembroke CSD, NY; and Gregg Fox – director of transportation for Franklin Square UFSD, NY.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every school transportation department has schedules to build, vehicles to maintain and daily changes to manage. The teams that perform at the highest level understand that those demands are inseparable from workplace culture. Drivers need reliable information, employees need leaders who follow through, and students need professionals focused on their safety. That connection between people and performance is at the center of Transfinder’s Top Transportation Teams program. The annual award is determined through anonymous employee surveys covering workplace culture, leadership, access to resources, career development and incentives. Winners are selected solely from the results.

For 2026, Transfinder recognized six school districts in two categories. Franklin Township Community School Corporation in Indiana, Hoover City Schools in Alabama and Rockwall Independent School District in Texas were honored among departments with more than 100 employees. Franklin Square Union Free School District and Pembroke Central School District in New York, along with Wa-Nee Community Schools in Indiana, were selected among departments with fewer than 100 employees.

The results also demonstrated sustained excellence. Wa-Nee became the first district to earn the award in three consecutive years, following wins in 2024 and 2025. Pembroke and Franklin Township recorded their third overall wins, while Hoover and Franklin Square won the honor for the second straight year. As participation and employee response rates have grown, so has the benchmark needed to qualify.

Across districts of different sizes and operating environments, the honorees share a defining strength: They give employees the information, support and trust needed to serve students well. And they all claim Transfinder as a partner in their endeavors to serve their districts..

Wa-Nee Community Schools

Wa-Nee Community Schools, the first three-peat winner, covers approximately 247 square miles around Nappanee and Wakarusa, Indiana. The rural district enrolls just under 3,000 students and transports about 80 percent of them each day. Its transportation department has approximately 70 employees and operates across a broad service area, logging about 500,000 miles on regular routes annually in addition to extensive extracurricular travel.

Transportation Director Amy Rosa began driving a school bus in 1997, later returning to Wa-Nee as assistant director in 2006 before moving into the director’s role. One of her first assignments was to find routing software that would bring transportation data into the district office. Wa-Nee selected Transfinder that year and has continued the relationship ever since.

Rosa sees communication as an important reason employees rate the department highly. Information moves from the district’s student information system into Transfinder, allowing the transportation team to manage student records and give drivers the details they need. Depending on their responsibilities, drivers can access student photos, family contact information, medical concerns, special needs information and alerts about authorized handoffs.

“There’s just a lot of communication flow between the schools, us and the driver, and that communication wheel just keeps turning all day long,” Rosa said.

That access gives employees a clearer picture of the students entrusted to them. It also supports the professionalism of a team that Rosa said holds high expectations for safety and continually asks for more information.

“I would put these drivers up against any district in the nation,” she said. “They’re the group of people who don’t have to be told what to do. They’re already doing it because they want to do it. They want to be out there. They want to be taking care of kids.”

For Rosa, the three-year run reflects a districtwide “standard of excellence” that extends from academics and athletics to transportation.

Franklin Square Union Free School District

Franklin Square Union Free School District operates in a compact, two-square-mile area on Long Island, New York, but its responsibilities reach beyond the district’s three elementary schools. The department also serves private schools in Queens and Nassau County. Its fleet includes 35 vehicles, with a staff of 24 drivers and six bus attendants.

Director of transportation Gregg Fox calls the operation “small but mighty.” He began driving for his local district after careers in broadcast journalism and business and ultimately moved into department leadership.

After taking over, Fox led the district’s move from a locally installed Transfinder product to to Transfinder’s web-based Routefinder PLUS platform. Cloud access gives him the flexibility to work from different locations and respond when a routing need comes to mind outside normal office hours. Since Fox personally handles much of the routing and scheduling, that accessibility is especially valuable.

The system’s integration with the district’s student management software helps place newly enrolled students at defined stops and allows Fox to identify overnight additions through reporting. The department can then pass the new information to families.

Franklin Square has also adopted Tripfinder to modernize field trip requests. Teachers can view available dates, submit trips online and move requests through approvals from the principal and Fox. The process replaced multi-part paper forms and gives staff a clearer path from request to confirmation.

“That has made our multi-day, multi-carbon-copy field trip requests be something of the past,” Fox said. “That has helped a lot, for sure.”

For a lean department serving destinations across a busy region, practical improvements matter. The technology supports a team whose strength comes from making the most of its people, vehicles and time.

Pembroke Central School District

Pembroke Central School District’s third Top Transportation Teams honor continues a record built through culture, leadership and operational modernization. The district is a model of how a small transportation department can strengthen service over time.

Pembroke’s operation has evolved from a largely manual environment into one supported by integrated transportation technology. The district began using

Transfinder in 2006, replacing an Access database used for routing, schedules and student information. Its transportation tools have included Routefinder PLUS, Servicefinder, Stopfinder, Tripfinder and Viewfinder.

Each solution supports a different part of the department. Routefinder PLUS provides a foundation for routing. Servicefinder brings maintenance expenses, labor hours and parts information into one location while supporting vehicle and asset management. Tripfinder assists with field trip creation, and Viewfinder gives district users a broader view of transportation activity. The Stopfinder parent app connects families with schedule information and allows transportation staff to communicate updates based on current routing data.

The technology is part of a larger transformation shaped by team building, professional involvement and mentorship. Employees can share ideas and concerns, while new leaders receive support as they take on greater responsibility. That continuity has helped preserve the department’s family atmosphere.

“We all get along very well, we all talk about things,” Julie Lawson, transportation supervisor, said in 2023. “Most of our drivers feel comfortable enough to come to us and share any ideas or concerns and we listen. We have to listen, and I think that is where a lot of our success comes from, we are all basically family.”

Winning again in 2026 suggests that the culture has endured. Pembroke’s experience shows that continued success does not depend on standing still. It comes from giving employees reliable systems, maintaining open communication and carrying proven values forward as leadership and technology evolve.

“Our culture today is amazing!” said Amy Zimmerman, 19A trainer and school bus driver for Pembroke CSD. “We’re a big family. We celebrate together, we mourn together. We have absolutely evolved as a team.”

Hoover City Schools

Hoover City Schools in Alabama has approximately 13,000 students and transports about 7,500 each day. Its 173-member transportation department serves a city that stretches far from east to west, with heavy traffic and travel times that can exceed an hour. Most buses perform double routes, while midday transportation keeps the operation moving throughout the day.

Director of Transportation Brad Hayn describes the mission in simple terms: transporting students safely to and from school. Hoover began using Transfinder in 2025, implementing Routefinder, Wayfinder, Tripfinder, Infofinder i and Viewfinder. Hayn said the tools support safety, parent access to stop information and schools’ understanding of assignments.

The technology also makes it easier for employees to help one another. If an extra route must be covered or divided, office staff can send the assignment directly to a driver’s Wayfinder tablet. That capability complements a culture in which employees consistently report a willingness to step in and get the job done.

“Success doesn’t come from one individual,” Hayn said. “It comes from all of us working together and doing it together and being willing to chip in whenever it is needed.”

Hayn conducts an annual transportation culture survey and works to remain visible to drivers, aides, mechanics, supervisors and office staff. He sees leadership as service and makes a point of meeting employees in their working environment rather than remaining behind a desk.

“It is completely a selfless attitude that permeates the entire culture of our department,” he said. “The biggest thing that I do in leadership is I don’t take that for granted.”

Rockwall Independent School District

At first-time winner Rockwall Independent School District in Texas, director of transportation Jennifer Gardella identifies active, present leadership as a foundation of the department’s progress. Serving a team across two locations, she has emphasized listening, consistent follow-through and a shared mission through staffing and leadership changes.

The department strengthened professional standards, created team events and luncheons, and celebrated employees through programs such as driver of the month. Those positive interactions created a basis for harder conversations about safety because employees had already seen leaders working beside them and sharing in department life.

“They saw, ‘Okay, she’s really doing this, and she followed through with it,’” Gardella said.

Rockwall has expanded its Transfinder use in stages. The team first corrected its student data import, then added Stopfinder and driver app Wayfinder. Stopfinder allows the department to send targeted messages about delays or route updates. Wayfinder provides route directions on driver tablets, reducing reliance on paper while driving, and provides the ability to take attendance. Daily route imports also give campuses current rosters of students who ride buses.

Gardella views each imperfection as an opportunity to improve. She also credits hands-on service and ongoing relationships with Transfinder personnel for helping the district address issues and continue building the system.

Her message to employees centers on gratitude.

“Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for allowing me to lead the team,” she said. “They’re the first faces and the last faces that represent this district, and they represent Rockwall incredibly well.”

Franklin Township Community School Corporation

Three-time winner Franklin Township Community School Corporation serves a rapidly developed area in southeast Marion County, Indiana. Once dominated by farmland, the district grew quickly into a network of neighborhoods and now enrolls approximately 12,000 students. The transportation department operates 104 buses and employs about 150 people, including drivers, monitors, coordinators, student management staff and mechanics.

Director of Transportation Todd Livesay brought a business degree and years of logistics experience as a railroad conductor and yardmaster to pupil transportation. The district’s rapid growth, school reconfiguration and tight financial environment demanded a system capable of supporting extensive routing changes. Franklin Township selected Transfinder in search of technology and responsive support that better fit those needs.

The district uses Transfinder for routing, Servicefinder for garage operations such as parts and work orders, and Stopfinder for parent messaging and bus tracking. Livesay said the parent app allows the department to send information to dozens of families in seconds and is intuitive enough that he uses it for his own children.

Yet the defining strength of Franklin Township is the team’s ability to set aside differences when buses leave the lot. Employees understand that route time is centered on safety and student care.

“It is always student first, no matter what,” Livesay said. “If there’s a problem, we’ll figure that out later, but let’s take care of these students first.”

That commitment is especially important because the ride to and from school frames a student’s academic day. Livesay said employees recognize that every child on a bus is the most important person in someone’s life.

The People Behind the Performance

Because the Top Transportation Teams results come directly from employees, the award reflects what team members experience throughout the year: leaders who listen, coworkers who help, tools that support the work, and a mission that stays centered on students.

“Each of these teams have a unique story,” said Antonio Civitella, president and CEO of Transfinder. “Large districts and small districts. Urban, suburban and rural districts. They have their own challenges, their own team cultures. Some faced personal setbacks and health issues personally and on their teams. Some faced staff turnover and driver shortages. What stands out is how driven each of these leaders are to serve their communities best by first treating their team members with respect and love. That came through loud and clear from their teams’ survey responses. We’re honored to be a partner to help them navigate these challenges.”