Paul Heide received the annual Tom Horn Award for dedication and leadership to the local school and community at the Iowa School Transportation Conference last month in Des Moines, which also saw the retirement announcement of Iowa Pupil Transportation Association Executive Director Owen Freese and longtime board member Danny Thede.
Heide had officially retired on July 1 as the director of transportation at Storm Lake Community School District, located about 70 miles east of Sioux City, a position he held since 1987 at the only school district he ever worked for under seven different superintendents.
He got his start in the industry as a mechanic in 1984 and quickly was named supervisor before becoming Storm Lake’s director. He oversaw fleet and enrollment growth, as well as technology advances in the buses.
The Tom Horn award is the most prestigious award given to members of the school transportation industry in Iowa and is named for the late founder of the Iowa Pupil Transportation Association. The award is given each summer at the Iowa School Transportation Conference sponsored by IPTA, the Iowa Department of Education and the Iowa Association of School Boards in sponsors the annual Iowa School Transportation Conference.
Meanwhile, 2012 Tom Horn Award winner Freese announced he is retiring as executive director of IPTA effective Dec. 31. He began his career in 1986 as the transportation director and mechanic at Galva-Holstein Community Schools and in 1999 was hired by the Iowa Department of Education as a school bus inspector. He inspected more than 7,500 vehicles.
Freese took the executive director position at IPTA in 2012. The search for his replacement is underway.
Danny ThedeAlso announcing his retirement effective next month was Danny Thede, transportation director for the Indianola Community Schools, after a 29 year career that spanned three districts.
Thede served on the board of the Iowa Pupil Transportation Association for 23 years as both a board member and several terms as the president. He also served for many years on the Body Writing Committee for the National Congress on School Transportation.
Another headliner of last month’s conference was a workshop on “Active Shooter Training for School Transportation Staff,” taught by Gary Moore of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Other workshops of note included an overview of Iowa’s new online bus purchasing program that rolled out in March and a four-hour “boot camp” workshop for new transportation directors.
