After 35 years in the student transportation industry, Steven Kalmes is retiring to become a consultant, the director of transportation at the Anchorage (Alaska) School District told School Transportation News.
Kalmes served as NAPT president from 2003 through 2005, an NAPT regional director and was a delegate at the 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010 National Congresses on School Transportation. He also is a past president of the Missouri Association for Pupil Transportation.
He began his career as a school bus driver in Lawrence, Kan., while still an undergrad at the University of Kansas in the 1970s. In 1976, he went on to become the supervisor of transportation and safety for the Lawrence Unified School District and three years later was a teminal manager for school bus contractor R.W. Harmon & Sons, which was purchased in the mid1980s by the Mayflower Group.
From 1981 to 1985, Kalmes was the supervisor of transportation for Kansas City (Mo.) Public Schools before moving to Anchorage to become the district’s director of transportation services
Kalmes said he plans to remain in the student transportation industry as a consultant and, jokingly, he added that he also hopes to find a warmer climate during the winter months. Meanwhile, he said Anchorage School District has yet to name his success at this writing.
