The district employs 24 transportation staff members, which includes 21 school bus drivers, two mechanics and Abramson’s secretary, the only employee who doesn’t have a CDL and school bus endorsement. Abramson (pictured, at left) often serves as a sub driver.
The district’s mechanics also service 125 other fleet vehicles.
“Every year our senior mechanic saves us over $100,000 with the work he can do in-house and with his knowledge,” Abramson said.
This year is Abramson’s 19th at the district and his 14th as transportation director. He started in the industry in the early 1980s by driving a bus for Lincoln Public Schools and Omaha Public Schools while attending the University of Nebraska and studying sound recording. In 1983, armed with a degree, he went to work for RW Harmon & Sons, which was owned by Ward Bus Body, for some extra spending cash between music gigs. When the company was purchased by Ryder, he went back to Lincoln Public Schools as a bus driver.
His sound recording career soon brought him, not surprisingly, to Los Angeles. In addition to teaching at a sound recording school in the San Fernando Valley, he drove school buses for Santa Barbara Transportation, which serviced the Newhall Unified School District. He was a driver before becoming a subsitute and then state-certified, behind-the-wheel instructor.
Next, he went to work for Laidlaw’s Oxnard location near Ventura. He drove special needs routes for both disabled children and adults. Laidlaw soon named him district director of driver development and safety responsible for locations stretching from Oxnard near Ventura south to San Diego.
The Santa Monica opportunity opened up while Abramson was also doing sound engineering work for a local music promoter.
All the while he said he found driving a school bus to be “a fun, good job,” especially during his days in college. One passion replaced another and took the full-time job away from the music scene, but he still has retained his ear, especially for the high end.
“I hear a bus pulling in and I know who it is, which bus,” he remarked.
The majority of drivers are long-term employees.
“Turnover comes and goes. We are smaller so (turnover is) not too high,” he added. “We offer excellent benefits, and drivers are guaranteed seven hours a day. Plus there’s overtime with extracurricular trips.”
Abramson’s office is located on the same Santa Monica site as one of the district’s two bus garages, and the other is located in Malibu.
