Alan Fidler of Indiana and Jack Defibaugh of West Virginia were named the NAPT America’s Best School Bus Technician and School Bus Inspector following the four-day skills and training competition held in San Antonio, Texas.
Fidler is a school bus technician at Tippecanoe School Corporation located in Lafayette, Ind. Meanwhile, Defibaugh works for Greenbriar County Schools in Lewisburg, W.V., located about 100 miles southeast of Charleston in the Allegheny Mountains. Both men were scheduled to be formally honored during the 37th NAPT Annual Summit held in Cincinnati in late October.
Ralph Trango of the Wake County (N.C.) Public School System and Chris Hodges of Cache County (Utah) School District finished in second and third place in the technician category. Jeff Pihl of Douglas County (Colo.) School District finished in second place in the inspector competition followed by Scott Bettinger of Temple (Texas) ISD.
The event hosted by the Texas Association of School Bus Technicians the was NAPT’s 8th annual nationwide search to find America’s Best School Bus Technician and School Bus Inspector. Hydrotex, Bus Parts Warehouse, Zonar Systems and the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence sponsored the skills and training competition, which included workshops as well as hands-on and written exams.
In all, technicians from 20 states and inspectors from 12 states participated. Technician requirements included those in positions that regularly maintain or repair school buses, while the inspectors had to be currently employed in a position requiring the regular/frequent inspection of school buses.
Editor’s Note: The formal release stating the winners of the America’s Best competition incorrectly named Alan Fidler as Filder and Jack Defibaugh as Jeff.
