School Transportation News has opened its annual call for nominations for this year’s Peter J. Grandolfo Memorial Award of Excellence that will be given to a deserving student transporter at the 19th Annual STN EXPO in Reno, Nev.
The late Grandolfo was transportation director at Chicago Public Schools and an NAPT board member who was also a frequent presenter at state and national conferences, such as the STN EXPO. He was considered a “Renaissance” man who made it his lifelong mission to education and transport schoolchildren.
“Peter had a love and dedication for the school bus industry that was evident in everything he did and said professionally,” said his widow Linda Grandolfo, a special education teacher in Chicago. “He was the consummate educator, always kind and patient and willing to not only teach but to always learn. He had an amazing sense of family and friendship.”
That friendship with STN founder Bill Paul resulted in the award following Grandolfo’s unexpected death in January 2006 following complications from hip-replacement surgery. The first recipient was then Oklahoma state director Randy McLerran in 2007. Four others have received the award since, including:
- Jack Welsh, a founding father of the Montana Association for Pupil Transportation (2008)
- Charlie Hood, state director of Florida and the immediate past president of NASDTPS (2009)
- Carolyn Oakes, special education transportation manager at Minneapolis Public Schools (2010)
- Cheryl Wolf, retired transportation safety director for Lafayette (Ind.) Schools Corporation (2011).
Nominations for this sixth-annual award include a 200-word essay on why the nominee should be considered for the award, which is sponsored each year by Sure-Lok. Essays should include examples of integrity, vision, dedication to ongoing education and learning, mentorship, humanitarianism, out-of-the-box thinking, and overall dedication to student transportation.
The deadline for submissions is June 22.
