Technology experts joined a North Carolina transportation director who weathered Hurricane Helene to discuss how safety, communication and flexibility are central to serving students with special needs or who are experiencing housing insecurity.
Courtney Pallotta, chief marketing officer for alternative transportation provider and webinar sponsor EverDriven, reviewed the company’s “Future of Modern Student Transportation and Safety” study, which found that 62 percent of U.S. school districts reported increasing enrollments of students with special needs and 49 percent reported rising McKinney-Vento student counts.
She shared public information statistics indicating 7.6 million students with special needs require transportation as a related service under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as outlined on their Individualized Education Programs. The 1.22 million students experiencing homelessness under McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Act protections make up more than 17.5 percent of all K–12 students in the U.S., Palotta added.
Modernizing operations could be the key to improving operations although that requires a student-centric and safety-focused approach.
“Budget oversight, accountability and safety standards have never been higher,” she said. “How do you put the student at the center of your modernizing strategy?”
Adam Warner, EverDriven’s vice president of operations and head of safety, shared that over half of the school districts surveyed said they face a school bus driver shortage or could not provide adequate transportation for these vulnerable student populations.
Jeremy Stowe, director of transportation for Buncombe County Schools in North Carolina, noted that consistency for students is important during shifting life circumstances, the most recent egregious example being last September’s Hurricane Helene. This, he said, requires transportation to be nimble while still safe and to keep transparent lines of communication open with parents.
Safety and Innovation
Alan Fliegelman, EverDriven’s vice president of product management, and Warner noted that everything from student ridership to driver behavior to vehicle inspections can be effectively tracked and managed through telematics and technology.
“How do we use technology to create a safer, smarter, more adaptable ride?” Warner questioned. “I want to get to a place where these tools ensure that compliance is not assumed but is actively verified.”
“Safety is the only acceptable standard,” Pallotta agreed.
Stowe confirmed as a director of transportation that he expects nothing less than the best for the companies he partners with to serve his school district’s students. As Sears and Roebuck was overshadowed by Amazon, he cautioned pupil transporters to not just lean on the ubiquitous yellow school bus without evolving as needed.
Communication and Transparency
“I have to run at the speed of trust,” declared Stowe, adding he works hard to provide a positive impression of the easily identifiable yellow school bus so parents trust that it is safe and reliable for their children.
“The best thing we can do is meet expectations and earn trust,” Pallotta concurred.
Proactive and real-time communication reduces parent anxiety and unnecessary calls, Warner noted. This is especially important to set up before starting a new school year or gearing up for winter operations, he said.
Technology that incorporates routing software and communication apps helps parents, drivers and district leadership stay on the same page, Fliegelman stated.
Flexibility and Adaptability
The trifecta of safety, transparency and flexibility was crucial when servicing families affected by Hurricane Helene, Stowe relayed. So many families were temporarily displaced that the district saw its McKinney-Vento student ridership triple.
He recalled encountering EverDriven at industry conferences, including STN EXPO East, and the help in removing a barrier so these students could receive education, be fed and return to normalcy at school.
Stowe said that while he may be able to transport 99 percent of his students on yellow school buses, he sought out the right partner with the right tools for the job of transporting the remaining one percent.
“The only way to handle these [instances] without disruption is to build an operation with a contingency plan at its core,” Warner said. “There’s a lot of things that can change in the course of a day. You have to build all these operational practices up front.”
Partnership and Implementation
Technology automation can greatly assist in cases where changes to one bus or driver could cascade into affecting other buses and drivers, Fliegelman noted.
in an age where parents have live location apps on their children’s phones and screaming school bus drivers go viral on social media, technology effectively used by transportation departments helps get ahead of incidents.
“If you’re not talking to parents, they’re talking about you,” Stowe said. “Pump that information out and control the narrative.”
A personal touch is crucial for not just students but parents too. To assist with technology implementation, Stowe said he leveraged personal connections by involving social workers to help parents download the communication app. “That paid huge dividends,” he added.
“Students may forget everything we taught them, but they’ll remember how we treated them,” Stowe summed up.
Transportation professionals nationwide are invited to attend the Transporting Students with Disabilities & Special Needs Conference and Trade Show from Nov. 6—11, 2025 at the Embassy Suites in Frisco (Dallas), Texas. Immerse yourself in the latest trends in special needs transportation training, products, and services. Connect with like-minded individuals, attend educational sessions and workshops, and explore product demonstrations. Learn more and register at tsdconference.com.
