Marty Marks said it can be easy to get frustrated with the student riders when they don’t behave on the school bus. But he added that each day, students have a fresh start as they head to school.
Similarly, he said there is no place for transportation staff holding grudges or passing judgement. “Every day is a new day,” he added, echoing his favorite quote.
Marks started in the school transportation industry in 2005, when he became a school bus driver for his children’s school events. He started driving part-time for Neosho School District in Missouri as well as driving trips for four years. Marks then moved over 250 miles to the east, to St. Louis, where he worked for 10 years at First Student as a safety manager, later becoming a location manager. In 2019, he moved back to Neosho to serve as the director of transportation, a role he’s held since.
Each year, School Transportation News chooses 10 Rising Stars based on nominations submitted by school districts and companies around the industry. These individuals have shown exemplary commitment and dedication in the student transportation industry and continue to demonstrate innovation in their roles. This year’s Rising Stars are featured in the November magazine issue.
“Listening to the younger students,” he said of his favorite part of his job and what’s kept in the industry for 20 years. “Students have imaginations and want to share their thoughts. Students need adult attention and that’s what truly makes the job enjoyable.”
Jim Davis, the superintendent of schools for Neosho, wrote in his nomination that Marks has made significant contributions to enhance the safety, mobility and sustainability at the district. Davis said Marks leads a team of around 70 employees and substitutes and excels in fostering culture within district transportation as a whole.
“This is demonstrated by his staff retention and training opportunities provided on-site to best serve the needs of NSD,” Davis wrote. “Furthermore, under Marty’s leadership, area schools have participated in the annual bus rodeo, hosted at NSD. This annual bus driving and bus maintenance competition provides area schools the opportunity to showcase their skills.”
Safety
Davis said one priority for Marks has been achieving a high school bus inspection rating of 90 percent or greater, as scored by the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Additionally, the district has earned the Exemplary School Bus Maintenance Award from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, recognizing a decade of excellent inspection scores.
“During the school year, Marty and his team also conduct on-site bus safety training with our students,” Davis continued. “The purpose is to educate all students within the Neosho School District bus safety and behavior expectations, regardless of if they are a daily rider.”
Prior to the new school year, Davis noted that a bus camp is also hosted, which provides new students an opportunity to tour the school bus, learn how to be responsible and safe on and around the bus, meet the drivers and take a ride on the bus. “The purpose of the bus camp is to help ease some anxiety that may come with being a new student daily rider and best prepare them for the first day of school,” Davis added.
Mobility
To ensure efficiency, Davis said Marks implemented new routing software from Transfinder. Marks noted that previously routing was a manual paper process, and the department was depending on drivers to route themselves.
Davis added that the purpose of implementing the software was to make the routes more efficient. And since implementation, NSD was able to eliminate a couple routes. “NSD runs approximately 50 different daily routes, not including extracurricular activities. Our district is located in the rural southwest corner of Missouri, where the longest route is an hour and a half and spans across two counties,” Davis said of district size.
Sustainability
Davis said NSD has a diverse fleet of diesel, gasoline and propane school buses. Marks said the diversification allows the district to utilize fuel prices to the best of their abilities.
“The purpose of the diverse fleet is to ensure the buses serve the district in the most efficient way to provide safety, cost savings and sustainability,” Davis wrote.
He provided an example, in which the district transported students to an extracurricular event that was three hours away.
“Marty instructed his team to drive the gasoline buses because the temperatures were expected to be dangerously cold,” he recalled. “A diesel bus driven by our neighboring school district would not start due to the weather, and rather than leaving students three hours away from home, our buses brought those students back and dropped them off at their school. Having a diverse fleet is not the norm within school districts, and we are thankful to have these buses to best serve students.”
Challenges
Marks said one of the biggest challenges at school startup is accurate student information, as many students move in and out of the district frequently. Having accurate student rosters is critical, he said. Additionally, he said, many students do not speak English, which is another challenge that transportation navigates.
“We are also currently using our ParentSquare system to send out mass messaging to help improve parent communications, by sending transportation information directly to parent emails,” he added.
Marks said the goal for the transportation department is to continue to improve its facility. “We want our facility to be among the best,” he said. “This will help to retain drivers.”
One way to do that is implementing a fueling software to better track fuel usage. Plus, he said NSD wants to continue purchasing buses with air conditioning as students are accustomed to it, and it’s better when there are high heat temperatures.
On a personal note, outside of work, Marks said he enjoys spending time with his grandchildren and working around the house.
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