HISD’s Transportation Department is offering a $2,000 sign-on stipend to the first 120 CDL drivers hired between June 1 and August 22, 2022. Re-hires are not eligible for the stipend.
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Transportation Services is driving support for Souper Bowl of Caring and emergency food pantries
HISD Transportation Services has donated the use of four 20-foot school buses at West University Elementary School to help collect food donations for this year’s Souper Bowl of Caring.
Continue readingHISD hosting job fairs to recruit dedicated bus drivers
As a kid, Jephte Mondesir loved watching “The Magic School Bus,” a popular animated children’s television show featuring an eccentric teacher who took her students on educational adventures via a magic bus.
The ex-New Yorker and 10-year Texan loved watching the teacher, known affectionately as Miss Frizzle, transport her science class to new worlds.
He loved it so much, in fact, he knew he wanted to do the same.
“I wanted to operate that bus in real life,” Mondesir said with a laugh. “I just knew that the school bus was an important part of education. In fact, all the real ones truly are.”
A 22-year veteran bus driver, Mondesir now serves as a response team operator for the Houston Independent School District’s Transportation Services department. He is among a select group of drivers who work with department leaders to solve manpower issues and recruit new drivers.
Continue readingBusiness Operations hosting job fair June 26
The Houston Independent School District is hosting a job fair this weekend to find candidates to fill several key operational support positions, including bus drivers, custodians, mechanics, HVAC technicians and grounds crews.
Interested individuals should attend the Business Operations Job Fair from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, June 26, 2021, at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, 4400 West 18th St.
Continue readingHISD hosting job fairs to recruit new bus drivers
Transportation Services is hosting more than a dozen job fairs over the next four months to recruit new bus drivers in preparation for the 2021-2022 school year.
Though no decisions have been made about next year, the department is ramping up recruiting efforts to prepare for the possibility of transporting more students this fall. Bus service was limited during the 2020-2021 school year due to physical distancing restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Continue readingSchool Bus Driver Appreciation Week is February 8-12
The Houston Independent School District is celebrating school bus drivers this week as part of School Bus Driver Appreciation Week, which launches Monday, Feb. 8.
Continue readingKeeping kids safe, one bus ride at a time
For bus drivers, safety has always been a top priority. Nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, that hasn’t changed — but the ways they go about it have.
Armed with assorted cleaning supplies and backpack-style sprayers filled with hospital-quality disinfectant, crews gather every Friday and Saturday to thoroughly disinfects every surface of every bus used that week.
“We make sure everything is safe,” said Tyrick McCoy, a response team operator for Transportation Services and member of the bus sanitization team.
Continue readingCrews keep students, staff warm during coldest days of the year
On the rare occasion that Houston temperatures drop to freezing, it’s not just people who may struggle to get going in the morning. HISD schools and buses need extra time to warm up, too.
But for every cozy classroom or bus ride, there is a team that has braved the weather in the dark and early morning hours to make learning environments comfy and safe for students’ arrival.
They are the cold-start crews – the ones who are called in when temperatures drop to 32 degrees and below.
Continue readingBus driver goes extra mile for student safety
When HISD closed in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, bus driver Althea McWhorter never got the chance to say goodbye to the seniors who rode her bus every day for four years.
For someone who thoroughly enjoys getting to know her passengers as she drives them to and from school each day, losing the chance to say goodbye was not easy. But she’s hoping this year will be different.
Armed with new bus safety measures and a duffel bag of disinfecting supplies, McWhorter was ready to welcome a new group of students returning this month for in-person instruction.
Continue readingTransportation finalizing new routes for returning students; parents to be notified next week
Transportation Services is finalizing bus routes for eligible riders who have indicated to the district they plan to return for in-person learning and preparing to notify parents of assigned routes next week.
School bus service will be limited when in-person instruction resumes on Oct. 19 due to physical distancing and its impact on bus capacity. Under the HISD Communicable Disease Plan, buses will run at half capacity with just 26 students.
To accommodate the reduced capacity, bus service will be limited to special education, homeless, elementary, and specialty school students. Service also may be provided for some students in middle school as well as those who live along high-risk routes if resources are available.
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