Monday, July 13

Location: Capri Ballroom

Description: This dignified award, in its 19th year, recognizes a school transportation professional who exhibits exemplary service on behalf of the nation’s school children, especially those with disabilities. Named after the late Chicago Public Schools transportation director and NAPT board member. 

Location: Capri Ballroom

Speaker: Tony Corpin

Description: Join us to hear the results of the Ride & Drive Demonstration and enjoy a cup of coffee, courtesy of Zonar.

Location: Capri Ballroom

Speaker: Vivek Garg

Description: It’s time to start thinking of student transportation as more than getting kids to and from school. See what happens when technology and AI capabilities focus first and foremost on the experience of the people affected by it. This session includes a product and technology showcase that you don’t want to miss.

Location: Naples 6 & 7

Speakers: Chad Duncan & Matt Milewski

Description: In today’s evolving transportation landscape, staying ahead of maintenance issues and operational challenges requires more than reactive fixes—it starts with the right foundation. Join IC Bus as we explore how proactive fleet management combines smart vehicle spec’ing with connected data, telematics, and vehicle health insights to optimize performance from day one.

This session will cover how aligning vehicle specifications to your route demands, driver needs, and maintenance capabilities can reduce downtime and improve long-term reliability. Attendees will also learn how leveraging real-time data enables transportation leaders to anticipate issues, streamline maintenance, and extend vehicle life—keeping fleets safe, efficient, and always ready.

Location: Naples 1 & 2

Moderator: Lori Jetha

Panelists: Joe Allen, Chris Fox, ​Julian Jimenez, ​& Jeff Obechina

Description: Illegal passings, parent concerns, driver coaching needs—transportation teams face real challenges every day. In this dynamic session, Safe Fleet experts walk through three, real‑world scenarios and show how AI‑enabled safety technologies reduce incident investigation time from hours to minutes and help alert students to danger and avoid tragedy at the bus stop. Learn how districts can move from today’s reactive workflows to tomorrow’s connected, proactive safety ecosystem—starting with the equipment already on your buses.

Location: Naples 3 & 4

Speaker: Weston Bartlett

Description: Step into the spotlight for Tyler Feud — AI Edition, a Family Feud-style game where transportation meets artificial intelligence. This interactive session combines friendly competition with real-world discussions about how AI is transforming school transportation operations, routing, communication, reporting, and decision-making.

Location: Naples 6 & 7

Speakers: Chris Karlin, Matt McClure, Matt McGinn, & Nicole Wheeldon

Description: Cummins delivers the proven performance and innovation school districts depend on to keep students moving every day. This session will discuss our latest solutions for school bus and how you can continue to depend on Cummins going forward.

Location: Naples 1 & 2

Speaker: Marty Savino and David Weber

Description: School-Radio can provide instant connectivity almost anywhere, virtually instantly with encrypted PTT over multi-carrier data networks.  FCC Type-acceptance, PTCRB certification, and carrier certification assure that you are always connected.  Managed Services options allow for tight budgets, and Interoperability connects School-Radio with your existing radio network.

Location: Naples 3 & 4

Speakers: Jeff Lanier, David Payne, Thomas Polan, & Don Owens​

Description: Where we’re going on hardware, apps, and integrations — modernizing every layer of the Synovia platform in 2026.

Location: Capri Ballroom

Location: Naples 1 & 2
Speakers: Emma Kauffman & Josh Mech​

Description: For transportation directors, nothing outranks getting every student to and from school safely — and most risk starts not in major emergencies, but in everyday situations that escalate. Join Relay’s Emma Kauffman and Josh Mech for a practical look at how real-time communication, location awareness, and instant alerting help districts prevent routine issues from becoming emergencies. The session will cover how leading transportation teams connect drivers, dispatchers, and campus staff across the entire district — and why the strongest safety systems don’t require the biggest budgets or new infrastructure.

Location: Naples 3 & 4

Speakers: John Hanlon

Description: John Hanlon, CEO of AlphaRoute, brings a unique perspective rooted in true frontline experience. As the former COO of Boston Public Schools, he knows firsthand that when the budget math stops working, legacy routing strategies fall short. John is now pioneering the use of conversational AI to solve complex operational challenges. He will reveal how transportation leadership can respond to difficult financial questions quickly and confidently.

Location: Naples 6 & 7

Speakers: Joseph Brumfield

Description: Many transportation teams spend 95% of their time solving transportation for the 5% of their students that represent the highest operational complexity the complex IEP requirements and increasing last-minute McKinney-Vento transportation needs. In these high-stakes scenarios, low visibility can lead to a reactive stance that increases district friction, creates safety gaps, and impacts student well-being.
This session will explore a modern approach to these hurdles, shifting the focus from reactive problem-solving to proactive safety and operational control, by analyzing driver vetting and care standards, behavior-based telematics, and real-time data dashboards.

Location: Naples 1 & 2

Speaker: Ron Kinney

Description: This session will discuss the results of California’s school bus crash and passenger injury data beginning in 2004/2005 through 2024, with specific focus on the 20 years since lap/shoulder belts began appearing incrementally on all new California school buses. Participants will hear that lap/shoulder/belt are just one of the contributing factors in reducing pupil passenger injuries on school buses.

Location: Naples 3 & 4

Speaker: Jeff Cassell

Description: Public school districts occupy an unusual gray area in workplace safety law — as governmental entities, they are generally exempt from federal OSHA requirements that private school bus contractors must follow to the letter. But exemption from a rule is not the same as exemption from risk, and the hazards facing school bus technicians and drivers — from chemical exposure and lockout/tagout failures to bloodborne pathogens and heavy equipment — don’t disappear because a district isn’t legally obligated to address them. This session makes the case that voluntarily adopting OSHA standards is one of the most practical and defensible risk management decisions a school district can make, reducing liability exposure, strengthening employee retention, and creating a culture of safety that protects the people who keep students moving every day. Attendees will explore which OSHA standards are most relevant to maintenance facilities and driver operations, how to conduct a practical gap assessment against those standards, and how to build administrative support for compliance efforts that go beyond what the law requires. Whether your operation is managed in-house or through a contractor, you’ll leave with a clearer understanding of where your vulnerabilities are and what a proactive safety program actually looks like in practice.

Location: Naples 6 & 7

Speaker: Jim Schiffler

Description: Learn why good drivers leave and how to build an organizational culture that actually retains them.  This practical session covers the real cost of turnover, how to create trust, close the recognition gap and simple strategies you can start using immediately. 

Location: Naples 1 & 2

Speakers: Sandy Dillman & Rosalyn Vann-Jackson

Description: This breakout session will take a “back to basics” look at defensive driving while recognizing the rapidly changing reality of distracted and autonomous vehicles sharing the road with school buses. Presenters will review core best practices for defensive driving and distracted driving, then connect those fundamentals to emerging technologies such as collision avoidance, cameras, and other onboard automation. The session will also explore the growing presence of autonomous and highly automated vehicles (including robo-taxis) and what their behavior means for school bus drivers operating around them. Attendees will gain a clearer understanding of vehicle autonomy levels, how current and future systems interact with lane markings and roadway infrastructure, and where risks and limitations remain. Through real-world examples, videos, and audience interaction, participants will walk away with practical strategies to strengthen their defensive driving curriculum and coach drivers to stay proactive in an increasingly automated traffic environment.

Location: Naples 3 & 4

Speakers: Ryan Hahn

Description: Transportation directors are often invisible inside their own organizations — until something goes wrong. Buses roll, routes run, and nobody in the cabinet suite thinks about the department until a driver shortage hits the news or a bus breaks down. That invisibility has a cost. When budget season arrives, departments that haven’t built relationships and made their case with data are the first to be cut.

In this session, Ryan Hahn of Strategic School Consulting lays out a practical roadmap for advocacy at every level — inside your district, at the state capitol, and on Capitol Hill. Drawing on his experience as a transportation director and chief business officer, Ryan will show you what data actually moves the needle with superintendents and CFOs, how to break out of reactive mode and position transportation as a strategic priority, and what effective state and federal advocacy looks like in an era of uncertain funding. Whether you’ve never called a legislator or you’re a seasoned budget advocate looking to sharpen your approach, this session will give you the tools to speak the language of leadership and make your department’s case with confidence.

Key takeaways:

• The most common mistake transportation directors make in budget conversations — and how to avoid it
• Which data points to track and present to leadership, and how often
• How to engage at the state and federal levels, even if you’re starting from zero
• How to build visibility and credibility before the next budget crisis hits

Location: Naples 6 & 7

Speaker: Keba Baldwin with Cor’Darius “Mr. Bus Driver” Jones

Description: School bus drivers are trusted every day with the safety of children, yet the mental toll of split shifts, double routes, extended hours, insufficient recovery time is pushing drivers to their limits — and in some cases, out of the profession entirely. Then there is ongoing student behavior to address and, in many cases, a lack of interest from school administrators in backing up school bus driver enforcement of the rules. In this candid fireside chat, STN Transportation Director of the Year Keba Baldwin of Prince George’s County Schools in Maryland and bus driver and social media advocate Cor’Darius Jones of Escambia County Public Schools in Florida pull back the curtain on what fatigue really looks like from both sides of the operation — the manager trying to keep routes covered and the driver trying to keep showing up. Together they explore how chronic exhaustion erodes performance, strains morale, and quietly drives turnover in an industry already struggling with staffing shortages. Attendees will come away with practical strategies for building a workplace culture where drivers feel safe saying they need a break, where scheduling practices protect rather than deplete, and where wellness is treated as a safety issue — not a personal one. Whether you’re a director working to retain good people or a driver advocate looking for language to bring to leadership, this session offers an honest, solutions-focused conversation that the school transportation industry needs to have.

Location: Tuscany Ballroom

Location: Tuscany Ballroom

Description: Enjoy an evening of awe, wonder, fun and valuable networking connections. This special event blends business with enchantment, providing the perfect atmosphere to unwind, network, and foster meaningful relationships with colleagues, partners, and new contacts.

This dynamic event is your gateway to discovering cutting-edge products, services, and solutions that will take your transportation operations to the next level. Connect with top vendors, explore new technologies, and get hands-on with the latest in transportation solutions.