The Times-Tribune
CORBIN —
Special to The Times-Tribune
The Kentucky Department of Education recently honored the Knox County School District’s Transportation Department for “dedication to the Knox County Schools and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”
The special presentation was made during the KDE’s 2010 Annual Pupil Transportation Conference held July 11-14 in Louisville. The award was presented by longtime state Transportation Program Manager Roy Prince, who spoke about Knox County’s “improvement” in recent years.
“I’ve been coming down to Knox County for the past 20 years,” Prince said, “but the transportation department has had a lot of challenges… and we were very concerned about their running an efficient program.”
However, things are “so much better” in recent years, Prince said. Among other observations, he noted that Knox’s maintenance technicians are “making sure that buses are ready” before they leave the garage and that “training of drivers is going on” in a consistent manner.
“It’s not perfect, but it’s so much better,” Prince said.
Representing Knox County at the conference were Transportation Director Jeff Ketcham and Supt. Walter T. Hulett, in addition to District Area Coordinator Dallas Mills Jr., new West Knox Area Coordinator Bill Abner, head mechanic Harold Riley, mechanics Joe Goodin, Farrel Riley and Steve Jones, and driver trainers Harlan Taylor and Robert Carrier.
In a recent interview, Superintendent Hulett commented, “It is my pleasure to work with our transportation department. This dedicated group does many additional jobs to see that our district is successful and all children are safely transported to and from school.”
Transportation Director Jeff Ketcham was also pleased. “I don’t think they give this award every year,” he said. “Mr. Prince told me they’ve been impressed the past couple of years, and he felt like he needed to bring to everyone’s attention the improvements made in Knox County.
“He was not saying we’re the best transportation department,” Ketcham noted, “but that we’ve shown great improvement, the way I took it, and it wasn’t just me as director or the mechanics, it was Knox County’s entire transportation department.
“You hate to pat yourself on the back,” he said, “but it was a big honor. I felt it was something well deserved, not necessarily me, but these folks up here at the garage and on the buses, they deserve it.”
The Knox County Schools’ Transportation Department was also to be recognized for the state award at the July 27th meeting of the Knox County Board of Education.
According to Transportation Department records, Knox County buses travel approximately 4,000 road miles each school day while transporting some 3,000 students. The buses travel on 74 regular bus routes.
The department has 74 full-time drivers, five full-time relief drivers, 34 bus monitors, five mechanics, five driver trainers, five bus garage personnel, 15 substitute drivers, and nine substitute monitors.
Mechanics service buses every 20 working days in the six-bay and two-lift garage located on Old Pineville Road at Boone Height. There’s also a parts room and offices on the first floor and training room upstairs.
