IDEA Public Schools Careers

Role Mission: In 2024-25, IDEA Public Schools will serve nearly 90,000 students and will grow to serve 100,000 students by 2025 across schools in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and Ohio. The Director of Transportation Operations will be responsible for planning and administering the day-to-day operations of a complex and demanding school bus transportation program in multiple states and regions. The ideal candidate is expected to maintain control over the effective and efficient performance of the school bus transportation program and is responsible for the hiring, onboarding, development, and retention of the Transportation staff at the campus and regional levels.

Additionally, the Director is also responsible for developing, implementing, and coordinating training programs and policies to ensure compliance with all applicable local, state, and federal regulations. In this role, the Director must ensure alignment between the technology used in the department and the policies implemented with the ultimate goal of maximizing the safety and efficiency of the transportation program.

The ideal candidate must possess an in-depth knowledge of DOT rules and regulations as well as other federal, state, and local agencies overseeing and impacting the transportation program. Qualified candidates must possess the ability to communicate effectively with a wide variety of people and influence actions.

The Director of Transportation Operations will report directly to the VP of Transportation and Warehousing and will have the Assistant Director of Transportation and Regional Transportation Managers as direct reports.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Assistant Director of Transportation
• Regional Transportation Managers

Location:

• This is a full-time on-site position based in Texas with preference given to candidates who live in Austin, Houston, Permian Basin (Midland/Odessa), and Rio Grande Valley, or who are willing to relocate.

Travel Expectations:

• Regular visits to campus sites located in different regions, including overnight work-related travel.

What We Offer:

Compensation & Benefits:

• Salaries for people entering this role typically fall between $98,246 and $115,930, commensurate with relevant experience and qualifications and in alignment with internal equity. This role is also eligible for performance pay based on organizational performance and goal attainment.
• Additionally, we offer medical, dental, and vision plans, disability, life insurance, parenting benefits, flexible spending account options, generous vacation time, referral bonuses, professional development, and a 403(b) plan. You can find more information about our benefits at https://ideapublicschools.org/careers/benefits/.
• * IDEA may offer a relocation stipend to defray the cost of moving for this role, if applicable.

What You’ll Do – Accountabilities

As the leader, you will be responsible for setting a strategy that guides the team to reach the following ambitious goals:

• IDEA Texas will not exceed the budgeted transportation cost per mile by June 30, 2026.
• IDEA Texas will maintain an overall bus utilization among all active routes of a minimum 80% average throughout the year.
• IDEA Texas will have 100% of transportation safety and compliance audits completed each semester (twice per semester) by the end of the 2025-2026 school year with an average overall score of at least 80%. Q1 & Q3 led by safety team auditing 100% of on-duty drivers. Q2 & Q4 led by RTMs auditing at least 50% of on-duty drivers.
• IDEA Texas will have a 15% increase in preventable safety incident-free miles from the previous school year. 
• The transportation department will achieve 95% quality service score through surveys measuring key metrics.

Essential Duties:

• Ensure the Transportation Department adheres to all applicable organization, local, state, and federal rules, regulations, and organizational SOPs.
• Enforce safety policies and procedures and make decisions in collaboration with the HR business partner regarding appropriate discipline for infractions.
• Create, maintain, and communicate safety-related policies, procedures, and trainings and ensure that they are followed.
• Investigate accidents, injuries, or illnesses occurring in the workplace and enlist assistance from other supervisory personnel or outside consultants if necessary. Investigation reports must include factual statements of what occurred, conclusions, and recommendations for corrective or preventive actions.
• Act on historical data to ensure future re-occurrences are mitigated.
• Assess and ensure routes are being run in the safest and most efficient manner possible.  Long routes, with low ridership, equal a low linear density.
• Oversee the preparation and submission of the TEA Transportation Route Service and Operations
• Enforce the use of routing and ridership software to monitor, track, and balance student ridership across the district while auditing rosters to ensure all buses are under capacity before, during, and after the first day of school.
• Effective training of managers around IDEA's Student ID policies for the mitigation of lost IDs and best practices for ensuring 95% of students are utilizing their ID in scanning onto and off the bus.
• Create an internal audit mechanism that will be used to implement corrective action plans for campuses not meeting under and over-capacity expectations.
• Ensure there are no stops outside of an 8-mile radius of campuses.
• Decrease or eliminate stops where students must cross the street in front of the bus.
• Ensure community stops are well-lit and safe locations.
• Ensure there are no dangers for students in walking to their homes (mean dogs, major roads to be crossed with speed limits in excess of 35mph, lack of sidewalks forcing students to walk in the streets).
• Assesses root cause of financial variance; establishes actions to mitigate/recover.
• Educates / aligns regional team on financial and operational performance metrics.
• Coordinate with the Director of Transportation Finance to develop trainings on operational efficiencies and best practices for campus Transportation managers throughout the academic year.
• Monitor the Transportation Performance Tracker (monthly) and identify opportunities to decrease expenses and increase reclassified revenue.
• Manage processes to ensure organizational goals and objectives are met, including full oversight of all operational areas of the Department’s Budget.
• Set up dashboards with metrics for team from multiple organizational systems to ensure accuracy in all functions.
• Reports on discrepancies and root causes and work towards improvements each month.
• Monitors the Transportation Dashboard created by the School Operations Project Analyst and partners with Transportation Functional areas to identify and resolve any discrepancies.
• Runs audits to ensure legacy systems have accurate data.
• Create meaningful comparisons to use data to drive future results of the Transportation Department.

Additional Duties and Responsibilities:

• Proactively and reactively addresses system functionality concerns and issues that employees have with a high degree of professionalism and a customer service orientation.
• Manage relationships with outsourced transportation vendors, ensuring contract compliance, service quality, and alignment with organizational goals.
• Coordinate regular vendor meetings to review performance metrics, address concerns, and ensure alignment with IDEA’s operational standards.
• Collaborate with external stakeholders, including community leaders, and government agencies, to enhance transportation services and address local challenges.
• Partner with cross-functional teams, including Procurement and Finance, to optimize transportation contracts and operational efficiencies.

What You Bring – Competencies

Knowledge and Skills:

• Ability to lead, motivate, and develop a diverse group of individuals across multiple regions.
• Strong computer literacy that includes an understanding of Microsoft Office Suite (i.e., Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Strong mathematical skills and the ability to understand and interpret data (charts, graphs, etc.).
• Strong organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent oral, written, and presentation skills.
• Demonstrate problem-solving, adaptability, and flexibility; can reprioritize workload due to inclement weather, schedule changes, and any other potential setback
• Can work independently with little direction.
• Can handle stress well to meet time-sensitive deliverables.
• Able to work prolonged and irregular hours, especially in the months leading to our first day of school.
• Able to travel approximately 30% of the work week.

Required experience:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business Management, Transportation, Supply Chain Management, Logistics, or relevant field of study required. 
• Experience: 10+ years in a leadership role(s) within school bus transportation or related transportation industry, oversight of multiple units across several regions.
• Bilingual Spanish/English is highly desirable.

Preferred experience:

• Master of Business Administration or other related advanced degree preferred.
• Licenses or Certifications (Preferred): Certified Texas Pupil Transportation Administrator (CTPTA) or Certified Texas Pupil Transportation Official (CTPTO).

Physical Requirements:

•  Able to perform office duties as necessary.

Application process:

Submit your application online through Jobvite. Please note that applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis until the position is filled. Applicants are encouraged to apply as early as possible.

Learn more about IDEA

At IDEA the Staff Culture and Belonging Team uses our Core Values to promote human connection and a culture of integrity, respect, and belonging for all Team and Family members.  Learn more about our Commitment to Core Values here: https://ideapublicschools.org/our-story/#core-values