Hot Springs awarded for having safest school buses

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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — The safety of students who ride the bus in the Hot Springs School District is in great hands— and recently, the district’s transportation department received a prestigious award from the Arkansas Association of Pupil Transportation (AAPT)

Each year, the AAPT hands out up to six awards to school districts in Arkansas with the most well-maintained fleet of buses.

This year, one of those awards now belongs to Rodney Echols, district Director of Maintenance and Transportation, and his team at the bus barn in Hot Springs.

The AAPT presented Echols with the “2023 School Bus Safety Award” earlier for the consistent hard work that he and his staff members perform to keep students safe each day.

“This is my 5th year here in the transportation department and the team that we have works very well together and we get along. Our priorities lie in transporting kids safely. Making sure our community feels safe about us transporting kids safely, and building relationships with kids,” said Echols.

Two years ago, Echols hired long-time diesel mechanic Robert Goodeaux onto the team. He was given a budget to revamp and remodel the fleet of buses.

He said the recognition of the award is great and shows how far the buses have come in meeting modern safety expectations.

“I look over them really well. And if there's anything on that, that I don't feel is safe, it's not leaving here. I mean, if I won't let my kids on it, I'm not going to let anybody else's kids ride on it either," said Goodeaux.

Most of the buses come complete with HEPA filters, air conditioning, and a manually operated safety buzzer system. Goodeaux explained how the buzzer is a major safety upgrade since it helps the driver know that all students are off the bus properly.

“We have the No Child Left Behind alarms on it. So, you probably have seen it on the news where people have left kids, well, there's an alarm that goes off on these when that driver shuts that bus off, until that driver goes to the back of the bus and disarms, that alarm is going to keep blaring and then the horn starts honking," he described.

In total, around 1,500 students are carried to and from school or other events on these buses. The fleet of buses is more than 35 deep, with many of them built in the 2000s.

Transportation team member Jeff Rash said that each bus is cared for daily so parents can rest easy knowing their children are as safe as they can be when they’re away from home.

“It's important to let people know that the Hot Springs School District, the Trojans, are proud of everything we have and everything we do," said Rash.

The success of the bus team also includes three women who handle dispatch and phones in the office. According to Echols, they couldn’t do their jobs at the barn without the women and said they are just as much a part of the AAPT award as any of them.

The district encompasses 27 bus routes each school day, along with transporting students for extracurricular activities and field trips— that means the buses are on the roads nearly every day.

Echols added that while he and his team are pleased to have the award, they know the amount of work that went into achieving it. He said he’s looking forward to next year’s inspection.

“I’d put my bus fleet up against anyone in the state of Arkansas”, Echols said with a proud smile.