The Kentucky Association for Pupil Transportation (KAPT) has selected Allen County School Superintendent Randall Jackson as their Superintendent of the Year.
According to the KAPT website, the Superintendent of the Year award is presented to “the administrator who strongly supports the pupil transportation staff in every aspect.” Mr. Jackson was nominated for the award by Allen County School Transportation Director Wendell Spears.
“I am honored by the award,” Jackson said. “What I try to do is to support every facet of our school district all I can. I don’t think there’s any district in the state of Kentucky that cares more about the general welfare of their kids than the Allen County School District and a big part of that is safely getting the students to and from school.”
Jackson says his role with the transportation department is complete support in any possible way.
“What I try to do with transportation with Mr. Spears and all his people---from the technicians and mechanics to the drivers, monitors, (assistant transportation director) Roger Weaver, and the principals that relate to them—is to give my full support and the Central Office’s full support,” Jackson explained. “That’s all I do. I try to help them anyway I can and be a resource to them in any way, whether it’s financial or talking strategy or giving support as well as I can.”
Superintendent Jackson praised the workers in the transportation department for their dedication to a difficult and challenging job.
“Transportation people have a very tremendous responsibility for other people’s children and it’s not to be taken lightly,” Jackson noted. “It takes a special type of person.”
Jackson noted that the teamwork between the Central Office and the transportation department is “first class,” especially during the winter when weather conditions require a decision on the cancelation of school.
“I have a great deal of comfort knowing that about 4:15 in the morning, I’m going to get a phone call from Wendell,” Jackson said. “Wendell is my alarm. He’s already at the job. It’s a very comforting thing a as superintendent knowing that I have an individual, along with Central Office staff, and the people in the transportation department that are already looking at weather at three or four o’clock in the morning. It makes me sleep a lot better knowing that I have such a caring and dependable group of individuals that have one goal in mind---the welfare of the students on the busses, teenage drivers that may be on the road, parents bringing kids to school, and our employees.”
The Allen County School District operates 40 buses daily on routes during the school year. Plus, Allen County school buses are on the road year round---transporting students for athletic and academic endeavors. Overall, Allen County school buses travel approximately 450,000 miles per year.
Jackson received the award Tuesday evening (June 16) at the KAPT awards recognition dinner at the Sloan Convention Center in Bowling Green---the same awards dinner in which Spears received the Transportation Director of the Year Award. Superintendent Jackson had nominated Spears for his award without knowing that Spears had nominated him for the superintendent’s award.