News Releases
November 9, 2001
District 15 Transportation Department Named to “Great Fleets Across America”
Community Consolidated School District 15’s Transportation Department has been named by School Bus Fleet magazine as one of the nation’s “Great Fleets.”
Each year, one school bus fleet per state is selected by School Bus Fleet for recognition on the basis of excellence in safety, maintenance, driver training and innovation. District 15’s fleet represents Illinois in the magazine’s annual tribute to exemplary school bus fleets.
District 15’s Transportation Department was selected in part because of its innovative approach to enhancing bus safety by the use of video monitoring technology. Since installing video monitoring equipment on all its large buses last school year, District 15 has experienced a significant decline in the number of discipline problems on the vehicles. The district’s fleet also incorporates a number of other safety features not found in all school bus fleets, including safety belts, strobe lights mounted on bus roofs for increased visibility in fog or other potentially hazardous situations, crossing bars which are lowered at each stop and reflective tape on the exterior of each vehicle to improve nighttime visibility. To further enhance safety, District 15 provides extensive driver training and places much emphasis on preventive maintenance of all vehicles.
“We are very proud that our Transportation Department was chosen for this honor,” said Dr. John G. Conyers, superintendent. “Providing safe, efficient transportation of students to and from school and for special activities is a vital aspect of meeting our quality education goals, and our Transportation Department does an excellent job of that. We thank all our employees—drivers, bus assistants, mechanics, dispatchers, office staff and others—for their many contributions to making us one of the nation’s great fleets.”
In addition to regular student transportation, the District 15 fleet serves the community in many other ways, providing transportation for parochial schools, for before- and after-school activities for both children and their parents, and working with community organizations to provide transportation for non-school community activities.
FACTS ABOUT THE SCHOOL DISTRICT 15 FLEET
Fleet composition: 138 vehicles (84 large buses, 41 small buses, 13 wheelchair buses)
Students transported daily: 9,907 (8,868 regular and special education students and 1,039 parochial students)
Schools served: 23 (15 district elementary schools, 4 district junior high schools, 4 local parochial schools)
Mileage: 1.4 million miles annually
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