A UniteGPS production

The Turnaround
Podcast

Real stories from student transportation leaders about the challenges they faced, what they did, and what they learned along the way.

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The Turnaround – the podcast for student transportation leaders

The Turnaround · Episode 01

Daniel Rosengard

The Turnaround · Episode 02

Christopher King

About the show

Districts are solving hard problems on the fly.

On The Turnaround, UniteGPS CEO Christopher Bunnell sits down with transportation directors, superintendents, and district leaders who faced a real crisis and led their way through it. Explore real stories with lessons you can put to work in your own district.

Topics we cover

  • Routing and the driver shortage

    Doing more with the buses and drivers you have.

  • Student safety and ridership

    Knowing who is on the bus, and keeping families informed.

  • Budgets and board conversations

    Making the case for transportation spending.

  • Technology in the transportation office

    What’s worth adopting, and what isn’t.

Season One preview

A first look at Season One.

Daniel Rosengard

The Turnaround · Episode 01

Daniel Rosengard

The Comeback of Boston Public Schools Transportation

Dan Rosengard runs one of the largest, most complex school bus operations in the country: 750 buses, 200-plus schools, more than 19,000 students a day. In this episode he shares how he approached the turnaround, from the fundamentals he tackled first (vendor contracts, the driver shortage, restructuring bell times) to the move into GPS navigation, real-time parent tracking, and digital boarding. He talks candidly about the hard days and the recovery that followed, vendor accountability, the ridership data that reshaped how Boston builds routes, and the advice he now gives directors who call him from across the country. A practical, honest conversation for anyone doing this work.

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Guest Daniel Rosengard · Executive Director of Transportation, Boston Public Schools (Massachusetts)

Dan leads Boston Public Schools Transportation, responsible for safe, reliable, on-time, and cost-effective yellow bus service for more than 22,000 students every day. He holds an MBA from MIT Sloan and has made on-time performance and equitable access to school the focus of his team’s work.

Christopher King

The Turnaround · Episode 02

Christopher King

Turning Around a $60,000 Vandalism Problem

From $40,000 in Damage to Fewer Than 10 Incidents: How Russellville Fixed Bus Vandalism When Chris King took over student transportation in Russellville, Arkansas, bus vandalism and seat damage were costing his district roughly $40,000 a year. With no formal training in the role and no expensive software, he built a solution out of assigned seating, a clear restitution policy, and tools he made himself using QR codes, Google Forms, and spreadsheets. The result: damage dropped to fewer than 10 incidents a year. In this episode of The Turnaround, Chris walks through exactly how he did it: the policy he wrote, how he handles the parent phone call, how he won buy-in from his board and administrators, and what actually drove the change. He also shares hard-won advice for any transportation director who feels stuck, overwhelmed by technology, or convinced the only fix is a big budget. If you run transportation for a district and you’re tired of paying for damage you can’t prove or prevent, this conversation is for you.

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Guest Christopher King · Director of Transportation, Russellville School District (Arkansas)

Chris runs transportation for Russellville School District in Pope County, Arkansas, a district serving more than 5,200 students across 11 schools. He leads the team that recruits, trains, and schedules the district’s bus drivers and aides, and keeps routes running in a tight labor market.

Kevin McKay

The Turnaround · Episode 03

Kevin McKay

“My ETA Is 2 Minutes”: Inside the Camp Fire School Bus Evacuation

On November 8, 2018, Kevin McKay had been driving a school bus in Paradise, California, for about two months. When the call came for an empty bus to reach 22 stranded students at Ponderosa Elementary, he answered: “963. My ETA is 2 minutes.” What followed was a five-hour, 30-mile drive through gridlock, downed power lines, and flames on both sides of the road. Every child survived. In this case-study episode of The Turnaround, host Chris Bunnell sits down with McKay, now a teacher at Fair View High School in Chico and the man Matthew McConaughey portrayed in “The Lost Bus,” to talk about the decision, the drive, and the years since. Then we turn to what it means for the people running student transportation today: training brand-new drivers for the unthinkable, on-bus equipment, communications failure, evacuation routes, student accountability and reunification, defining the driver’s role in a disaster, and supporting drivers after a traumatic incident. If you lead a district, run a fleet, or drive a bus, this conversation ends with a practical question: what should you check on Monday morning?

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Guest Kevin McKay · Teacher, Fair View High School (Chico, California) · Former Paradise school bus driver

Kevin McKay was driving a school bus in Paradise, California, when the 2018 Camp Fire broke out, and drove 22 stranded Ponderosa Elementary students to safety through the fire. Today he teaches at Fair View High School in Chico. His story was told in the film “The Lost Bus,” with Matthew McConaughey playing McKay.

Be our guest

You’ve faced the challenges. Share what you’ve learned with the world.

We’d especially love to hear how you’ve…

  • Led a district through a driver shortage or route crisis
  • Redesigned operations under real budget or safety pressure
  • Built a safety or training culture others could learn from
  • Kept students safe when things didn’t go according to plan
  • Made a hard, public decision and stood behind it