Southwestern Central School District and Frewsburg Central School District are continuing their transportation partnership for another two years.

For the past two years, Southwestern and Frewsburg have shared transportation supervisor John Spacht.

“It’s been great,” Southwestern Superintendent Maureen Donahue said. “We just signed another two-year contract.”

Donahue said sharing services, particularly transportation services, is not new for school districts. Contrary to popular opinion, she said school districts share a considerable amount of services.

“We’ve all been sharing multiple different types of services,” she said. “I don’t think people really understand how much districts share.”

Before Southwestern and Frewsburg agreed to share a transportation supervisor, Donahue said the Southwestern district shared but routes with other school districts. She also explained school districts are willing to transport other school district’s students when needed and that schools often share mechanic services if needed. Thus, she believes school districts are more willing to work with one another than most people think. Donahue said the shared transportation supervisor position between Southwestern and Frewsburg has been a very positive experience.

“Our transportation services between Frewsburg and us has gone really well, and it’s definitely benefited both districts immensely,” she said. “It’s been a great partnership with Frewsburg, and everybody has all worked together to try to make it work on behalf of the kids.”

The shared transportation services between Frewsburg and Southwestern has forced both districts to streamline their services and incorporate additional technology, which Donahue said has been the “best benefit” of the partnership. She explained that improved GPS technology has been able to solve any issues regarding Spacht’s split work between the two districts.

“He’s able to take a look at routes through technology,” Donahue said. “He can take a look at where buses and routes are going at all times. If he is in the Frewsburg district, he can still see all of our routes, he can see all of our information about our buses. If he is in our district, same for Frewsburg.”

The schools have also developed a structure that ensures someone is always available in the bus garage, even when Spacht is not personally available.

One of the other major benefits with the districts’ shared transportation supervisor is the development of a multi-district training program for bus drivers.

“One of the things that is unique with our shared transportation supervisor is we’ve developed certified additional staff to be a part of training bus drivers, and right now we are working with five districts to help train the drivers,” Donahue said.

While school bus drivers used to be trained prior to being hired by a school district, Donahue said it is no longer the case. With a limited pool of bus drivers, school districts have been forced to train their own drivers.

“Rarely do you get somebody who doesn’t need training,” she said. “We help them get their CDL and we now work with other districts to help them do that.”

Donahue said she would “absolutely” recommend other school districts consider sharing a transportation supervisor. The shared service between Southwestern and Frewsburg has demonstrated the benefits of cooperation between school districts.

While the shared position has been very successful, Donahue said the position requires a “large commitment” for the transportation supervisor, as he is responsible to manage two school districts and is required to work with two different superintendents.

“You have to be able to be a good communicator,” she said. It has to be the right person. A transportation supervisor for school districts is unique. You have to be able to deal with kids and parents on the personal side and you also have to have a knowledge on the other side of how the buses work and how to manage a fleet.”