The Poplar Bluff School District’s Transportation Department has earned a Total Fleet Excellence award, the first in recent recorded history, for maintaining exceptional safety standards across its entire fleet of over 50 buses.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol presented the certificate to district representatives during the annual conference of the Missouri Association for Pupil Transportation over the summer in Springfield.

“I absolutely attribute the overall success to our transportation staff – from our drivers doing pre-trip inspections to the final inspection prep leading up to the official review, with our mechanics going through each and every bus multiple times to make sure all equipment is functioning to ensure they're in safe working order for our kids," stated Jon McKinney, R-I director of student services.

The district achieved an approval rating of 92.3 percent, with 48 out of 52 buses earning a perfect score. The remaining buses that received point deductions were greenlit after minor repairs were performed on-site, McKinney reported to the Board of Education following the spring safety inspection.

The 2026 approval rating exceeds the state average by 2.36 percent. The percentage also tops last year’s score by 11.5 percent, and the district's five-year average on McKinney's watch by 8.7 percent. There has been an upward trajectory during four of those years with a single dip coinciding with a team member’s medical leave during the review period, according to McKinney.

While this is not the district’s first Total Fleet Excellence award, according to district memory, the honor signifies “the best score since at least 2019,” McKinney informed the BOE in May. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education presently has eight years’ worth of data housed. Although Poplar Bluff did surpass the state average twice during this timeframe, exceeding 90 percent in 2020 and 2021, there was a bus placed out of service.

Deducts since rectified this year ranged from a small screw in a tire causing low air pressure to a rear LED brake light partially out. The motor vehicle safety inspection list encompasses nearly 100 items, covering signaling devices, the crossing control arm, the service door, handrails, emergency exits and every system in between. The 40-page school bus inspection regulations manual outlines what qualifies as a rejection and out-of-service criteria, complete with diagrams.

Of the district’s approximate 50-person transportation staff including office personnel, three bus mechanics are employed, two of whom are licensed inspectors. The MSHP conducts the annual inspection program each spring for all school buses statewide. Another inspection is required by statute to occur within 30 days of the start of school, along with unannounced spot checks throughout the year.

All bus drivers must receive at least eight hours of professional development annually through organizations such as MoAPT, the Missouri United School Insurance Council and the Transportation Security Administration, each of which Poplar Bluff has hosted for area school districts in recent years.

Currently the district's ridership is tracking over 2,000 students in the morning and afternoon, accounting for more than 40 percent of its population, most of whom are younger, according to McKinney, who received MoAPT administrator of the year honors in 2024, alongside mechanic Jason Davis, named Missouri driver of the year.

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Cutline: (From left) Richard Hargrove, MSHP Motor Vehicle Inspection assistant director, awards Poplar Bluff bus mechanics Calvin Webb, Jason Davis and Cleaveland Willeford with the Total Fleet Excellence award in July in Springfield.