Happy October!

I am hoping everyone has been able to take some time to recharge since school has started, whether that has been to spend time with family, enjoy the cooler temperatures, or watch your favorite football team.

This past weekend, your TAPT Executive Committee met for our fall meeting and had an extensive agenda discussing trendy topics planning for 2025-2026 events and planning for our 2026 annual conference and trade show in The Woodlands. I want to acknowledge and thank all the members of the Executive Committee for their commitment and focus resulting in a very productive meeting. Our Executive Committee:

• President: Kayne Smith, Ed.D. (Cypress-Fairbanks ISD)
• President-Elect: Anthony Shields (San Marcos CISD)
• Secretary: Patricia Ducote (Goose Creek CISD)
• Treasurer: Karol Stephens Day (Allen ISD)
• Historian : Cassandra Behr (Hays CISD)
• Parliamentarian: Dana Rosen (Cypress-Fairbanks ISD)
• Ex-Officio: Angel Kersten (Brazosport ISD)
• Executive Director: Marisa Weisinger
• Area 1 Director: Sepharine Bugayong (Ector County)
• Area 2 Director: Raymond Forsberg (Mesquite ISD)
• Area 3 Director: Joseph Reese (Bridge City ISD)
• Area 4 Director: Jessica Fischer (Comal ISD)
• Area 5 Director: Luciano Rubio (Harlingen CISD)
• Business Associate Director: Doug Becker (Holt Longhorn Bus Sales)

Annual Budget

The annual budget must be discussed and approved at our September meeting. It is no small task creating a budget for an organization that is now nearly 2,000 members strong. Cost increases, and recognizing the need to have an effective, interesting, and affordable program and professional development offering for our members, have made balancing budgets challenging. The Executive Committee ultimately approved a balanced budget, and I want to thank the Finance Committee, the Executive Committee, our accountant, Mrs. Michelle Phillips, and Marisa Weisinger for their continued efforts to keep TAPT fiscally sound so we can continue to offer the best opportunities to our members.

Affiliate Chapter Update and New Award

I also want to take this time to recognize the work of our affiliate chapters. Most chapters have already had their first meeting, and it is exciting to hear about the work that is being done on a local level. The area directors provided updates to the Executive Committee, and it was exciting to hear about the great content being provided by relevant presenters and the innovative tactics that are being utilized to reach out to members, such as Zoom or other web-based platforms. Local chapters are an important opportunity for outreach and networking for our members, and we applaud the selfless leadership in those affiliate chapters who are serving their members and providing excellent programs and meetings. I had the privilege of attending the South Texas and East Texas Chapter meetings via Zoom, and the Gulf Coast and CENTEX meetings in person in September. I want to applaud the leadership of these chapters, and their presidents Hector Gonzalez, David LaMotte, Roy Kloeber, and Tesilia Soliz for their leadership. Excellent work… I am looking forward to visiting more chapters in the coming months.

In line with this, the Executive Committee approved a new award. The Chapter Legacy Award will be awarded to the affiliate chapter whose innovation, excellent communication, membership outreach, and leadership positively and influentially impacts their members. As with TAPT, affiliate chapters should promote safe and efficient pupil transportation and encourage the exchange of ideas and cooperation among their members. We will keep you posted on when the criteria for this award is complete and the area directors will be sharing more at the local chapter meetings soon.

Professional Development and Certification Committee Update

The TAPT Professional Development and Certification Committee met on September 12, and a full report was provided to the Executive Committee on September 27. A course schedule has been tentatively planned – including more Online opportunities through October 2026. Please go to tapt.com and check out the list under the Events tab.

Three new courses were approved for this year, including a new program called Emerging Leaders Forum. This five-hour, interactive program will be for new and upcoming leaders and will be facilitated by veteran PDC instructors and experienced transportation directors. The goal is for new and aspiring leaders to learn to lead with safety, service, and accountability – all while networking and establishing relationships with colleagues and veteran leaders in the organization and across the state. The first Emerging Leaders Forum will be offered on Friday, February 20, 2026, in League City, TX. Also approved: Spec’ing and Receiving School Buses (06A.5) and Thriving from Within: Self-Development and Recharge (38A).

Finally, to recognize our technicians and our fleet maintenance personnel, the TAPT Executive Committee approved two new levels of professional certification for technicians, Shop Technician Specialist and Shop Supervisor. We feel certain this addition will provide more opportunities for our technicians and fleet maintenance personnel within TAPT to expand their professional development and leadership growth opportunities.

Thank you to our PDC committee, and our PDC committee chairs, Mr. Erwin Sladek, Mr. Bill Powell, and Mr. Keith Kaup, for their continued work leading the charge on the PDC Committee and ensuring TAPT leads the nation in relevant and trending professional development opportunities for the school transportation industry.

I know this is a long message, but it truly is just a brief summary of the work that is being done behind the scenes to ensure the best is being made available to all members of our organization. Thank you again to our TAPT Executive Committee, Michelle, Keith, and Marisa for all the hard work this weekend. Thank you to our affiliate chapter leaders who led excellent chapter meetings in September. Thank you to all our vendors who came out to support and sponsor our chapters this past month. We cannot do what we do without the continued support of all our vendors.

I will share more in the coming months. Until then, stay safe, stay strong, and continue to “LEVEL UP!”

Hope to see you in San Marcos at CENTEX this weekend!

Thank you,

Kayne Smith, Ed.D.

President

Texas Association for Pupil Transportation