New Jersey School Bus Contractors Association

September 2020

Dear Members & Prospective Members,

This is usually the time of year we celebrate the school bus industry’s version of New Year’s Eve when we joyfully re-unite with our students, parents, school staff and of course, our valued employees all of whom we have missed seeing during the summer months. It is a time full of excited anticipation, of new starts, and of new opportunities.

As has been endlessly noted, this is a different, unparalleled time. While many of us are operating on a reduced schedule, others are left with no certain path of when we can return to transporting students for in-person learning. Some days are full of turmoil, uncertainty, and disappointment. But other days, we see we are moving closer to a resolution and new opportunities to demonstrate the resiliency of our long-established industry. We are taking every opportunity to remind our constituents of the importance of safe, high quality, and efficient transportation as provided by members of the NJSBCA. The NJSBCA continues to work to support your efforts to provide transportation services that so many communities are counting on, as they have for a hundred years, so their students receive the full benefits our educational system has to offer. The school transportation infrastructure is integral to the education process. The school bus is where the student’s school experience begins each day and we stand ready to serve in our vital, irreplaceable role. The importance of this has been recognized by many school districts who have maintained the support needed to preserve the transportation infrastructure they have depended on in the past and can count on in the future.

The NJSBCA has held several virtual meetings on myriad topics this summer and attendance has been high and feedback positive. Several individual members, contractors and vendors alike, have really stepped up to offer ideas, information and important insights of value to the membership at large. We have asked you to be active in expressing your support of legislative initiatives which have been quite effective. Please continue to answer our calls in this regard and if you haven’t yet been moved to engage with your legislative representatives, please remember that “if not me, who?” will advocate for my concerns and my community’s interests.

Thanks to everyone for continuing to support one another as we work together with great resolve to innovate, adjust, and preserve the essential school transportation infrastructure.

Sincerely,
Eric K. Raphael, President