Hrebicek, who stepped into the role in 2022, spoke about the district’s new start times, the amount of open positions for the transportation department and why she loves the job so much. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How did you first get into education?
I am the mother of five children. All five of those children grew up in Magnolia, graduated from MISD, and six out of nine of my grandchildren are now students in Magnolia, so it was a job that I kind of took on. I wanted to go back to school, continue my education, so my neighborhood told me about bus driving and that it would be a perfect fit to continue my education and be there when my kids were off, and they needed bus drivers. That was the plan, [and] over 28 years later, it gets in your heart, it gets in your soul. ... This is where I want to be and where I've stayed.
What makes you love the job so much?
There isn't one particular answer to that, so I'm going to go with MISD’s motto is “family first,” and that meant for me, for my children, but being all about the community and the students that we serve, and that starts no matter what role you play in Magnolia. ... It's about the kiddos that we serve. That is why I'm here, and that is why I stay because the priorities are right.
In this role, what exactly do your responsibilities include?
I lead a group of 182 folks, and the biggest role is transporting our kiddos to and from school safely each and every day, and that comes with whether we're 35 drivers short ... [or] rain, snow, sunshine, heat, unbearable heat. I'm a bus driver at heart. ... Even being blessed with this role as director, I am a bus driver.
There's a lot in the role, whether that's helping our admin at campuses with student management, so that takes care of the aspect on the buses, helping assist drivers, monitors, reports—it's an all-inclusive job.
What are some of the biggest challenges when it comes to district transportation?
Bus driving isn't for everybody. It's a hard job. It's a full-time job with part-time hours, and to manage anywhere from 60 to 70 kiddos on a bus, getting up way before anybody else does to go out and drive safely on a road, it's not for everybody. So, being short-staffed, that is a challenge.
Keeping our drivers and monitors and staff pumped, and they all are so wonderful with remembering why we're doing this. I don't do this alone. ... Our admin helps us to keep them motivated, whether that's with acknowledgements, breakfast, whatever that takes, but that's the biggest challenge is letting them know that sometimes it feels like a thankless job, but it is not.
How many routes will the district have, and is the district fully staffed with bus drivers or are you guys still hiring?
We are still hiring, and with regular education as well as special education, we run right at 110 routes.
How many positions is the district still hiring for?
Between drivers and monitors, we're shorter on monitors because of retirement than we are on drivers, but we're still sitting right at 30.
Can you speak more to the decision to change start times at schools?
We did change the bell schedule by about 10 minutes, and that actually helps with having a true three-tier route system. With the growth that Magnolia is seeing, the traffic, the student population—it was a challenge last year. This year, we are transporting our junior high and intermediate students together, so that, along with the bell schedule change, will be a huge benefit.
Between the bell schedule change as well as transporting our junior high and intermediate together, we were actually able to reduce our runs by 21, and the miles that were saved were right at 75,000 miles by doing that. ... Our operation cost for 2024 was $5.40 per mile, so you're looking at a little over $403,000 [saved], and these are just raw [numbers] right now.
What do safety protocols look like on MISD buses, and are there any new safety features or protocols in place this year?
As far as safety driving, we have an extensive training program, we continue through our in-services, we do a rodeo-type style training [with] precision driving, we go through student management courses again. The biggest challenge for safety is student management on a bus. We like to train our drivers around that regard, but we also have an incredible support system through our campuses as well as our [school resource officers], so the kiddos here know that there will be consequences for disruptive behavior because the drivers need to drive. Do we want them to interact with the kiddos? Absolutely. But first and foremost, they need to be safe while driving, and so it all just kind of goes hand in hand.
What do you want parents to know about transportation in the district?
99.9% of the folks who are driving their kiddos, they do it because they care about their kids, and we're here to serve them. We're a phone call away, and they don't need to hesitate to call. Help us to be better.
