Announcer (00:01):
Highlighting the amazing stories from inside the North Clackamas School District. This is the Proud To Be NCSD podcast, hosted by longtime principal and current community relations director, Curtis Long,

Curtis Long (00:15):
Every day throughout the North Clackamas School District, it's not uncommon to see teachers and staff members out in hallways before class greeting students as they enter the classroom door for the first time.

Kathy Calkins (00:26):
I know you gotta get out there. How's it going? It's going well. It is really well. Yeah. Okay,

Curtis Long (00:29):
Great. And NCSD's Kathy Calkins is no exception. Take care.

Kathy Calkins (00:34):
Have a good day.

Curtis Long (00:35):
But Kathy's hallway is a long asphalt driveway driven up and down by her colleagues hundreds of times each day. And when she greets people at the door, those doors often squeak and rattle. Calkins is our district's Director of Transportation. And each day as drivers head out on their daily routes, their perpetually positive leader is always right out front, waving them off with a smile. Hey

Kathy Calkins (00:58):
Patty Lauer, how

Curtis Long (00:59):
Are ya? And lots of encouragement. Go

Kathy Calkins (01:02):
Get 'em, tiger.

Curtis Long (01:02):
Her positivity never seems to hit the brakes, nor does her belief that every one of her 225 Transportation employees deserves to be recognized by name for the amazing things they do for thousands of student bus riders every day.

Curtis Long (01:17):
You know all of 'em by name, who are going by here? Oh yeah,

Kathy Calkins (01:20):
Definitely. I can't expect them to know their kids' names if I don't know their names.

Curtis Long (01:25):
And now Kathy Calkins is getting a little name recognition of her own, recently named the Nationwide 2026 Administrator of the Year by School Bus Fleet Magazine, a prestigious award shall humbly accept this summer at a national conference in Arizona. Hi, Valenti. It's not easy catching up with someone who's always moving around her department, encouraging others. All right,

Kathy Calkins (01:46):
Have a great day, Alexa.

Curtis Long (01:48):
But today on the Proud To Be NCSD podcast, we get our award-winning transportation director to temporarily hit the brakes and talk to us about why she believes she has the best job in the district. And why building strong relationships and being able to laugh with her colleagues. has helped steer her toward earning recognition as one of the best in the business across the country. Hop on board! The Proud To Be NCSD podcast hits the gas right now.

Curtis Long (02:21):
And we're very excited to welcome to the podcast the 2026 Administrator of the Year, according to School Bus Fleet Magazine. It's our own NCSD, director of Transportation, Kathy Calkins. And Kathy, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for joining us today.

Kathy Calkins (02:35):
Thank you.

Curtis Long (02:35):
Well, people see your title, director of Transportation. Might wonder what does that job entail? Give us a brief overview of your position in North Clackamas.

Kathy Calkins (02:43):
It i a mentor, a coach, and it's a teacher. I mean, we just support our staff as best as we can. They got a difficult job out there. Some of these guys work 13 hours a day to get an eight hour shift in, and they absolutely love the students and I'm just proud to be their director.

Curtis Long (03:02):
Now, I had a chance to read the article and our listeners can also find it online from School Bus Fleet magazine. And the very first line says you became a school bus driver about 30 years ago, but you almost quit shortly after starting. What happened? Ah,

Kathy Calkins (03:15):
Kids were run amuck and I didn't know how to deal with it. I thought being a mom with two boys, I could get on. I love my boys, I'm gonna get on there and I'm gonna love those kids. And they ran my bus. I didn't run the kids . And I remember getting off my bus one day and I can't do this. Yeah. I just, I just can't come and do this every day. And I really wanted to make a difference. I really did this. It's why I went to be a school bus driver and I decided to listen to what I was being taught instead of thinking I knew better. Mm-hmm . And so I started taking the tools that they gave us in the workshops and the classes that we did and put 'em into practice. I, you hear so much about what to do in those classes. I just took a couple things that I thought I could really use and I practiced them and then I'd take a couple more and I'd practice them. And practice makes perfect. And I got to a point to where the kids were crazy on the bus and up and down and all around too. They sat there and rode safely. And it was a victory to me. When I looked back and saw that, I was like, yes, , you did

Curtis Long (04:23):
It. Yeah. And a lot of that has to do with building relationships. And we heard at the beginning of this podcast, you mingling with your drivers as they were gathering their things and getting ready to head out on their routes. As they leave the lot, this long line of buses, you're out in the yard waving and connecting with each one of them. Why is building connections with every driver so important to you?

Kathy Calkins (04:40):
Because I want them to build the same connections with their kids. It's important that I set that example with them, that I want them to be with their students. It's important.

Curtis Long (04:50):
You want everyone to feel like they belong. Is it true that you mentored kids in a lockdown facility before coming to transportation? Yes. What was that experience like?

Kathy Calkins (04:58):
It was a good experience. It was sad because they could have, I feel like they could have been changed long before they got to that point. And when they get to that point of lockdown, it, it was discouraging because so many that you did mentor did make it when they got out, my job was to go in and mentor them through the program. And when we got to a certain point, my job was then to take 'em and show 'em to have fun without alcohol and drugs. Mm-hmm . And the program had a certain budget for that. And so we did all kinds of things. And I'm still in contact with a couple of those girls that are now adults and they're doing really well. I've lost contact with a lot of the, you know, kids that I work with. Yeah. And, you know, we, we had to trust they weren't gonna run away from the program. When we got 'em to the point of walking out of the program into these, the movie theater or I remember sitting in a movie theater with one of my kids and they walked in to use the bathroom. And I kept just sitting there going, please come back. Please come back. Please come back. And, 'cause I was responsible for them, but then they also have to fill a level of trust and she came back. So that was great.

Curtis Long (06:01):
Now you're someone, and just from listening in these first four minutes, you're someone who takes on a challenge, head on, you're gonna take it on you. You, you struggled your first time on a bus mm-hmm . But you took that challenge on. Yeah. Let's go back to your first days as a bus driver. What do you remember most about that experience? You know,

Kathy Calkins (06:15):
There's certain kids that pop up when you ask me that, that, you know, we think discipline is the way to the kids' heart or their soul or, and it's really not. Passion is and positivity is. Mm-hmm . And mentorship is, and acknowledging when they do good on the bus is when I started doing that in my first days as a bus driver, that's when the change actually started taking place also. And I remember one young man got up on my bus one day and I had written what we call a referral then mm-hmm . And turned it into the school and did all the things we do. He got on my bus with a envelope with a referral in it. And he told me, he said, my principal said, if you rip this referral up, I will not get in any trouble. And I'm telling you that now I will not get in any trouble.

Kathy Calkins (07:00):
And so I said, okay, we'll try it. So, you know, you try different things all the time and different things. The same things don't work with every kid. You have to try different things. And that worked with him. He never caused me a bit of trouble. Got me a little Christmas plant, um, during Christmas time. Uhhuh, I remember those, the kids that were in foster care, the kids that sat next to me when I drove as a driver and would talk to me about their dads that were in prison. And, you know, it was, it was a sad, but you know, you knew you were in the right place because you knew those kids needed love.

Curtis Long (07:32):
Did you take that referral and rip it in half? I did. Yeah. Rip it in half of, and look at the trust that you build up with him by doing that. Yeah. Yeah. And, and he was never trouble the rest of the year.

Kathy Calkins (07:40):
Never gave me a bit of trouble the rest of the year.

Curtis Long (07:42):
That's such a great story. Yeah. Now, throughout your career, you've become a big fan of positive behavior intervention and supports, which we refer to in the education world as PBIS. Mm-hmm . Now, as a school principal, I was also a huge fan of focusing on students' strengths instead of their mistakes. Mm-hmm . How has that influenced you as a professional? You've touched on it a little bit, but you can acknowledge the positive really makes a huge difference with kids

Kathy Calkins (08:04):
And with drivers. And

Curtis Long (08:05):
With drivers. . Yeah.

Kathy Calkins (08:07):
Well, right now I'm more with drivers than I'm kids. Mm-hmm . But then I was a trainer at the time and uh, they still taught about PBIS. I learned more about it when I was at David Douglas. I was driving halftime and I was a trainer halftime. And I remember I wanted, I believed in it. I, there's something I could believe in that I could really get on board with and I knew would make a difference. I remember going to schools with bus, they were called bus bucks in my hand. Mm-hmm . I think Matt had 'em here when he was here called Utter-bucks. Uhhuh

Curtis Long (08:36):
Probably that kind of thing. Our former superintendent Matt Utterback. Yeah.

Kathy Calkins (08:39):
Yes. And you know, we, we'd give him out to the kids, we'd catch 'em being good. The whole point is, if this kid cannot stay seated for five minutes on the bus or on the ride home, you can catch that kid one second. Just catch him being good. And that's what I started doing. And that's what I proved to my drivers. I'd get on their buses, I'd hand out bus bucks to the kids on their buses because they didn't believe it would, it would work. It's all negative discipline. Negative discipline. No, it's not at all. It's about positivity. It's about acknowledging those students when they do the right thing. Because they want attention. Yeah. And they're gonna get negative or positive attention. If you choose to give them negative, then have fun , because it's not gonna be, it's not gonna be fun on the bus of kids. But when you choose positive attention, wow. What a difference you can make in all their lives. 'cause you know, we have up to 60 kids, 60, 70 kids on a bus. And if you focus on that on reward certificates, uh, student writers of the month, things like that, then you really get back more than what you're giving. 'cause it doesn't, it's not a lot of money to give that kind of program to your kids.

Curtis Long (09:44):
Now do you find that works with kids all the way at the high school, elementary, middle, and high school, even the older kids, did they buy into that as well?

Kathy Calkins (09:51):
The high school did not buy into it as well. Mm-hmm . But the acknowledging them when they got on the bus. Yeah. You know, without hand handing them bus bucks. And it's important to still, even if they have headphones on, there came a time the headphones came in to practice and you'd say, good morning. Good morning, good morning . Good morning. Good morning. And they didn't even acknowledge you. Yeah. And you kinda look and you see they have the Airbus in and so you start waving at 'em then, you know, you just find ways to ly communicate with even the high school students and they, they reciprocate. And we

Curtis Long (10:25):
Often say that the school bus drivers, often the first NCSD employee they're gonna interact with and often the last one that they see before they go home. Yep. And if that interaction is, we wanna make that as positive as we can. Yeah. Yep. You know, you mentioned it a little bit before. We know that you started as a driver. How'd you work your way up to where you are today as a director? In charge of 225 employees in our transportation department. And there are seven kind of miniature departments within transportation as well. Right. Tell us a little bit about that.

Kathy Calkins (10:55):
I'm trying to remember the point when I really did. Because I said to myself, I'm gonna be a supervisor. Okay. And I actually moved away from the transportation industry and went into the um, transportation industry, the buses, the city buses.

Curtis Long (11:10):
Oh, city buses In Tacoma. Okay.

Kathy Calkins (11:11):
And I thought, I'm gonna start, I started going to college mm-hmm . When I was doing that. And I came back and I was still continuing getting my education at PCC. And then I started getting certifications for school bus. 'cause I came back into the lead training position at David Douglas. And I decided then probably did that for three to four years. And I just wanted to be a supervisor. And you know why I wanna be a supervisor? 'cause I wanted to treat people the way they deserve to be treated. Yeah. Period. Just no favoritism. Everybody gets treated the same. You know, people are acknowledged when they come to work, you know, they take care of those kids. They deserve to be acknowledged. They deserve to be cared for. And I knew that and I seen some, it didn't happen in some of the places that I worked at. And it needed to happen.

Curtis Long (11:55):
And so that I can relate to that as a principal. That's why I wanted to go from being a teacher to a principal. Mm-hmm. Because you could make such an impact. Yeah. On so many people. Yeah. And give those kids, and in your case, the adult drivers just a chance to believe in themselves. Mm-hmm. That they do do good work and they need to be acknowledged for that kind of work. I think that's really inspiring. Yeah. What's the most important thing you try to teach your drivers, especially those who are new to the, uh, profession?

Kathy Calkins (12:17):
To learn their names? Uhhuh. the most important thing. My trainers are teaching it. I'm teaching it. And I think we talked yesterday when

Curtis Long (12:25):
Yeah. We heard it at the beginning of this podcast. You know, every one of your drivers by name.

Kathy Calkins (12:28):
Every one of 'em. And I opened, you know, we'd get a lot of new people in and I will learn every one of their names because I can't expect that they learn their kids' names if I can't learn theirs. Yeah. So if I can't give them that same respect,

Curtis Long (12:41):
And as we reach the midway point of this podcast, it's easy to see that for our award-winning transportation director, the name of the game is building a culture of perseverance, pleasantries, and a whole lot of playfulness mixed in between. So far we've learned that Kathy's career as a bus driver almost ended before it really even got started. And how focusing on students and drivers strengths over mistakes is the key to creating such a positive workplace still to come. Why does Kathy refer to herself as a servant leader with a side of silliness?

Kathy Calkins (13:11):
It doesn't get dull. Right? You don't come to work and go home, come to work and go home, come to work and go home and come to work to have fun. Right? You're there all day. You might as well have a little bit of fun.

Curtis Long (13:20):
And no matter what happens with a student or a driver, she always assumes positive intentions.

Kathy Calkins (13:26):
Until something shows me differently. Why not assume positive intentions? Why automatically soon somebody is in the wrong assume positive intentions and then it's a much better support system than it is, than having them. Oh no, I gotta go talk to Kathy.

Curtis Long (13:41):
Luckily for us, we don't gotta go talk to Kathy. We get to and we can't wait. As the Proud To Be NCSD podcast continues right after this.

Commercial Announcer (13:51):
Are you looking for a job right now? Looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? The North Clackmas School District is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young lives and education as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire before and after school. Caretakers, custodians, and bus drivers in North Clackamas. We promise it won't take you long to learn why our employees say they're proud to be in NCSD. Apply today on the North k Clackamas school district website or call 5 0 3 3 5 3 6,000. That's 5 0 3 3 5 3 6,000.

Curtis Long (14:45):
I talk to any member of the transportation team, actually any employee throughout our entire district. You'll never find anyone who has a negative word to say about Kathy. I love this In the article, you refer to yourself as a servant leader with a side of silliness. I love that. A side of silliness because you guys do have some fun in your department.

Kathy Calkins (15:02):
I love the silliness . It's my favorite thing is the silliness. You don't have to be serious all the time. You can make a difference in how people come to work. They're there 13 hours a day. Not everybody likes the silliness. That's okay. They don't have to. That's right. You know, we have different categories that we do. May the fourth is coming up, people will be challenged to wear a t-shirt. May the fourth be with you. Yep. We have Secret Pal. There's a lot of different things that we do. And that's important just to keep the comraderie going and it doesn't get dull. Right. You don't come to work and go home, come to work and go home, come to work and go home. You come to work to have fun. Right. You're there all day. You might as well have a little bit of fun

Curtis Long (15:40):
. And I think that's a reflection on you. Whenever I visit transportation, there's always something going on. Whether it's a special food sharing in the cafeteria, some kind of potluck going on, or there's special outfits on. Heck in your transportation picture this year, one of your drivers is dressed as waldo. Yeah. Up on top of a bus somewhere. Yeah. As kind of an added twist into the team photo. Yeah.

Kathy Calkins (16:00):
Silliness is welcome. .

Curtis Long (16:03):
Now what people might not know is when we have potential school cancellations due to snow or ice. Mm-hmm . Someone needs to go out and check out the roads at three in the morning to see how slick they are. That's you out there, isn't it?

Kathy Calkins (16:14):
It has been for many years. Cheryl, my morning supervisor is now checking the roads. Okay. And she's, uh, informing Teresa and I how the roads are doing. So,

Curtis Long (16:24):
Okay. So Cheryl goes out and does. She does. But you did that for a long 'cause I remember thinking, who's out checking the roads? Yeah. I did it for many few years. And that's you up in the hills of Happy Valley in your little car.

Kathy Calkins (16:31):
Yeah. Yep. And she does it in her little car now. Uhhuh . We know our cars, you know, we have our four wheel drives. We know. So you

Curtis Long (16:38):
Said your motto is always assume positive intentions. Absolutely. I think our listeners can certainly hear that in our conversation here. Tell us a little bit more about that. I don't think any kid gets on a bus and says, you know what? I'm gonna make the driver miserable today. Mm-hmm . Nobody gets on that way. And you just really need to have that mindset, don't you? Yeah,

Kathy Calkins (16:54):
You do. And you just, you have to have a sense of humor and you have to be able to laugh at yourself and laugh, laugh with your kids. And we have many drivers that do that with a seat monster that Patrick had the kids challenge them to do the seat monster. 'cause one kid answered that he couldn't sit down because the seat monster was there and he challenged all his kids to make seat monsters. That was special. Uhhuh . That was really special. So yeah, that's important. You know, hopefully our drivers are assuming positive tensions with their students. And I wanna always assume positive attentions with my drivers. And that takes practice. I've made mistakes in this field. Mm-hmm . And I don't wanna make anymore. And I will. I'm human. We're all human. Yeah. We make mistakes. But one of the biggest things that I realize that I looked into myself was I need to assume positive and tell something that shows me differently. Why not assume positive intentions? Why automatically soon somebody is in the wrong, assume positive intentions. And then it's a much better support system than it is, than having them. Oh no, I gotta go talk to Kathy again. You don't wanna go down and I say, I gotta talk to you for a moment. Yeah. I don't want 'em to think I'm coming down to talk to them because I'm assuming something they didn't do. Right. And so that's important.

Curtis Long (18:05):
You mentioned at the beginning of the podcast, we talked about your first days and you didn't know if you were gonna make it as a bus driver. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure you've come across that with some of your newest hires. They've come off the bus discouraged. How do you approach them?

Kathy Calkins (18:18):
I tell 'em my stories, , it's gonna get better. It always gets better. Just be consistent. Don't go out and try one thing and it doesn't work. And so two weeks later you're trying something else that doesn't work. So you're trying something else. Stick with it. Figure out what you're gonna do. Stick with it. If you're gonna have assigned seats, have assigned seats. Sure. Anything you do at first is gonna take work. Make sure it's consistent work. Make sure you stick with the same thing.

Curtis Long (18:47):
And I think people don't realize we have school bus drivers. We have people that drive a van. We have specialized transportation that have lifts for students in wheelchairs. Those all take special training. Right. Yeah. Now I, I look around the transportation department. I think one of your calling cards is a, is a smiley face. In fact, I think I saw it up in your window. Do you have a neon one up in your window? I have a neon one up in my window. I thought. So what puts you in this mindset? You seem to always be excited about the workday ahead.

Kathy Calkins (19:12):
Yeah. I'm gonna tell you the smiley face story. So when I was working at David Douglas, I was a driver. I sat in the break room and I have, have not always been this positive person. Right. I sat in the break room and I started listening to how negative I was. Oh. And decided that I didn't want talking about other people. I'm not gonna lie, that's where I started at. And I started thinking, I'm not doing this anymore. And so I stopped. I stopped, I didn't stop going in the break room because I still, I wanted to bring other people into, we don't have to do this. Mm-hmm . So Dollar Tree had a whole lot of smiley faces that I bought there. , they can't even find them there anymore. So I bought a whole bunch and when I got on my bus and we went out driving, I saw their I drivers out there. I put my smiley face, placard up, . And pretty soon we had about 15 people getting this. I would buy 'em for 'em if they would use them. And pretty soon we were all putting our smiley faces up. And it just, it means a lot to me. It takes one person to really make a difference. And there's a lot of people besides me that do make a difference. And it starts from somewhere. Mm-hmm . And that's where it started for me.

Curtis Long (20:20):
I love that with the smiley face.

Kathy Calkins (20:20):
So you'll see smiley faces all around. I get all kinds of them for Christmas. Uhhuh love every one of them.

Curtis Long (20:26):
We see 'em everywhere at the transportation department. That's a reflection on you. Yeah. Speaking of a reflection on you, uh, one of your employees shared. I left my previous district because I heard Kathy was here. I commuted 40 miles each way just to be a part of her team. How's that make you feel? Oh, 40 miles each way. I know.

Kathy Calkins (20:42):
That made me feel really special. Yeah. I, I did work at, uh, stint at Centennial as I started there as their director, Uhhuh, and then came back here as the director here. And that's, I, she worked with me at Centennial. Mm-hmm . And uh, Chelsea. Thank you. I hope I hope you listen to this. Um, Chelsea and Ashley both said some really kind things about me in that, for that story. And I really appreciate it. It gives you incentive to keep going, to keep being kind, keep loving your people. So I appreciate it. Makes me feel good.

Curtis Long (21:12):
All right. We've been talking about work the entire time here. Let's talk about time away from work. What do you like to do when you're not at the transportation yard? Ah,

Kathy Calkins (21:18):
So I like extreme things. I like bungee jumping. I like definitely

Curtis Long (21:24):
Hence driving in the ice for a long time.

Kathy Calkins (21:27):
Yeah. We've jumped out of airplanes.

Curtis Long (21:28):
Oh my goodness.

Kathy Calkins (21:30):
We've, uh, whitewater rafting is one of my favorite things to do. Uh, and most one of the challenge that you do yourself that's challenging. So I like to do extreme sports. I like camping. I like being in the outdoors. I like hiking. I have a grandchild who is gonna be four in September. I love spending time with her. Mm-hmm . So, um, taking care of the house of course. But you know, Dylan and I have been married for 46 years, so anything I do is gonna be with him now. Yeah. . Yeah.

Curtis Long (21:59):
Does your grandchild get the smiley faces already?

Kathy Calkins (22:01):
Oh yes. She got a smiley face pair of Adidas this last Christmas. Oh yeah. Yeah. I actually found those

Curtis Long (22:08):
. That's fantastic. Well, innovation always taking place in the education world. Finding new and more efficient ways of teaching and or learning. What are some of the newest innovations in transportation that we should all be on the lookout for? We're

Kathy Calkins (22:19):
Looking forward to a new software program called Zūm. It was just approved by the board. Mm-hmm . It is gonna make a difference for our drivers. It's gonna make a difference for our community. Our community is going to be able to see where their buses are when their students get off the bus. We get a lot of calls about where's our buses. Yeah. We try to send out as many communications as we can and it's all by hand. This is gonna allow us to allow the parents to see on this app where their students are. And I'm excited about that. I'm excited about tablets on school buses where when we have a standby driver, we get complaints about drivers or late to stops or didn't drop off a and they dropped off a stop a block down the road or things like that. That happens mostly when we have standby drivers on the route. The tablets will have a GPS function. Oh wow. A audible GPS function. 'cause typically when a standby driver gets a route, they get a piece of paper with a route written on it.

Curtis Long (23:17):
A route they've never driven before

Kathy Calkins (23:19):
That they've never driven before. Yeah. So they will drive with a paper in their right hand and the wheel in the other. And you know, trying to keep track of the 60 plus kids that are on the bus. It'll be nice if they don't have to focus on that paper anymore. So

Curtis Long (23:31):
That tablet can say out loud, turn right here. Yes. In 500 feet turn left. Mm-hmm

Kathy Calkins (23:36):
. Yeah. Yeah. So, and we just got camera systems that are all the same. We had four different systems and last year we got the REI camera systems, which are really nice.

Curtis Long (23:46):
Well, I know kindergarten families are probably listening to this incoming kindergartners who are nervous about taking the bus. And parents, listen, this is your person that is in charge of our transportation department. She has a smile on her face all the time and she will put a smile on your incoming kindergartners. Be face for sure.

Kathy Calkins (24:02):
You bet. Bring 'em on.

Curtis Long (24:03):
That's gotta be really fun to see the brand new kindergartners, because some of your drivers probably see them from kindergarten until the end of fifth grade. What an exciting time to be able to see those kids grow up right there on their bus.

Kathy Calkins (24:14):
Yeah, it really is. It's awesome.

Curtis Long (24:15):
Well, Kathy, it's easy to see why members of the transportation department in NCSD seem to be the happiest of any department throughout our district. Thank you for your constant positive leadership and for being a guest on our podcast today.

Kathy Calkins (24:27):
Absolutely. Thank you Curtis.

Curtis Long (24:29):
Thanks for listening to the Proud To Be NCSD podcast in North Clackamas. We know that education is a community effort and we're so thankful that you and your family are a part of our community. Until next time, remember, there are always great things to see wherever you go in NCSD.