Transportation Director Resigns, District Considers Hiring Replacement

The is still considering whether to hire a new director of transportation after the first director, Norquise Cooper, resigned. 

Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Jeff Marion said Assistant Superintendent of Business, Rick Radford, took over Cooper's duties on Aug. 17, just one week after the start of school.

According to the separation agreement, Cooper resigned for personal reasons.

The St. Charles Board of Education approved the separation agreement with Cooper on Sept. 8. The document was signed by board members Dale Hallemeier and Linda Schulte Sept. 21.

Cooper was on professional leave through Sept. 30 and will receive $6,804 for her unused vacation days. The district will cover her group health insurance through Dec. 31, according to the agreement. The district won't contest any attempts by Cooper to claim unemployment, according to the agreement.

Cooper was named Director of Transportation in November of last year, but she began in January. She had formerly served as transportation director in Riverview Gardens School District. She'd previously worked as bus driver, safety trainer, dispatcher, assistant director and director.

While she held the position in St. Charles, Cooper helped the district launch its transportation system. She created an employee handbook for transportation, helped create new procedures and forms, ordered equipment and helped secure a fleet, Marion said.

Radford oversaw the setup of the new transportation program, which is why he stepped in when Cooper resigned.

"My goal was just to make sure the transportation was running smoothly," he said. "Now that that is basically accomplished, probably over the next few weeks, I'll begin to transition back to my CFO position."

At the start of the school year, the district ran into issues with late buses and miscommunication.

Radford said now things are going well. Drivers have stepped up in a challenging environment, he said.

"Our routes are complete now. We've got every single child on a route that needed to be on a route," he said. "It's been pretty challenging doing both jobs for the last two months, but it was what the district needed."

Marion said the district administration has not yet decided whether it will hire a new director of transportation to take over for the rest of the year or simply reorganize and have other people take over the duties in the job.

In addition to a director of transportation position, the district has an assistant director who has assumed many of the responsibilities, as well as a safety trainer, a dispatcher and a secretary. The district employs 40 drivers.

"We're not sure we'll need to hire someone for the rest of this year once we get it going strong," Marion said.