In The Right Ride series, we sit down with transportation leaders to hear their perspectives on the challenges, opportunities, and rewards of student transportation. For this installment, we spoke with Lisa Riveros, Transportation Director for Wichita Public Schools.
Lisa shared her journey into transportation, her views on safety and equity, and her passion for supporting students with special needs. Check out the highlights from our conversation, with Lisa’s story in her own words.
How did you get into student transportation?
Lisa’s path to transportation wasn’t a straight line. She began her career as a teacher, then became an instructional coach and administrator. Along the way, she discovered a love for connecting with students in everyday moments—like greeting them at the bus lot each morning. That spark eventually led her to the director’s seat, where she’s now entering her seventh year.
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What are the biggest student transportation challenges?
For Lisa, it all begins with safety—both physical and emotional. Students need to know they’re secure on every ride. After that comes the constant puzzle of logistics: limited resources, complex routes, and the responsibility to keep everything efficient and fair.
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What does transportation look like in Wichita Public Schools?
With more than 17,000 students qualifying for transportation, Wichita uses a mix of solutions: traditional yellow buses, public transit for about 800 students, and EverDriven rides for students with unique needs. From preschoolers experiencing homelessness to young adults in job training programs, EverDriven helps fill the gaps.
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How do bell times and driver shortages affect transportation?
Bell times are built around transportation, Lisa explains. Staggered starts let one driver serve multiple schools—if routes are manageable. But driver shortages stretched those routes beyond capacity. That’s when supplementing with EverDriven cars became critical, especially for McKinney-Vento students who live outside bus boundaries.
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What makes for a strong partnership with a transportation provider?
Clear communication, transparency, and collaboration are the keys. Lisa emphasizes that when the vendor succeeds, the district succeeds—and ultimately, so do the students.
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How do you build trust with families around safety?
As both a director and a parent, Lisa sees every student through the lens of a mother. She communicates openly with families about background checks, vehicle inspections, in-ride video recording, and GPS monitoring. That transparency builds confidence that every ride is safe.
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What advice would you give to a new transportation director?
Learn the industry. Understand routing. Get to know the populations you serve. Most importantly, build partnerships with families, schools, special education teams, and vendors. Decisions made in collaboration, Lisa says, set directors up for long-term success.
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What are you most passionate about in your work?
For Lisa, it’s meeting the needs of students with special needs while supporting the least restrictive environment. She wants transportation providers to have a voice in IEP planning, so supports like harnesses, fidgets, or headphones are considered thoughtfully. Her goal is always to help students grow toward independence. EverDriven’s drivers, she notes, are strong partners in this work.
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Why do relationships with drivers matter so much?
Transportation is often the most unstructured part of a child’s day—and one of the few times they can talk openly. Lisa values how EverDriven drivers take that seriously, using the ride to build connections that prepare students for the day ahead.
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Partnering With EverDriven in Support of Education
From career paths to safety standards, from logistical challenges to heartfelt connections, Lisa Riveros captures the complexity and the joy of student transportation. Her partnership with EverDriven shows what’s possible when districts and providers work together toward a shared goal: making sure every child arrives at school safe, calm, and ready to learn.
Courtney Pallotta is an energetic, customer-driven marketing executive with more than 20 years of experience leading go-to-market strategy, branding, product marketing, demand generation, and customer advocacy for startup and growth-stage companies. As CMO at EverDriven, she leads the GTM team in delivering modern, student-centered transportation solutions that meet every student’s unique needs.
Courtney has built and scaled marketing functions across some of the most dynamic enterprise technology categories, from data warehousing and analytics to cloud infrastructure, data privacy, and SaaS. She has taken companies from stealth through IPO, led acquisitions, launched open-source platforms, and consistently built marketing engines that drive pipeline and market position. Along the way, she has developed a deep belief that the best marketing is both simple and authentic, and that listening to customers is the foundation for great products and lasting communities.
Outside of EverDriven, Courtney serves as a Board Member at the Gilliam Center for Entrepreneurship, where she mentors the next generation of business leaders.
