mechanic

bus driver

attendant

Dean Transportation

I have worked for public schools driving a school bus for special needs students and I have worked for Dean in Holland.  Hands down Dean is the safer option for student travel!  Dean provides a multitude of safety training, first aid, cpr, etc., and insures that its drivers are physically able to not only drive but to assist students in getting off the bus should that need ever arise.  One of the public schools I worked at completely turned me off with their lack of safety training (none was offered ever), drivers pre-trip inspection could barely be considered an inspection, students in wheel chairs may or may not have been hooked in depending on the mood of the driver, my total busload was 4 students!  Four students!  and 2 of these were from the same home, many times I took out the bus for only these 2 students, one stop!  Instead of putting them on a different bus that would pass by their home, I was paid to take te bus out, pick them up from school and take them to their house, a total trip of maybe 30 minutes.  Any bus trip under one hour was still paid for one hour.  And then there were the drivers...I have no clue why or how some of these people were allowed or able to drive.  Don't get me wrong, some drivers were good and took their job seriously but some were barely able to walk (and this wasn't a temporary situation), they loaded and unloaded students so unsafely I would cringe.  Radio checks which should be completed prior to leaving the bus parking lot were optional.  A Saturday field trip had no one in the office nor was any operating procedure in place should I need to contact someone for an emergency, accident, bus failure-no policy in place, no one to call and no phone numbers to reach anyone.
I would highly, HIGHLY recommend Dean Transportation if you are thinking of becoming a driver.  True Dean may pay a bit less and benefits are not great but they are truly top of the line safety-wise, they do offer year round work and more than likely will get more hours per week.
Public school drivers almost always give Dean a bad name, trying to give a bad reputation but I honestly believe (for me) the public schools have the ugly reputation and Dean (in Holland) is top of the line.

I waned to warn any new employees that are looking to work at Dean Transportation for the IT department. 
Please read all he info below before considering a position with Dean Transportation. 

The Good:
- Newer equipment
- The users are very nice and pleasant to work with.
- Building in Lansing is not bad. Could use more windows.  

The Bad: 
The IT Department consists of 3 individuals. An IT analyst, a PC Technician and an IT director. Small IT Team.

- IT Director: Works remotely and is in the process of retirement. The director worked for BWL for 30+ years and brought his poison from BWL to dean. The director is very poisonous and short tempered. Its his way or the high way even though his way could be wrong. He watches the emails to the IT department and chimes in and makes small things more difficult then they have to be.  
- IT Anylist: This is the IT Director's minion. The IT anylist will act normal then shut down when he has to deal with the director. Very rude to users and has a "Closed Door" policy after 2 weeks. Gets annoyed if he has to do any work. Bad attitude and poisonous like the director. Would rather sit in his dark little office all day with the radio on with no interruptions. 

These 2 clowns (If your Hired) will sabotage things and test and micro-manage  you to see if you can fix issues. Some issues wont be fixable as they will give you limited to no access to servers so you are setup for failure.  
You will have a DAILY REPORT and will have your time micro managed every day. They will question why it took so long on things that they made impossible to complete in a timely manor.

I worked here for a short time and had my contract canceled because the IT anylist felt his job was threatened by me. They will let you go for no reason and "Ghost" you after. Very unprofessional. You have been warned! Good luck and thank you for reading.

I am up at 5:00 am and drive to Holland every morning to be a positive experience in transportation for special needs children.
I drive 20 min. to work, am on the bus for approximately two hours. I drive home 20 min. to my home and return for two hours to pick up the children up from school  and deliver them to their parents. 
I am finished for the day and drive 20 min. home.
I have learned that these special needs children quite often are locked inside their own bodies. All are unique, many are crippled, can't speak, walk or eat by mouth. They all teach and bless me beyond what you could ever imagine. If I can communicate with them just with eye contact or by stroking their hair, making them laugh, etc. then I have accomplished my job for the day.
Dean Transportation is a wonderful company and my co-workers are like family. We all have the same goal. We try our best to give these children a great experience transporting to school and the ability to learn at their own pace with a lot of encouragement.
The hardest part of this job is the split shift and the gas prices for all of my travel to and from work.
The most enjoyable part of this job is to make them smile and to always be their encourager and cheer leader!

What is the best part of working at the company?
The connections you make there. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The last minute changes & sometimes the challenges that happen. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Friendly and family like. Everyone’s usually ready to help, and they treat you more than a co worker. Lunches together for instance. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Arrive, go in to the building, grab your keys and paperwork and pretrip. Start your route, pickup your kids, take them to school, go back to base & post trip. Some of us Para Pro during the day between runs. In the pm it’s much of the same, pre trip, go to the school pick up students, drop them off at home, we are door to door so that’s house to house not a bus stop where a bunch get off at once usually. You build relationships with your students & their families, the teachers & fellow drivers. You go back to base and post trip and do you paperwork and turn everything in. On half days we like to get into groups and have lunch/breakfast together. There are also office parties and pot lucks on occasion.

The owner of the company is wonderful. He gives back to the community, has a family oriented moto, and seems to genuinely care about his company. However, each location is met with it's own issues. Constantly understaffed, which means more work for everyone. The company can't really be to blame for the staffing issues; State wide there seems to be a shortage of bus drivers. It is a fun job, until it isn't. You have a split shift, which eats up your whole day. You only get paid from the moment your bus leaves the lot and comes back. You have to deal with either freezing or sweating to death, safety concerns, and crazy kids/parents. It is a good job for a retiree, but don't count on it being a living wage or convenient for the average working parent. The office staff is stressed to the max and it shows. Most people that work there have a negative view of the dispatch staff. Which is why I wanted to leave. I did not want to be in a work environment where others took out their stress on their fellow coworkers.

Dean Transportation is a really good place to work. They are a family orientated business Mr.Dean is awesome. He is a really caring man. I learned that not everyone you work with are descent people. The co workers were horrible to me, except for one. I came from a different background then them and it made is very hard for me. I have never worked with so many people who didn't care to do there job will just was there for a paycheck and that was it. No kind of work ethic at all. They did terrible things to me its what made me no longer want to be a bus driver so I retired in July of 2014. The supervisor was great but his boss was not. I didn't like a lot of upper management the didn't want to really deal with the parents, nor the community. They were actually scared to come to the site were transportation was being ran. The hardest part of this job was staying as long as I did. The most enjoyable part was the parents, the students and the community.

The workplace is an early morning start; people are getting you as early as five am.
I learned a lot about my job through the monthly training courses and management is focused on getting their job done and not you, until you really step out of line professionally.  They will work with you if they know what's going on with you.  The culture is positive and of course there are people who fuss some, mostly old sub drivers.  They have their reason!  
The hardest part about work is getting all the overtime you want.  You get it but it's a hustle and sometimes disappointing.  The most enjoyable part is Dean allows you to be yourself and will strongly encourage positivity if you have issues that's you need to work out.  It's a great place to work and I love my job.  So, if you come, be ready to give positively and we can keep it going. 

Pros - This is a good company to work for with a good hourly pay range. If you have a good attitude, are honest, and willing to work, then you can count on your home base to put you to work (in my experience). This company will allow you to work for other locations within the company - which results in many bonuses, including a much higher take home pay for each full day worked - as long as your home base is fully staffed. Most locations are very flexible in granting time off, but can be extremely restrictive if they don't have enough drivers to cover routes.

Cons - High driver turnaround in many locations, which seems to be driven by local site issues that includes one or more of the following factors; students, parents, school district policies, and local management. If you want to receive the higher end of the pay range, you have to sacrifice EVERY other benefit. That means NO PTO, NO company contributions to retirement/medical/dental/vision/etc.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Dean was a great place to work. I enjoyed being a driver and getting to know all the kids. Very rewarding job.


What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Being a bus driver with no monitor was  a little stressful at time. Driving and watching 50 kids in Lansing was challenging at times.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Dean team is great and willing to work with you when it comes to pretty much anything.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I would get to the bus garage, pre-trip my bus, go pick up first tier of kids, drop them off and go pick up second tier kids, drop them off, return to the garage, fuel up bus or maybe clean it. Go home for a few hours, head back to the garage, pre-trip bus and head to go pick up kids, get them home, get back to the garage, clean up, and do paperwork, then head home for the night.

Very rewarding job, sometimes challenging also. You have to love kids and have patience.If you can do that then the company will pay for you to get your commercial license and the pay and benefits are really good.  Everyone here is like family and it's a fun place to work. 
 I have made many new friends here and have started a new career path because they were willing to teach me this job. The owner is a great man. He treats everyone like family and is very giving and caring for everyone that works for him.  The pay is not bad and I can get in full time hours some weeks.  The only downfall is not working in the summer. Some people do but I don't. Hoping for year round school in the next few years so I don't have to work a summer job anymore. There is plenty of opportunity here. I'd recommend it.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Mechanic 3 salaries reported	$26.50 per hour
Bus driver 1 salary reported	$25.31 per hour
Attendant 1 salary reported	$16,000 per year

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