Please define and explain the background of CESO . How did CESO connect with NAPT ?
Lance Libengood : CESO was originally founded as a transportation consulting company over 12 years ago . We have now transitioned into providing several additional services to school districts . We work in facilities , finance , technology , communications and , of course , transportation . Support with re-envisioning , routing , customer service , and overall consulting are a few of the transportation services we are currently offering to many schools . For more information checkout our website at
www . TheCESO . com . It is fun working with NAPT , particularly on the RethinkEDU project . We have been able to bring several of our innovation teams together , including communication , technology , and transportation .
Luke Frederick : We helped the Minnesota Association for Pupil Transportation with their online conference and Michael Martin was a keynote speaker . Afterwards , I called him , and we instantly connected . We were kindred minds with CESO and NAPT and that is how everything kicked off .
Libengood : The timing was interesting . We work in several different K-12 market spaces , but really what we have become is more of an innovation organization that comes alongside school districts and supports them . When COVID hit , we were uniquely positioned to team with NAPT to try and help with communication and education .
You are inviting NAPT members to join NAPT ACTS ! on RethinkEDU , a brand-new online network for K12 professionals . Please explain what NAPT ACTS ! and RethinkEDU is . What makes it different from other educational services being offered during the pandemic ?
Frederick : At CESO , we challenge ourselves with re-imagining and rethinking the K-12 professional development side of things . RethinkEDU was created when the pandemic hit . We set out to connect K-12 professionals and provide resources around that connection , creating collaboration . The theory behind the website is to have social networking serve as the framework or foundation . When you log on , it feels like Facebook , with that similar user experience . Then we put the learning K-12 professional side of it on top of that . The site features workshops , webinars , and articles . It is an online learning management system baked on top of a network of professional profiles . Then we put people into professional groups – which we call “ channels ” - so that they can connect with each other . As an example , the NAPT ACTS ! community has about 1500 people and they now are connected via that channel . Everyone who is connected and subscribed to the NAPT ACTS channel can now communicate , collaborate , and learn from each other professionally in one place . Our approach is different because it seeks to take the concept of collaborative learning and make it “ on demand ,” so it can be accessed whenever convenient to users . We have also integrated online Zoom calls and other scheduling options as well . The bottom line is that we work with the people who are creating content to develop discussion questions that can loop into that conversation , so people can go deeper into the subject matter .
How has the pandemic affected the idea of rethinking what is possible in virtual education ?
Frederick : The pandemic accelerated the adoption of online networking meetings . I ' ve used GoToMeeting for years , but it wasn ' t a tool used for connecting and collaborating .
That is where CESO got excited . We wanted to enhance that experience . For us , the pandemic created an opportunity to expand the professional development in K-12 and not confine the educational experience to conferences . While that was the traditional path and it works , there is this new opportunity to enhance the professional development online and go into an in-depth learning pattern and then have an in-person activation of that , shifting the focus from creating seminars and workshops into a more intensive collaboration where we can trade ideas .
Libengood : We used to wait for conferences once or twice a year to connect and share ideas . Now it is happening monthly or weekly and there are hundreds of us coming together at once sharing ideas quickly and on the spot . With new challenges every week , we can stay on top of things quickly . It has been an acceleration of moving the industry forward . We were excited for the opportunity to address this need that we have been talking about and dreaming about for so long . So , in 2020 , we moved quickly putting it together to make sure we were in the right spot to support schools .
Frederick : On top of that , the big opportunity we saw is taking down the silos of many associations and creating equal access to learning . Prior to the development of RethinkEDU , there was no ability to have cross collaboration among transportation directors , superintendents , and principals nationwide . It happened locally , but not nationally . With the RethinkEDU platform , what we are trying to do is remove silos that separate groups of people trying to accomplish the same things and create community space for associations that represent each group so that there ' s equal access to content across disciplines . Each can then more easily access and learn about other education issues and associations . We really believe that it will open a lot of conversations and innovation because the silos are no longer there hindering access to that diversity of information . We believe this is a significant advance for NAPT members and pupil transportation .
Libengood : One great components of the partnership , and one of the main purposes of NAPT , is to be a national voice for the transportation component of schools . Partnering in this way with RethinkEDU , we are helping enhance what is the original and probably most important mission of NAPT , which is to represent our transportation service providers .
Your partners at NAPT are developing content for ACTS ! based on research from member focus groups to ensure the delivery of relevant subject matter to the pupil transportation industry . Why do you believe RethinkEDU is the best way for NAPT members and supporters receive this content ?
Frederick : It is an evolution , a natural progression of where we are going from a K-12 professional development side . We are excited about this because in our minds it was not technology first , but a methodology first . Because of that , the experience is more unified around the end-user and in creating access to content and putting it in their library .
22 | SCHOOL-BUSRIDE . COM | JANUARY 2021