Nov. 18
November 18, 2008
Catherine "Cat" Jacobs
November 20, 2008
By a 7-2 vote, the Terrebonne Parish School Board approved a new transportation supervisor at last week’s meeting.
Houma native Delvin Aubert, 41, will take over the position in about a week from his predecessor Lydia Allemand, who transferred to a grant writer post in August. No exact starting date for Aubert has been set.
“I’m ready to get in there and get my hands dirty, get to work and help turn this thing around,” Aubert said. “I know it’s going to be a challenge, but everything I’ve done in management has been a challenge. I’m going to give it my best shot. I’m a winner. I hate to lose.”
Board members Roosevelt Thomas, Richard Jackson, L.P. Bordelon, Greg Harding, Roger Dale DeHart, and Donald Duplantis approved the hire. Rickie Pitre and Clark Bonvillain opposed.
Aubert is a 1991 graduate of Grambling State University in business management. He brings over eight years of transportation management experience to the post.
Aubert has spent the past 18 months as a dock supervisor in the Houston facility of SAIA, the former Houma-based carrier.
Before that, he was an operation supervisor with the Yellow Corporation, a train master for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and worked for parking management service companies Standard Parking, Central Parking and Worldwide Parking.
Last month, the board rejected Lisa Holmes, a former Dularge Middle School teacher who currently trains special-education teachers, for the post because she lacked experience in fleet transportation.
The 1986 H.L. Bourgeois High School graduate said his qualifications coming back home were the main reasons he applied for the job.
“I knew I always wanted to give back to my community,” Aubert said. “When I saw that they (school system) needed a supervisor of transportation person in Houma, that was perfect.”
Aubert will be responsible for a 170-bus fleet that transports 18,500 students to school, on field trips and extracurricular activities.
He said his top priorities are to hire more drivers and improve their attendance. The transporation department has been plagued with a shortage of licensed drivers for several years.
Currently there are about 160 drivers for the fleet.
“We have to make sure we have enough spare bus drivers so if someone calls in sick or leaves, we can keep going,” Aubert said. “You always like to have a cushion of spare or part-time drivers.”
During her two years as transportation supervisor, Allemand was accused of favoritism – a charge the denied on several occasions – among drivers and several quit.
Many more drivers left the school system to take better-paying jobs that required also a commercial driver’s license.
Aubert has been made aware of the problems. However, he is confident he can put the transportation department back on the right path.
“I heard what has happened, but the thing is, I’m a people person,” he said. “So, I’m going to go in there and work with the bus drivers, and try to come up with a solution that best fits myself and the bus drivers.”
