Cheney School District transportation secretary thrives in the chaos

Diane Gfeller, the transportation secretary for the Cheney School District, thrives in situations where others might throw up their hands – phone in one ear, radio in the other, bus drivers tramping in and out of the office.

When school is in session, the busy part of her day is between 2 and 4 p.m.

“Schools are getting ready to get out, and the drivers are pouring in,” she said. “They like to visit. You’re on the phone and there’s someone on the radio across the room.”

Sometimes buses break down, drivers don’t show and students aren’t where they’re supposed to be. Gfeller handles it all with aplomb.

“I loved when it got chaotic,” she said. “It really taxes you and makes you think and you have to put it together. I enjoy that part. I like puzzles. It’s trying to put a puzzle together, piece it together.”

It’s that ability to control the chaos that led her boss, Transportation Director Ellen Holland, to nominate Gfeller as the district’s classified employee of the year.

“She’s been here with this department for so long and knows the ins and outs of what we do and the people,” she said. “She comes in with a great attitude and works until the kids are all home safe or until the work is done.”

It helps that Gfeller, a 15-year veteran of the department, knows the district, the bus drivers and all the kids, Holland said. “She just makes it run very smooth,” she said.

Many people don’t realize how important Gfeller’s work is, Holland said. “She’s always in the background,” she said. “When she’s not there, you do notice. We thought she deserved some recognition.”

When word got out that Holland was nominating Gfeller for the award, people contacted her wanting to write letters in support. All the bus drivers and mechanics signed a statement of support as well.

Holland designed an elaborate ruse to get her out of the transportation office so a crowd could gather to give her the award, coaxing someone to call in sick so Gfeller would have to take his place. “I went on the bus,” she said. “We’re going in the front gate and I see all these people lined up.”

Her first thought was that something really bad had happened and whatever it was would probably require a lot of paperwork, Gfeller said. But it was just the superintendent and other well wishers there to present her with a plaque recognizing her achievement.

“I had no idea,” she said. “It was wonderful.”

Gfeller said she’s always thought it’s the bus drivers who should be recognized. “I sit in my cozy little chair and my big window,” she said. “It’s 5 degrees outside, snowing, icy, it’s dark. It’s the most inclement weather and they’re out there. They really care for their kids.”

Gfeller has been with the district for 26 years. She started as a Title 1 aide at Sunset Elementary, then took a series of different jobs at different schools over the years. She began as a secretary at Chase Middle School in 2000, where she remained until she moved to the transportation department in 2005.

When she began there was no computer software to create bus routes so Gfeller did it by hand. She’d spend all summer making note of which students needed to be bused to which schools and creating bus routes. It wasn’t a small task.

“Our district grows all the time,” Holland said, noting the new apartment construction and the opening of the Amazon facility. “It’s constant.”

During the school year Gfeller maintained the routes and made adjustments when necessary. She’d line up drivers for field trips, do the trip billing, answer the phones and manage the chaos every afternoon.

Everything normal went out the window in March when schools abruptly closed. That didn’t mean there wasn’t anything to do. The transportation department had two days notice to create all new routes to deliver meals to students every weekday. Since then they’ve also delivered computers to students and delivered homework packets every Monday that would be picked up on Friday.

Now that school’s over for the year, Gfeller can’t do her normal fall bus route planning.

“We’re starting from scratch, basically, because we don’t know how the district will go back to school,” she said. “We can’t use the old routes.”

All school districts are in the same bind as discussions continue about what school will look like in the fall, Holland said. “If the district says half the kids go Monday/Wednesday and half go Tuesday/Thursday, we’re going to have to create all new routes,” she said.