Transportation coordinator driving off to retirement
Teresa Dondrea has worked in school district for 33 years
BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer

Teresa Dondrea

MARLBORO - Thirty-three fulfilling years of service in the Marlboro K-8 School District is about 32 years more than Transportation Coordinator Teresa Dondrea had anticipated. Dondrea will be retiring from her position at the end of the current school year.

Marlboro Superintendent of Schools David Abbott said no transportation director with whom he has worked before has been the equal of Dondrea.

"She demands excellence (of her staff) and she receives it because their respect for her is so great," Abbott said.

Dondrea, 66, who has lived inMarlboro for 36 years, said she started working for the school district as a bus driver in 1975 to make extra money for an anniversary cruise she and her husband were planning to take.

"I loved it, and that's why I kept doing it," Dondrea said of her years driving a school bus.

She described that job as the perfect fit for her because the position had the same schedule as her three children who were then enrolled in the district's schools. Dondrea spent eight years transporting Marlboro students to and from school.

In the 1980s when Board of Education members began talking about contracting out for bus services they were being told that the school district's transportation department could not accommodate, Dondrea said she told board members the department was running inefficiently.

"They asked me to meet with them and talk about it and the next thing I knew, here I am," Dondrea said.

She laughed as she recalled how she told district administrators that she would stay in the coordinator's position until they hired someone else and here it is 25 years later and she is only leaving because of retirement.

Dondrea said her job as transportation coordinator varies from day to day, with some days spent entirely in telephone conversations about one issue or another, while other days are spent finalizing bus routes for upcoming school year. She oversees the district's fleet of 26 16-passenger vans and 62 school buses.

When bad weather strikes or threatens the area, it is Dondrea and Abbott who make the decision about opening or closing school, as they assess the condition of the township's roads.

"I'm going to miss talking with her at 4:30 a.m." on days of inclement weather, Abbott said.

Thirty-three years have brought a lot of changes to the district's transportation system. Dondrea said one of the changes she has noticed is an increase in parents' concern about the safety of their children.

"When I first started, kids would be out (at the bus stop) by themselves. It was a different world, there was not as much traffic. Now, with everything that goes on today, parents want closer ties to what's happening not only in the schools, but on the school buses," Dondrea explained.

Dondrea said her department has tried to ensure that parents' questions are always answered. She said having a low turnover rate among employees helps, as parents are familiar with their child's bus driver. When new drivers begin working in Marlboro they ride along with the current driver so parents may meet and become familiar with them, she said.

When a major redistricting initiative was undertaken a few years ago, Abbott recalled that Dondrea's insight made the move even more cost-efficient than initially projected.

"That's the kind of work she does," the superintendent said.

Under Dondrea's watchful eye, Marlboro's school buses became the first in the state to have crossing safety gates installed on the front of buses. Four buses were equipped with the gates to start, while Dondrea made a presentation to state officials on their merits.

For two years the department would report on the gates before the state finally allowed them to be placed on all of the buses in the district's fleet, Dondrea said. It was not long after that when the crossing gates became a state requirement.

Abbott said Dondrea's thorough and insightful ways have created an immense level of respect from her colleagues in neighboring school districts and at the state level.

In her retirement Dondrea plans to travel, spend time with her mother and sister who reside in Florida, and visit her children who live all around the country.

Although she is excited about her upcoming retirement, Dondrea will be sad to leave the school district.

"I've been very fortunate," Dondrea said of the administrators she has worked with over the past 33 years.

Dondrea said of her position, "It became a big part of my life." She fondly recalled the many friends she has made over the years.

"The district will certainly miss her," Abbott said of Dondrea.