Making the Wheels on the Bus Go Round

EdD alumnus charts path forward in K-12 district leadership role

Anthony Babusci’s (EdD ’22) mornings are fast paced.

As director of transportation and operations at the Seneca Valley School District in Butler County, Pennsylvania, he typically arrives at the central offices around 6:00 a.m. Not long after, the phones start ringing and the radios begin relaying urgent messages from dispatchers at the garage.

The district’s school buses are headed out to pick up students. Every school day, the fleet transports approximately 9,000 students across 100 square miles of rural terrain located north of Pittsburgh.

Babusci closely analyzes the bus routes for safety and efficiency. He watches a large electronic screen with a map of real-time locations of every bus, which are monitored by GPS tracking. If a bus is running late or is impacted by a detour, a message must be quickly sent out to parents.

“It’s pretty intense in the morning and the afternoon, but I’m enjoying the pace of it,” Babusci said.

Babusci began the job in July 2025. He was the principal of the district’s Ryan Gloyer Middle School for seven years but took the transportation position to gain additional administrative experience. He now oversees complex transportation operations and large financial contracts.

Babusci is always looking for new challenges that support his professional growth and leadership development. He holds his superintendent’s letter of eligibility as a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Education’s Doctor of Education (EdD) in Education Leadership program.

“This job is not something I anticipated,” he said. “I was happy as a principal, but I enjoy change and did have career aspirations beyond building level administration when the time was right. When this opportunity came along, it aligned perfectly with those aspirations and provided a path to help me achieve them.”

Building Confidence, Helping Others

Babusci credits the Pitt EdD program for preparing him for the transportation role.

The education doctorate’s emphasis on Improvement Science sharpened his focus on strategic thinking and high-impact problem solving.

“There are an immense number of challenges associated with the job. I would never have felt prepared for it had it not been for the program,” Babusci said.

Additionally, Babusci is thankful the Pitt EdD allowed him to have a positive impact on others. While enrolled in the program, he still worked as a middle school principal. He used lessons from the program to start an after-school program at the middle school that is still in operation.

“You realize pretty quickly the program is not just impacting me, it’s also impacting other educators and students,” he said.

Babusci’s EdD dissertation in practice was focused on de-escalation strategies for teachers. The goal is to help educators prevent classroom crises by being aware of the stages of escalation and responding in an appropriate manner.

“It never felt like work when I was doing my research,” he said.

Staying Connected

As he keeps the district’s transportation operations humming smoothly, Babusci finds ways to stay involved with educators and students.

He continues to teach an annual training session for first-year teachers at the Seneca Valley School District, something he began while working as a principal.

“Honestly, I love it. I don’t know if there’s anything I love more than working with new teachers and new administrators,” Babusci said.

To stay close to students, Babusci regularly goes out to the middle school parking lot during school dismissal time. From there, he’s able to talk to the students and can intervene if discipline-related issues arise on the buses.

After so many years of living and working in the area, being the director of transportation has given Babusci a new way of seeing his surroundings. He appreciates every road and each route in ways he never did before.

“This is my 21st year in the district. I like to think I know the area well, but you think you know the area well until you have to route it,” Babusci said.