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Abstract
As schools open their doors post-pandemic for in-person instruction, the bus driver shortage continues to be a nationwide problem. As a result, school systems are taking desperate measures to think outside the box to recruit and promote working within public school transportation as a career. Although there is research in the area of teachers and the teaching environment, there is a lack of research regarding the public school bus environment and how it impacts both students' academic success and the work environment for transportation employees. The purpose of this study was to build on prior research to further understand the public school bus environment as an extension of the brick-and-mortar school building for student success and a work environment for transportation employees. This study gathered the transportation employees' voices to understand their working conditions better. This study specifically used the perspectives of transportation employees to analyze the relationship between student-on-staff victimization and the workplace outcomes of occupational self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and burnout: emotional exhaustion and work disengagement mediated through job stress. This study further used these perspectives to analyze if the indirect effects of student-on-staff victimization mediated through job stress were moderated by a person's years of experience, amount of behavior management training, and the employee's perceived level of school administration support within their job. The study used mediation and moderation analysis procedures to analyze the data. The study found that student-on-staff victimization on workplace outcomes was mediated by job stress. However, the study did not establish that a person's years of experience, amount of behavior management training, or perceived administration support was moderating the indirect effects. Through the voices of the transportation employees, it was also determined that they desire better communication with school system administration over additional behavior management training.