Pete Japikse of the Ohio Department of Education is the new chair of the quinquennial National Congress on School Transportation, which prescribes and updates U.S. school bus specifications and standards.

Interim steering committee members for the 16th NCST were notified that the selection of Japikse, Ohio's director of transportation and a past-president of NASDPTS in 2005 and 2006, received approval by the industry associations.

He was nominated following the most recent NCST in Warrensburg, Mo., by Charlie Hood, the current president of NASDPTS. Japikse was selected to replace Pete Baxter, the most recent steering committee chair, after he announced his retirement from the Indiana Department of Education and that he'd be stepping down from his NCST post. Per NCST bylaws, NASDPTS is the organization that nominates new chairs. A 60-day approval period follows to allow representatives of NAPT and NSTA to confirm the selection. That timetable just concluded, and all parties agreed to anoint Japikse.

"I'm humbled and flattered to be asked to do this and follow in the footsteps of some outstanding predecessors," Japikse said. "I will be working with the rest of the committee and the industry to continue helping the NCST evolve and remain a viable resource for us."

One of the items Japikse will head is continuing the direction laid out by Baxter and D. Leeds Pickering, the retiring state director from Wyoming and a steering committee member for the 2010 NCST, to utilize Internet technology to allow for updates and proposed changes to the National Specifications and Procedures during the five years in between congresses rather than the industry waiting to introduce new ideas at the event held at the University of Central Missouri.

"We will be continuing the direction they've initiated to make it more of a dynamic, living and breathing process rather than a five-year static change system," Japikse added.

In other NCST news, Web users can now access every NCST document dating back to the first meeting in 1939 by clicking on the link "NCST Past Publications 1939-2005" located on the NCST home page.