2025 Pikes Peak Regional Road-E-O

District 49 hosted the 2025 Pikes Peak Regional Road-E-O on Saturday, April 26th, at D49’s Transportation Center.

Bus drivers from five Pikes Peak region school districts participated in 29 different competitions testing both general education and special education driver skills.  

Judges and bus drivers had to deal with misty, cold conditions during the contest. But the weather didn’t dampen their spirits. David Justiniani, a school bus trainer from School District 3, said, “I'm out here personally because it's a good bonding experience. I like testing the skills of the people I drive with and work with every day. You get to do things that you normally don't get to do on a school bus. So you're out here to push yourself to be a better bus driver.”

D49 SpEd teams took 1st through 3rd place in the SpEd events.

1st  place team: Driver Pam Page and Para Kayla Herniak

2nd  place team: Driver Ray Polendo and Para Heather Albanese

3rd  place team: Driver Chris Crespin and Para Robert Sparks

The D49 SpEd team of Dave Oden and Ashleigh Bazzo won Rookie Team of the year.

And D49 won with the best overall score of all districts.

The winning teams will progress to the state competition in Castle Rock at the Douglas County Transportation Center on May 3rd. 

McCandless Truck & Bus Centers provided lunch, door prizes, and commemorative mugs.  Acorn Petroleum supplied plaques for the winners.  ATR brought coffee and donuts.  And O’Reilly Auto Parts of Falcon supplied raffle prizes for the contestants.