Durham School Services: Hiring, Background Check & Employment Verification FAQs

Durham School Services traces its history back to 1917, when a three-bus company began providing student transportation service to the Rosemead School District in California's San Gabriel Valley, a community the company continues to serve today. In its earliest years, Durham concentrated specifically on special education transportation, an early specialization in serving students with unique needs that the company describes as having shaped its distinctive commitment to quality service throughout its more than century-long history.

Durham School Services became a subsidiary of National Express Group, a UK-based transportation company, in 1999. National Express also brought other regional school bus brands into its portfolio, including Petermann Bus (added through the 2012 acquisition of Petermann Partners, operating primarily in the Midwest) and Stock Transportation (acquired in 2002, operating in Canada). In July 2025, National Express sold the school bus division, including Durham, Petermann, and Stock Transportation, to I Squared Capital, an infrastructure-focused investment firm. Following the acquisition, the combined organization adopted a new corporate identity, Summit School Services, while retaining its established regional operating brands, including Durham School Services, in the markets they serve.

Summit School Services (Durham) is headquartered in Warrenville, Illinois, and operates a fleet of more than 14,000 to 15,500 buses across 32 states in the United States, as well as operations in Canada through its sister brands. The company's workforce is centered on school bus drivers and bus attendants (particularly for special needs transportation), along with dispatchers, vehicle maintenance technicians, and terminal managers supporting its transportation operations.

Company culture and employee programs: Durham/Summit School Services emphasizes student safety as its number one priority, describing safety as the cornerstone on which all other operations are built. The company has highlighted community and employee recognition initiatives, including celebrating women in leadership roles across its operations and drivers supporting major community events. Benefits, scheduling, and advancement opportunities can vary by location and specific operating brand, so candidates should confirm specifics with a recruiter during the hiring process.

Yes. Employers in the student transportation industry, including Durham School Services, are legally required to conduct extensive background checks on driver candidates, given the direct responsibility for transporting children in addition to standard employment screening and federal commercial driver regulations. In the United States, employment screening is governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which requires employers to obtain written consent, provide disclosures, and follow adverse action procedures.

Durham School Services is generally reported to conduct thorough background checks as part of its hiring process, which is both standard practice and typically a legal requirement for school bus driver positions, given direct responsibility for the safety of children.

The hiring process for school bus driver positions at Durham typically includes an application, verification of a commercial driver's license (CDL) with a passenger and school bus endorsement, DOT-required drug and alcohol testing, a thorough background check including fingerprinting, and completion of state-mandated school bus driver training prior to a final offer.

Background check timelines can vary based on the type of screening requested and how quickly records can be verified, and background checks for school transportation roles involving fingerprinting can take longer than a standard employment background check. Learn more about typical background check turnaround times to understand what factors can affect the process.

A typical pre-employment background check for a school bus driver role may include:

Under the FCRA, criminal history reporting is generally limited to seven years for most background checks, though state laws governing school bus drivers and other roles involving direct contact with children often require a more extensive, sometimes lifetime, review of an applicant's full criminal history.

Given the direct responsibility for transporting children, state regulations for school bus drivers typically impose strict and often disqualifying restrictions for candidates with certain criminal convictions, particularly those involving violence, sexual offenses, or crimes against children, well beyond standard "ban-the-box" laws protections that may apply to other industries.

Candidates can generally expect to provide personal information such as full legal name, date of birth, and Social Security number, along with signed consent authorizing the background check and, in most states, submission to fingerprinting, in compliance with FCRA and applicable state school transportation regulations.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law that regulates how employers can use background check information in hiring decisions. It requires employers to notify candidates before running a check, obtain written consent, and follow specific adverse action procedures if a decision is made based on background check results.

Running a personal background check with Checkr lets you preview what Durham School Services may see during the hiring process, helping you address any concerns before you apply. A personal background check can include:

Learn more about Checkr Personal Background Checks and explore your Checkr Profile to see what information may appear in your own background check.

If you're a candidate with a background check in progress through Checkr as part of your application to Durham School Services or another employer, you can check your status through the Candidate Portal. For additional support, visit the Checkr Help Center.

The information provided in this article does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information is for general informational purposes only. Checkr does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of this information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of this information. This article may contain links to other third-party websites. Such links are only for the convenience of the reader. Checkr does not endorse the contents of the third-party sites and disclaims any affiliation with the companies mentioned in this article unless otherwise stated.