Starting off as a bus driver, Latonya Brooks has risen through the ranks to take on the job of Ector County ISD transportation director.

Brooks had been transportation director at Joshua ISD and started in Odessa July 1. She replaces Roger Cleere who retired.

Joshua has about 6,000 students. Brooks said she’s basically doing the same job here as in Joshua, but transportation was contracted there through First Student, which provides transportation throughout the state.

Latonya Brooks poses for a photo Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at the ECISD Transportation Department. Brooks was recently hired as the new Transportation Director for the Ector County Independent School District and officially began her position on July 1. (Odessa American/Eli Hartman)

Going back to school later in life, Brooks said the idea of going into transportation formed when she and her mother were driving by a bus and saw they were hiring.

Hailing from Little Rock, Ark., she got her CDL and drove for a couple of years, finished her bachelor’s degree at Arkansas Baptist University and her master’s from Webster University, both in public administration.

Before that, she was raising her family.

“I have three girls. I have a 29, 27 and a 23. So I waited until my youngest was in the eighth grade before I went back to school. Now I have two grandkids, but at that particular time I had one grandkid that I was helping with. It was a lot going on,” Brooks said.

Initially, she thought she wanted to be a teacher, but once she went for her degree in public administration she figured she could always go back to get her teaching certification.

But when she started in transportation, she realized it was her passion, making sure the students made their way to and from school safely and on time.

Latonya Brooks poses for a photo Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at the ECISD Transportation Department. Brooks was recently hired as the new Transportation Director for the Ector County Independent School District and officially began her position on July 1. (Odessa American/Eli Hartman)

Brooks grew up with four brothers and she was a middle child. “But I’m the mama. I tell everybody what to do,” she said.

Brooks got remarried in 2019 to her husband, Steven. He is a hot shot driver. Both are from Arkansas. Her sorority sister and her husband are first cousins, so her sorority sister introduced them.

She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated.

Brandon Reyes, executive director of district operations, said Brooks is a forward-thinking, customer service-focused leader.

“She worked her way up through the ranks of student transportation, beginning her career as a bus driver, moving up to dispatcher, and then location manager. Transportation employees have irregular work schedules, which can make college challenging. Mrs. Brooks obtained her master’s degree in public administration while she was a transportation employee. She was selected from a field of seven highly qualified candidates. We are very excited to have her as part of our team,” Reyes said.