SEMINOLE — When Tricia Hall tore her rotator cuff in September 2024, her 24-year career driving school buses ended abruptly. Unable to drive and lacking the mechanical or technical qualifications for other transportation department positions, she faced unemployment — until a professional development certification she’d completed just two months earlier qualified her for a classroom position.
“Without the COD certifications, I wouldn’t have been qualified for this position,” said Hall, 56, now working with middle schoolers in alternative behavior at Osceola Middle School.
Hall was among 109 support staff members Pinellas County Schools honored two months ago at its annual Certificate of Distinction ceremony. She completed her second certification level in July, joining a program that has helped nearly 4,500 employees advance their careers since 1998.
The Certificate of Distinction program offers two certification levels with annual salary supplements: COD 1 requires 65 hours of training including diversity courses and electives, earning a $225 annual supplement; COD 2 requires 152 additional hours focused on leadership and technical skills, plus 30 hours of community service, earning a $350 supplement.
This year, 82 employees completed COD 1 and 27 completed COD 2.
“Professional learning helps us get better at our craft and also helps us better understand the goals of the district,” said Lisa Brackney from the district’s professional learning department.
What distinguishes Pinellas from other districts is the financial incentive. Participants earn up to $575 annually for completing the program, with the supplement continuing if they remain district employees.
“A lot of school districts actually reach out to us to try to replicate this, but the conversation kind of comes to a stop when we start talking about the supplement,” Brackney said.
When experience isn’t enough
Hall’s path to education spans decades and states. She drove school buses in Ohio from 2000 to 2015, then moved to Florida and drove semi-trucks until 2020. During the 2020-21 school year, she taught commercial driving at Pinellas Technical College before joining Pinellas County Schools as a bus driver in 2021.
She started COD 1 classes in August 2023 and completed them in July 2024. Two months later, she tore her rotator cuff.
When she had surgery Dec. 23, 2024, her decades of driving experience suddenly became worthless. She couldn’t physically drive anymore, and her expertise didn’t extend to the mechanical or technical aspects of transportation that would have qualified her for other department positions.
Her 90-day light duty period ended Dec. 21, 2024, the last day before winter break. Though Principal Derrik Craun had offered her a classroom position at Osceola Middle School, she wasn’t medically cleared to accept it until March. Without the COD 1 certification she’d completed in July providing broader qualifications beyond her transportation role, she would have been unemployed.
“This was an absolute lifeline,” Hall said of the COD credentials. “The classes saved me from being unemployed.”
A costly transition
The career change came at significant financial cost. Hall went from earning $23 an hour working 50-hour weeks during the school year as a bus driver, plus summer work, to $15 an hour at 35 hours weekly year-round, a nearly $33,000 annual pay cut.
The financial pressure has been significant for Hall and her husband John, a 21-year disabled military veteran who draws 40% disability and works full-time as a school safety officer.
Hall just received her annual $575 COD supplement this month — one year after her surgery — and it has already paid for Christmas presents for their children and grandchildren.
“I’m not going to lie, money was tight,” Hall said. “But we made it work.”
Finding purpose in the classroom
When Craun met Hall during her light duty assignment, he immediately took notice.
“From day one, I was impressed with her ability to connect with kids and adults,” Craun said. “Kids gravitated toward her.”
Now working in the school’s Alternative Behavior Center with sixth, seventh and eighth graders, Hall has found her calling.
“I don’t like to say bad choices, because I don’t think kids are bad,” Hall said. “They’re either busy or they’re bored, and so they didn’t make a choice that was appropriate for the school building.”
Hall points to one student as confirmation she chose correctly: Priscilla, a bilingual student who struggled with attendance, initially stalling for an hour each morning.
“She literally cried through fits,” Hall said. “But I just took her under my wing.”
Hall worked with her daily, gradually reducing the delay from 60 minutes to 40, then 30, until Priscilla went to class on time. Eventually, the student brought her lunch to spend time with Hall.
“It’s all about the kids for me,” Hall said.
Recognition and future plans
Less than a year after transitioning to her new role, Hall was named Osceola Middle School’s Support Employee of the Year — a unanimous decision among the school’s four administrators — and nominated for the district’s overall support staff award.
“It was an easy decision,” Craun said. “She’s contagious — just a good person to have on your staff.”
The COD program gave Hall more than job qualification. It provided confidence to return to college. She’s pursuing her bachelor’s degree in education, set to graduate in March 2027, with plans to teach middle school math and special education, two critically understaffed areas. The starting teacher salary of around $52,000 will nearly restore her bus-driving income.
Her choice to specialize in special education is deeply personal. Hall herself has dyslexia. Her son Aaron is autistic — and he’s following a similar path from transportation to education.
Aaron Hall completed his COD 1 certification and now works in operations at Pinellas Park Middle, a position he likes and that he earned through his COD qualifications. He’s currently taking classes for COD 2 and plans to eventually attend college to work in a classroom.
“I want to be an advocate for other children with disabilities,” Aaron said.
Watching her son’s success has reinforced what Tricia has learned working with students: given proper support and expectations, they can exceed predictions.
“Continuing education is important to me,” Hall said. “I want to work with kids.”
Why professional development matters
Completing COD 1 while driving wasn’t easy. Classes often started at 5 p.m., but Hall’s route didn’t end until 6 or 7 p.m. She completed the program over nearly a year, from August 2023 to July 2024 — just two months before her injury. She completed COD 2 this July.
When transportation recruiters first mentioned professional development opportunities in 2021, Hall saw the value.
“It’s free education. Why would you not want to do that?” Hall recalled thinking.
The program gave her something unexpected: insight into how the district operates and qualifications beyond her specific role.
“I don’t know how you can expect excellence out of people when they don’t even know what the plan is,” Hall said. “For me to meet a goal, I need to know what the goal is. And that’s the best thing I got out of it, knowing what the goal is and then what part you play in that.”
A family affair
The district, Pinellas County’s largest employer with more than 17,000 employees, has about 2,100 support staff members, including paraprofessionals, medical behavior associates, teacher aides, bus drivers, maintenance workers and cafeteria employees. This year’s COD graduates represent about 5% of that workforce.
At the fall ceremony, Hall and her husband John, who completed his COD coursework in December 2024, were among three married couples honored together this year. Their extended family works for the district: Sons Aaron and Scott in operations, and daughter-in-law Tuezday in food and nutrition services.
The program has become a family legacy. Tricia used it to survive a career-ending injury. Aaron used it to advance from transportation to operations and is now pursuing his path to teaching. John completed it to better understand the district where he works as a safety officer.
“It was something we did together,” Tricia said, pausing. “This is about family.”
For other employees considering the program, Hall’s message is clear.
“I would suggest anybody and everybody to do it. It’s a wealth of knowledge.”
One year after surgery ended her driving career, that knowledge has given Hall something even more valuable than employment — a job that lets her do what she’s always wanted: work with kids. And she’s shown her son that the same path is possible for him.
The Certificate of Distinction program accepts applications from support staff year-round. For more information, contact the Pinellas County Schools professional learning department.