The smell of turkey filled the Klamath Falls City Schools transportation shop long before most people clocked in this morning. A small group had arrived early, some before sunrise, to prepare the annual Thanksgiving feed for transportation, maintenance and nutrition services staff.
The longtime organizer, who prefers not to be named, handled most of the cooking. But as the morning picked up, transportation mechanic, Mark McGahan stepped in to help.
“The girls cooked it,” McGahan said. “I cut it.”
McGahan has worked in the transportation department for 31 years, long enough to see the Thanksgiving gathering grow, change, disappear temporarily and come back.
“I’ve been here 31 years and we’ve been doing it ever since then,” McGahan said. “It’s like a yo-yo. Sometimes you’re a high family, everybody’s happy, then things happen, like COVID. The family values kind of went down then and now we’re back up where the family is working.”
“We invite all the departments who are here and it is just a chance for all of us to appreciate one another, break bread and thank each other for the hard work they do,” McGahan said.
A small team carrying big responsibility
McGahan is one of three mechanics in the transportation shop, working alongside office staff, dispatchers, drivers and maintenance crew. Their work extends far beyond routine repairs.
“Buses, maintenance rigs, snow work, snowplows, chainsaws,” McGahan said. “I clean the toilet once in a while … just do what needs to be done.”
The job also means responding at any hour when a bus breaks down, whether it’s midafternoon or in the middle of winter along Highway 58.
This year, McGahan said there has only been one major breakdown on Highway 58 while the Klamath Union girls soccer team was returning from a game early in the season.
“We gotta go get them if a bus breaks down and take care of it, get the kids out of harm’s way, and the driver,” McGahan said. “We stay where the bus is, try to fix it. Or if we have to call a tow truck, then we do.”
A job that spans generations
For McGahan, the most meaningful part is realizing how many cycles of students he has quietly supported.
“Thirty-one years ago, I started as a bus driver,” McGahan said. “So how many cycles of kids have I helped drive? Twelve grades … close to three cycles."
McGahan has watched students he first saw as kindergartners grow into high school seniors. Sometimes, students recognize him in town.
McGahan does not know the students’ names but recognizes students who have ridden on his bus.
“At stores they’ll walk up, say, ‘That was my bus driver. That’s the mechanic in the shop that works on the buses,’” McGahan said. “I know their faces … just through time.”
McGahan is a former baseball coach and military veteran who has been fortunate to see students grow into successful adults.
“You see that kid that first started kind of klutzy. Then, year after year, they get taller and stronger and smarter,” he said. “You’ve got a tie with them. It’s just cool. Then they move on. It’s a cycle.”
A belief in career pathways for students
McGahan speaks openly about how important trade programs are and is grateful programs are returning at KFCS. He’s especially excited about a partnership with Dylan Houser, a former transportation mechanic who left the shop last year to teach at Eagle Ridge New Tech High School.
The two have discussed a plan to help students understand what a career in mechanics can look like.
“I’ve got two hot rods that I built,” he said. “Dylan says he wants me to come to the school. I’ll take my hot rod, and I can go talk to them about it, what I’ve done, where I’ve come from. It might help kids out.”
