NORWAY —When grant funding for Guy E. Rowe Elementary School’s Walking School Bus ran out at the end of last year, it was unclear whether the program would continue. Thanks to parent volunteers and financial support from the community, students were able to board the Walking School Bus without any lapse in service.

Guy E. Rowe Elementary School’s Walking School Bus rolls on thanks to community support. Dee Menear/Advertiser Democrat

“We didn’t have funding for the program at the start of the year,” Principal Doug Kilmister said to the Board of Directors on Tuesday, Sept. 3. “On Friday, I invited the police and fire chiefs, and Healthy Oxford Hills staff to walk with us.”

Key Bank and Norway Saving Bank donated $500 each. Two anonymous donors gave $3,500 and $1,000.

The grant funding had supported a program coordinator, Kilmister said on Thursday, Sept. 5.

“The Walking School Bus is happening, and it has been happening, with volunteers running the program,” he said. “Right now we have police officers, fire department staff town officials and parent volunteers on the route. Donations are still coming in from the community. Everyone is pitching in to make this happen.”

Kilmister said a new arrangement was in the works and a coordinator to oversee the program would be named soon.

The route begins at Ari’s Pizza and Subs on Main Street and follows Whitman, Pearl and Beal streets to the school.

“Parents and students run down the smaller streets to meet us at the corners,” he said. “We have anywhere from 15 to 30 kids of all ages on the ‘bus’.”

The program was first introduced to Norway students in 2015 when all students in grades one through six who lived in a designated area – about a half mile from the school – were no longer bused to school.