SAD 17’s school bus fleet is inspected and ready for the 2023-24 academic year. Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat

PARIS — Maine School Administrative District 17 will release its school bus schedule by August 28.

The school buses will start to roll on August 30, the first day of school for PreK-six, seventh and ninth grade students, and on August 31 for eighth, 10th, 11th and 12th grade students.

While Maine School Administrative District 17’s new Transportation Director Chuck Beardsley is finalizing routes and schedules, he reports that the bus fleet is ready for service.

“Our staffing is where we need to be,” Beardsley said in an email statement. “Everyone is licensed to complete bus and vehicle inspections; we are in great shape to keep all our vehicles maintained in almost entirely in house.”

The bus driver shortage, a challenge for school departments across the country, continues. Beardsley said the district has its contingency plan in place, and that recently employment inquiries have ticked up a bit.

“We are working with RideSource,” he wrote. “They have begun purchasing school buses and we are working out details on utilizing them to assist the district.”

SAD 17 is close to having an adequate number of van drivers, and RideSource will continue to help cover gaps for smaller-vehicle transportation needs.

There will be 18 buses carrying students as school starts, one less than last year, and as many as five vans running mornings and afternoons, with RideSource providing additional transportation services.

The transportation department is partnered with Oxford Tech School’s commercial driving program to develop bus driver training.

“It will be facilitated by two of our own drivers,” Beardsley said.  “One takes care of the [applications and documentation] paper portion and the other focuses on the driving portion.  They have both been trained to become our district’s trainer through the School of Applied Technology-Region 9 in Mexico.

Beardsley, who was hired on June 20, used summer school programming as an initiation to work with district drivers and learn about SAD 17’s routes that snake through eight communities. With several storms closing washed out roads and construction projects delaying others, he had plenty of opportunities to manage problematic situations in real time.

One issue that SAD 17 has grappled with will continue – school start times will be staggered according to route schedules.

“Until we can increase the number of buses on the road, staggered start times will remain in place to allow our team to be able to pick up and drop off in the most timely fashion,” he wrote. “This year we have received 352 new student registrations” that include requests for transportation.

SAD 17 Transportation Director Chuck Beardsley. Submitted photo

Beardsley joins SAD 17 from RSU 10 in Rumford, where he was employed in its Buildings Grounds and Transportation Department. He and his family, which includes four kids and a puppy, live in Peru. He currently attends the University of Maine Augusta in its business management program.

“My family and I enjoy camping, fishing, hiking, riding bikes, swimming, stargazing and watching movies,” he said. “I’ve been an athlete my entire life and still enjoy competing and training every day.

“I am really looking forward to working with this community and all the amazing staff. I hope to be able to provide employment to some in the community through our bus driver program and be able to offer consistent transportation options” to its families.