US education secretary visits Maine to talk challenges
4 min readMiguel Cardona listened to input from leaders of RSU 21 prior to touring York County Group School.
KENNEBUNK, Maine — Cindy Messier carries a large amount of obligation at Regional University Device 21 in Kennebunk.
She’s the bus driving instructor for the district, which includes faculties in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, and Arundel. She drives her very own typical bus routes, provides young children to afterschool sporting activities tactics, and normally handles shifts for other motorists.
“If I am driving, that implies a mechanic does not want to occur generate,” she smiled when standing future to one of the district’s major yellow equipment.
Messier came to get the job done Monday when her bosses would have without doubt recognized if she experienced termed out.
“I’m really possessing a granddaughter correct this minute,” she laughed.
She was no use to her daughter, she stated, right until the toddler came. So, she utilized her time to bend the ear of the most highly effective man in American education and learning.
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona visited the Kennebunk bus depot Monday, a visitor of Superintendent Terri Cooper and Rep. Chellie Pingree. All through a so-identified as roundtable discussion outside in chairs, Cardona lauded the final decision of Maine lawmakers and several university districts to allocate resources from the American Rescue Plan to give sign-on bonuses to bus drivers.
RSU 21 is one of the districts offering the bonuses, and Messier told Cardona it has assisted draw in and keep drivers to a point exactly where they usually are not struggling with any gaps during shifts.
But not all district’s have the fortune of a comprehensive personnel.
Monday morning, Lewiston Superintendent Jake Langlais Tweeted a information that some of the city’s children would not have a bus journey to university. “Excellent morning. Bus 34 will not operate right now due to the continued driver shortage,” he wrote. “Thank you for your comprehending. Have a fantastic day.”
In a phone discussion Monday, Langlais instructed Information Centre Maine there are extra times in Lewiston with a lacking route than without having 1.
“Just about every day is like a snow day,” he explained, outlining how he and district management wake up all around 5 a.m. just about every working day to assess which buses will have a driver that day.
To support, he stated, the driver certification process really should be expedited.
According to him, if a individual arrives in keen to travel for the district, it could acquire 6 months in advance of they are driving a bus with pupils in it. Langlais mentioned he doesn’t want to sacrifice security, but a quicker certification process is attainable.
Back in Kennebunk, Messier did have suggestions for points she’d like to strengthen about the driver hiring procedure.
Messier held up an tutorial handbook she explained she had been essential to use, right up until this winter, to educate new recruits. It appeared to be little a lot more than 1 inch thick. She then picked up two significant binders and showed them to Cardona and those gathered in the circle. Individuals binders, she explained, were now the essential studying product. They involved, amid other merchandise, towing guidance for tractor trailers.
Messier stated the textbooks ended up made use of for wide industrial motorists licenses and, like Langlais, recommended a bus-precise curriculum would enable streamline the process and get new motorists on the road faster.
“What I took right now is, ‘Why never we make the method less difficult?'” Cardona posed after the meeting. “Why do not we faucet on the shoulders of retired academics, retired principals that are searching to get again in and assist their local community? I think with American Rescue System Resources we can recruit individuals, pay them bonuses.”
Daniel Chuhta, Maine deputy commissioner of schooling, attended the Monday party. He claimed the state is nonetheless observing some bumps as the pandemic smooths out.
“We know there are even now faculty units that are dealing with people issues,” he said. “Ongoing recruitment and support is however occurring throughout the point out. So, there are people unlucky condition wherever there are some cancellations, but I consider we are going to see less of those as we continue.”
Messier explained she considered Cardona would sincerely take into consideration her enter when he returned to Washington.
Later on, as soon as the crowd remaining, Messier looked at her mobile phone and smiled wide.
“I have a infant!” she exclaimed. She hurriedly walked over and showed us the first image of her new grandchild.
That night, the woman who understands several roles would incorporate a new just one:
“I am nona,” she stated. Not “grandma” or “grammie.”
Simply just, nona. It was now the title that mattered the most.

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