RSU 52/MSAD 52 administrators told the school board Sept. 4 that district enrollment is up from last year and that transportation staffing remains a pressure point: the first day of school was covered but the district continues to recruit bus drivers and relies on contracted services for some sports and extracurricular routes.

Superintendent Smith reported that PowerSchool enrollment currently stands at 2,063 students, up from the district’s Oct. 1 count of 2,009 from the prior year. Several principals said the increase is concentrated at the middle and high schools, which will replace small graduating classes with larger incoming classes.

Alex, reporting for the Plant/Transportation committee, said the district was “100% covered, barely” for the first day of school and still uses one route run by RideSource and contracted sports routes; he added the district is “ideally 3 or 4 drivers short” of fully operating those services in‑house. Alex said the district has van drivers training for bus certification.

Board members discussed a recent scheduling issue: some middle‑ and high‑school sports have opponents whose venues are across the Maine–New Hampshire border, and district bus drivers are licensed for in‑state driving only. Assistant Superintendent Gilles and athletics staff told the board that the field‑trip policy requires board approval for out‑of‑state trips, and that the district cannot use its drivers for interstate trips without additional federal medical certification for drivers.

The board discussed transportation options used in practice: partnering with other schools that have drivers cleared for interstate transport, contracting commercial carriers, or asking families to coordinate travel. Ryan (middle school athletics) and other staff are coordinating alternate transport for near‑term games. Board members emphasized they prefer not to rely on parent transport for school‑sponsored events where other options are available.

On behavior and classroom atmosphere, Evan (operations/principal-level staff) praised a recent cellphone policy implementation and said, “I’ve had more than one student, and I’ve had two staff members kind of talk to me about how much improved the atmosphere is in classrooms just over the last few days.” That policy change and a newly staffed dean role were credited with smoother behavior management compared with last year.

No formal policy changes were adopted in the meeting beyond required approvals on the consent agenda; staff were directed to bring a schedule of needed driver certifications and recommended transportation options for board review when specific out‑of‑state trips are proposed.