SABATAS — The school district serving Wales, Litchfield and Sabatas has been suffering from a bus driver shortage since the COVID-19 pandemic, and it hasn’t fully recovered. The situation was so serious that in September 2021, then-Superintendent Andrew Carleton considered closing schools and moving to fully remote learning, but decided against that move.
Parents stepped in to get their children, and often others, to and from school while staffing remained an issue for months, if not the entire school year.
Since then, parents and students have endured last-minute cancellations of bus routes, route consolidation and other inconveniences that have sparked the district’s annual budget deliberations for two years. Regional Schools Unit 4 has increased pay levels for bus drivers in November 2023 to encourage driver recruitment and retention.
Marg Levesque and Matt Bramlett gave up their careers to become bus drivers for District 4 Unit 4 after a driver shortage made it difficult to transport all students. Darin Slover/Sun Journal
“I got tired of getting calls every day saying the bus was stopped,” Matt Bramlett said. “I had to go to work at 7 a.m., but my daughter didn’t go to school until 8:30 a.m., so I couldn’t go to work.”
A single father of two, he has worked as a master well driller at his family’s business, Sunco Pump and Well Drilling, in Sabatos. He put his career aside and became the district’s full-time flex driver. His children ride the black bus lines in a district with 10 color-coded bus routes, which has been particularly hard hit by the driver shortage last year.
Marg Levesque was born and raised in Litchfield and has worked in the nursing field for 24 years. She calls herself a full-time grandmother, helping raise her two sons, ages 11 and 6. She, too, was frustrated by the constant lack of black bus drivers.
She remembers sitting at Oak Hill Middle School in Sabatos one day, waiting for her grandchildren. “It seemed like forever,” she said. “And I thought, this is ridiculous. I thought this is really crazy. And instead of actually complaining about the problem, I thought, “What can I do to solve the problem?” I did.”
So she decided to apply for a job as a bus driver. “I was just trying to make some changes, and I thought, why not?”
Levesque said 24 years of standing all day at work had taken a toll on her and made it difficult for her to walk.
Bramlett, like Levesque, was considering a change because drilling wells 14 hours a day was taking a toll on his body.
“The most important thing was to be home more for my children,” Bramlett emphasized. “Now I come home at 4pm, cook dinner and get the kids ready,” he added.
Marg Levesque and Matt Bramlett each care for two young children who attend school in Community School Unit 4. Frustrated by the lack of bus drivers, they decided to be part of the solution by becoming drivers. Darin Slover/Sun Journal
Levesque and Bramlett applied to be drivers in December 2023. To get my Commercial Driver’s License (CDL), I had to take an online course.
Regional Transportation Director Sheena Jordan explained the process. “How it works is after you take an online theory course…during which you can submit to the written permit exam.”Applicants must study the CDL manual. If you pass the written test, you will be granted a learner’s permit.
“At that point, you can get behind the wheel, but you don’t have students or drivers who have had their CDL license for two years and have no violations,” Jordan added.
After acquiring a set of skills, applicants take a test from the Maine Department of Transportation. The entire process takes 2-3 months.
“The afternoon I got my license, I was on the bus,” Levesque said with a smile. Although she has secured a position as a full-time driver for Black Run, Bramlett is a flex driver, meaning she can drive any route if required.
As a bonus, Mr. Bramlett’s children usually get to ride his bus.
Levesque’s oldest grandchild gets home before her, but she ends up driving her younger grandchild home every day.
“We have dinner together and now we take weekends off so we can do family activities…I haven’t had a weekend off in over 12 years,” she said. “I’m looking forward to having a school week off now and not having to worry about who will watch the kids or any other issues.”
Jordan said most drivers start at 6 a.m., finish around 8:45 a.m., are back on the road by 1:45 p.m., and most are finished by 4:15 p.m. Most drivers have side jobs. Marg Levesque still works as a per diem nurse when needed or when she needs extra money.
Mr. Bramlett is a mechanic with a state inspection license, which, in addition to his family’s mechanical repair business, keeps him quite busy.
The two are neighbors in Litchfield, but they didn’t know that until they started working together.
Feedback from parents is positive.
“They love it,” Bramlett said. “When I pick up my kids, I often hear from parents thanking me,” Levesque added. “Thank you so much for being here, and they seem really relieved to know they’ve got a regular driver. We’re seeing a lot more stability.”
Both Mr. Levesque and Mr. Bramlett were prepared to take a significant pay cut to become bus drivers, but they are quick to say it was worth it, especially with the benefits, which they call “excellent.” As with any job, there are good parts and bad parts.
“I have to say I probably wake up at 4:30 in the morning. That’s not my favorite thing to do,” Levesque admitted.
“I’m not a morning person either,” Bramlett confessed. “But I think the worst part is you have to be disciplined.”
“The best part of my job is definitely the kids,” Bramlett said without hesitation. “There’s just so much. You never know what they’re going to say…there’s just what comes out of their mouths.”
“I think stability in the lives of all children is really important,” Levesque said. “They know who’s going to be there for them, and that gives them a really big sense of satisfaction. And they don’t hurt anymore. They can sit back and enjoy their work. Masu.”
Like a parable, this story has a message for parents. “Some of us are grateful (to our parents) and we are grateful to the people who are complaining. We just hope they’ll be as patient as we are. It takes a whole team to make it all work.”
“If you’re tired of always complaining about something, do something about it,” Bramlett said. “At the end of the day, that’s the basic thing. We did it. Be part of the solution.”
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