LEWISTON — Lewiston-Auburn parents whose high school students are enrolled in a Portland public charter school will get bus service from Lewiston to Portland after all.
Baxter Academy for Technology and Science Head of School Michele LaForge said a bus will pick up students in Lewiston beginning Monday, Sept. 15.
Parents and school officials met Monday night to talk about it.
“Folks from Lewiston-Auburn shared some of their views, how much they were counting on it,” LaForge said Wednesday. “We got out a map.” Routes were analyzed until a new route was created. “Problem solved,” LaForge said.
“I’m thrilled. We’re all thrilled,” Lewiston parent Dawn Hartill said Wednesday. Her son is a sophomore at the Portland school.
Hartill said she recommended a bus route that would begin in Lewiston and save 3 miles, compared to a bus route for which parents would have had to drive to Lisbon.
The bus will pick up students at Exit 80, Hartill said.
Baxter’s LaForge cautioned that many students attend the charter school from longer distances. “Lewiston-Auburn is not at the farthest reaches.” Other families drive their students to the school.
But because Lewiston area parents weren’t told until four days before school started that there’d be no bus in Lewiston as there was the year before, school officials considered restoring transportation, LaForge said.
She cautioned that after June, the Lewiston bus “will be re-evaluated.”
In general, public transportation between Lewiston and Portland is lacking, LaForge said. Baxter students may study the lack of public transportation between the two cities as a school project and possibly make recommendations to city officials, LaForge said.
bwashuk@sunjournal.com
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