3 minute read
Pride in Public Schools
Beyond the Bus: DRIVERS GO THE EXTRA MILE
By John Rosales and Giovanna Bechard
Kindergarten students confronted by a monster yellow vehicle for the rst time in their young lives are either excited, horri ed, or a little of both. Either way, they must step up.
“That’s why we invite parents along for the rst run,” says Line Mulcahy, a bus driver in MSAD 61 and former president of Lake Region Non-Teaching Association (LRNTA). “The kids have seen school buses on TV but actually stepping into one brings a mix of emotions in a ve-year-old.”
Members of the LRNTA made the transition to school a little easier for students in Bridgton, Casco, Naples and Sebago connecting with the students and families as they introduced themselves and explained the rules of the bus. “These kids might be with you for the next 12 years,” Mulcahy says. “We want them to feel safe from Day One.”
Safety for LRNTA members is crucial, especially since many of the drivers are seasoned veterans who not only care about the current students but are invested in their families’ lives.
“It’s a funny thing,” Mulcahy says. “Parents we drove as youngsters now have kids and they remember going to orientation with their own parents.”
As part of the commitment to the community, members of LRNTA helped produce 150 gift bags, which include a coloring book featuring sketches of workers representing Lake Region Non-Teaching Association Members the National Education Association’s nine job categories of Education Support Professionals (ESPs).
“The book is a good tool to give out to kids,” says Paul Dembowski, LRNTA president. “They will sit there with their parents coloring and the parents will see that it takes a lot of people to run a school.”
NEA President Lily Eskelsen García was so impressed with the local’s involvement in helping students ease their way back into school that she asked Mike Thurston to present the story in front of the NEA Board of Directors. Thurston is Maine’s NEA Director, acting as a liaison between the NEA and MEA. He teaches History at Winslow High School.
For 31 years Rick Joyce worked in Bath—his wife Laura was not far behind with 30 years in the district. The couple has now retired. While retirements happen each year, the departure of the married teaching couple, known a ectionately by their local association as “The Boss and Laura,” is a true changing of the guard for the Sagadahoc Education Association (SEA).
Any longtime member of SEA could attest to how tirelessly this couple worked on behalf of members of the association who needed their assistance over the years. However, the thing that the SEA will remember best and will carry with them going forward, is how instrumental the Joyce’s were in guiding members toward building an e ective local where each member had a voice and felt proud of their work and their school environment. This ethic is especially apparent when you look at all the hard work that went into the last ten contracts that Rick Joyce was involved in negotiating on behalf of the Sagadahoc EA, truly earning his “The Boss” nickname.
It was not a surprise for anyone who knew the Joyce’s to see the high attendance at the retirement celebration for this phenomenal duo. Dozens of SEA members in the local came and shared their touching memories of the Joyce’s over the years. The local leaders of SEA who have come to know and love the couple said: © www.wuzzlesandpuzzles.com “Everything we have as an association we owe to their tenacity, their perseverance and their sel essness. It’s been wonderful. We do what we do because of the generosity you've extended over the years for the association.” Upon leaving school for the last time Rick and Laura spoke of their feelings of accomplishment and hope for the association’s future. “We really do feel like the union is in amazing hands,” said Laura. Congratulations to Rick and Laura and “The Boss and Laura” enjoy the time o !
