Transportation director reports staffing stabilized, new buses and a large food drive

The board heard a detailed update from Summer Bilski, director of transportation, who reported the department is now fully staffed after recruiting an assistant from Post Falls and cross-training office staff to drive when necessary.

Bilski said four new diesel buses had been received and that the department is finalizing a new route, which was put up for bid with an expected implementation by Jan. 20. Training and database migration work remain to move route data from a test server into the live system, plus family notifications and paperwork.

Bilski also organized a recent transportation-led food drive: Timberlake High School collected about 1,500 pounds and the district-wide effort raised roughly $4,500 in goods/donations that were redirected to Mountain View students identified as needing support. Trustees and administrators praised the outreach and discussed expanding the effort into other communities.

No formal policy action resulted; the update was informational and staff will follow up with route implementation details and notifications to families.