By Lindsay Tice,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Odd packages left unattended. Strangers who look out of place. When to call, who to call, what to do in a crisis.

Those are the issues that police, baggage handlers and even coast-to-coast truckers have grappled with since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Now school bus drivers are getting in on the terror watch, and Maine’s will be among the first trained.

“A school bus – what a target for a terrorist. Where else can they hit the heart of the nation?” said Robert Peters, this region’s director for the National Association for Pupil Transportation. “What we want to do is make them hard targets.”

The national group will present a half-day workshop on terrorism during an annual state conference at Sugarloaf/USA next week. Dubbed “Security Academy,” the workshop will teach school bus drivers how to handle security, recognize threats and respond in an emergency, such as a hostage situation.

Five states will conduct Security Academy pilot programs over the next several months. Texas offered the first in June. Maine will offer the second, chosen because it was the only place in the Northeast with a state chapter of the National Association for Pupil Transportation.

“This is kind of a coming-out party for it,” said Kevin Mallory, transportation director for Portland schools and head of the Maine Association for Pupil Transportation.

Although more security-conscious in recent years, most area school bus drivers have not learned how to handle threats, kidnappings and other forms of terrorism. Some say it’s about time they did.

“We are mass transit, so we have to be aware of these things and we have to know how to handle it,” Mallory said. “Just because it’s Maine it doesn’t mean we’re not a vulnerable target. The 9/11 terrorists started in Maine. No one thought that would happen, either.”

Organizers expect more than 100 people to attend the Maine workshop, including drivers from other New England states. Tom Emmertz, Auburn’s transportation director, made sure he got in.

“It’s an up-and-coming situation,” he said. “I want to learn anything they’re willing to teach me.”

Like many area school systems, Auburn has so far had few problems with threats or weapons on school buses. “But it’s in the back of our minds,” Emmertz said.

Maine drivers will learn from the Security Academy workshop next week, and workshop leaders will learn from Maine drivers. With their feedback, organizers will tailor future workshops to ensure that drivers – particularly those in rural areas – get the information they need.

Organizers eventually will offer the Security Academy to all school bus drivers across the nation.

For more information on the annual conference or the July 29 Security Academy, people may call George Jones at (603) 475-2930.