POLAND — Regional School Unit 16 Superintendent Ken Healey acknowledged Thursday that the rollout of a new bus schedule this week for Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland was “poorly done.”

The plan brought a variety of criticisms posted on the district’s Facebook page — from notification of the changes less than 24 hours before schools opened Wednesday to 4- and 5-year-olds a mile from the nearest bus stop.

“A lot of the concerns are legitimate,” Healey said. “Implementation was poorly done, so I did not communicate a clear understanding.”

A number of parents clearly communicated their thoughts via Facebook about what happened.

“My kid was anxious and had to spend his last day of summer vacation not knowing how or when he’d be able to get to school on the first day,” one parent wrote. “A wonderful way to kick off the new year, having to CONVINCE my child that the people who are in charge of keeping him safe and secure can’t even get a proper bus schedule sent out 24 hours before it goes into effect. It’s laughable that this is how a business, a company, a group of people who are supposed to help lead a community conduct themselves.”

Another wrote, “It’s kind of annoying that it’s the day before school and we are just now finding out when the buses are coming and finding out my daughter will have to walk a mile to get on the bus.”

Another said the transportation director should be held accountable: “This is just one HUGE example of the transportation director not doing his job effectively and it is being left unchecked. It’s high time that we, as parents, make our voices heard and make the school board start doing what is in the best interests of the families that they serve.”

More than one person asked who parents should contact for help.

“Who do we see with issues about the new bus route? The fact that changes of this scale were literally issued hours before school starts is completely unacceptable. We all have questions and concerns and no one is available to answer them.”

Healey said the district had a system to consolidate the bus routes in all three towns to make them more efficient. However, the first route list was incorrect and was retracted. A corrected list was made available Tuesday, the day before schools opened.

“We tried to do something to solve a large problem and sometimes there’s unanticipated problems,” he said.

“Our goal was to consolidate the runs and have less volume of kids on each bus” in response to complaints of overcrowding last year. He said buses “were not overcrowded, but were compact.”

At the same time, the effort was to have more efficient bus runs by having more students at a stop, he said. Instead of making 10 stops to pick up one or two students every 100 feet, the goal was to have five stops to pick up groups.

“People were used to having the kids at specific pickup points, sometimes in front of their house,” Healey said. “They have grown accustomed to the door-to-door service. And we just don’t have the capacity anymore.”

The program will be adjusted based on the concerns and complaints, Healey said.

“Our primary concern is child safety,” he said.

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