Late in the afternoon on Jan. 20, a Haines school bus making a turn in a driveway near 34 Mile of the Haines Highway got stuck.
According to witnesses and the school district, the driver – Gary Grogan – was turning in a driveway and the back end of the bus got stuck.
“That neighbor’s not here and it’s not plowed,” said Tim Thomas who lives nearby.
There were no students on board and it became something of an Upper Valley community effort to get him un-stuck, said Thomas. He estimates at least eight people were involved including some who helped with traffic control. First, another neighbor tried to pull him out with a pickup truck and then Thomas said he walked up to see what was going on.
Then, while a few people dug out tires with shovels, Thomas brought his skid steer out “rolled up there and gave him and yanked and popped him right out.” Right then, another neighbor rolled up with their backhoe to help out.
“It was really fun,” Thomas said.
Superintendent Lilly Boron said the incident was an example of what has been a logistically difficult year for bussing students. It’s the first year the school district has taken on the responsibility of transporting students after the sole transportation bid came in significantly higher than administrators were willing to pay.
The 80-mile round-trip Haines Highway route has been fraught this year, particularly as heavy snow in late December and early January brought 11 feet in two weeks.
“It has been a crazy winter,” Boron said. “It has been a real lesson and it’s a lot if running a bus company isn’t your primary job.”
Boron has had to make the call to cancel or delay the route on more than one occasion, including after a Jan. 9 avalanche near mile 16-Mile of the highway which caught at three vehicles.
“Our bus had just come through,” Boron said. “Then the next day, the next series of avalanches I was just like, ‘I can’t do this,’” she said. “We just closed that route.”
Looking ahead, the school board is putting out a request for proposals this week for new bus contractors.
“We invite any and all proposals,” Boron said.