Lewiston Public Schools is launching a new program to allow vetted drivers to provide transportation to students in their personal vehicles.
Campbell Millum with HopSkipDrive, which is partnering with Lewiston, said the program is designed to help homeless and other students get to school.
"When a child moves, maybe at 10 p.m., it's really difficult for a school district to be able to reroute a yellow school bus to pick that child up the next morning from that new location," Millum said. "But instead, the school district can book a ride through HopSkipDrive, and then we are able to be there and provide that ride to that student with just six hours notice and make sure that child can get to school."
Drivers must go through a 15-point certification process and have their vehicles inspected before driving students.
Millum said the program is also a possible solution to chronic absenteeism.
"You can't be in school if you can't get to school. And so we see transportation as intrinsically linked to ensuring that students can get to school," Millum said.
According to the Maine Department of Education, more than 30% of Lewiston students were chronically absent last year.
