By Josh Margolis
HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – Two new busses the Northern Montana Child Development Center purchased after receiving a grant from the National Head Start Association are now in service.
The busses that were replaced were over a decade old, costly to maintain, and not very reliable.
Samantha Clawson, Child Services Director for the District 4 Human Resources Development Council, which is in charge of local head start programs, says these busses have already received rave reviews from drivers.
“They’ve been running them for a little less than a week. I checked with them this morning, they say they’re running really, really well. The busses are a little bit bigger than the ones we use to have, so we can carry more kids, which will be really helpful because we use them for field trips as well.”
Clawson adds that these busses are providing crucial and reliable transportation for the low-income families they serve.
“Because a lot of our families may not have reliable transportation, and they may not live close enough to our head start classrooms to be able to walk or get their kids. And they don’t have public transportation like a lot of larger cities do.”
The new busses are transporting up to 80 children ages 3-to-5 four days a week in Havre. The busses feature built-in child restraints as well as adult seatbelts.
Of the three old busses, the newest of the three, made in 2010, will be kept as a backup.
NMCDC is a no-cost, comprehensive program that primarily serves low-income families in Liberty, Blaine and Hill Counties.
