Mike Ploesser

โ€œ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐˜€, ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜€, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐˜€.โ€

Even behind a mask, you can see Mikeโ€™s vibrant smile as he opens the doors of Colchesterโ€™s Bus #14. After retiring from 45 dedicated years servicing copiers with SymQuest, Mike decided to spend a few hours a day as a school bus driver, transporting students to and from school each day. He enjoys having downtime to โ€œputter around at homeโ€ in between his morning and afternoon run and having summers off, but mostly, he appreciates the importance of his job and the connections he's made with families.

"๐—œโ€™๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐˜ ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—บ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐˜‚๐˜๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜๐—น๐—ฒ ๐Ÿฏ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฎ ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜†. ๐—œ๐—ณ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚โ€™๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜, ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐˜† ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€. ๐—œ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€ - ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ด๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ, ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ธ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜„? ๐—œ๐˜โ€™๐˜€ ๐—ฎ ๐—ต๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†, ๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—น ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜€. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐˜€, ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜€, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐˜€.โ€

Officially, Mike works for the districtโ€™s bus contractor, Mountain Transit. But we consider those behind the wheels of Colchester buses, part of our CSD community. Even though many of CSDโ€™s drivers have been with us for years, Mountain Transit is in need of drivers. Weโ€™ve had to consolidate portions of routes and downsize some of our transportation offerings because of the driver shortage.

Want to drive for Colchester and make a difference? Hereโ€™s some information about what to expect if you choose to work for STA/Mountain Transit:

  • There is a $1500 sign-on bonus
  • Student Transportation of VT pays an hourly wage during the 44 hours it typically takes to train for a Class B CDL (with a passenger and school bus endorsement).
  • Once you pass the test and are on the road, wages start at $21 an hour.
  • A schedule like Mikeโ€™s, where you drive the morning and afternoon route with a break in between, is about 25 hours a week. They have other contracted work (field trips, sports games, shuttling) to bump it up to full-time hours, if interested.
  • There is work available in the summer, if interested.
  • Your child can ride on your bus while you work.

For more information and questions, call Mountain Transit at 893-1334 or apply at: https://tinyurl.com/y38a5pyy. Come drive for Colchester Schools!

Contact Us

Tim Santimore
CSD Transportation Coordinator


Phone: 802.264.5992
transportation@colchestersd.org


Mountain Transit
802.893.1334

Porters Point School
802.264.5920

Union Memorial School
802.264.5959

Malletts Bay School
802.264.5900

Middle School
802.264.5800

High School
802.264.5700