ATHABASCA — Overseeing a whole school division’s fleet of busses is no day at the beach, but that’s exactly where you could find new Aspen View Public Schools (AVPS) new transportation coordinator Charlie Welsh last week.
Welsh loves the great outdoors having grown up between two lakes in Saskatchewan making the Forfar day use beach an ideal place to meet for an interview July 9.
First of all, Charlie isn’t a man — the name is just something she’s been called for almost as long as she can remember.
“My first name is Charlotte,” she said. “I think everyone's called me Charlie pretty much my whole life. It just stuck; suits my personality.”
And her personality is as wide and deep as the lake where she goes almost every day — warm and welcoming, quick with a laugh, and easy to talk to.
"Thirty years ago, I drove through Athabasca and I thought it was absolutely beautiful and thought, ‘Man, these people are lucky to live in such a beautiful area,’” said Welsh.
She said when she saw the posting for the position left by Rhonda Alix becoming manager at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex, it felt like the right time to return to the area she found so beautiful.
“I had a bit of a jump of my spirit so, I applied; I took a chance,” she said. “I'm by myself, my children are grown, I have four grandkids, I didn't have anything holding me back.”
Welsh moved here after working as transportation coordinator for the Grand Yellowhead Public School Division (GYPSD) in Edson since 2018, but she has been involved in transportation almost her entire adult life.
“I started as a bus driver almost 24 years ago in Drayton Valley,” said Welsh.
From Drayton Valley she moved on to Edson 11 years ago, working part of the time in the oil field before resuming a transportation role with the school division bussing more students than Aspen View had enrolled in the 2020 school year — 2,580 registered students from kindergarten to Grade 12.
“We had just shy of 6,000 students and 2,700 that we bussed,” she said.
Since she started May 17 Welsh only had a few weeks to complete the school year which has allowed her to settle into the role.
“I just had to finish out the school year for them and close off one year and do the grade rollover and start a new year not knowing the area or the families or the culture or anything,” she said.
Now that is done so she can focus on getting to know the vast school division that covers 9,980 square kilometres from Smith in the northwest to Vilna in the southeast; about 250 kilometres apart.
“My intention is to drive it,” said Welsh. “I won't get it all done over the summer, but I want to drive the area starting ... this week. I finally have scheduled the time in to just go and drive around.; see the area, get to know the area.”
The other challenge she faces is learning a new bussing program.
“My summer looks pretty crazy busy just learning all the programs. (AVPS) have a different transportation program than what I'm used to so, I really have been immersing myself in that,” she said. “I really need to learn the areas to better help people of the community and then start up for the new year, which is pretty intense (with) all the registrations.”
And this school year everyone has to register online Welsh noted, adding it has to be on a computer, not a device, or the form won’t appear correctly. She also hopes parents sign up sooner rather than later because it's difficult to plan bus routes if you don't know how many students there are.
“I think when I left (the office, July 8), there was 182 registrations,” she said, anticipating an end-of-summer rush. “It's not really going to change a lot, because they're already what they were and this being my first year really in there, I'll really spend time assessing the routes making sure that they're the safest they can be – which I'm sure they are – and make the most sense and get the kids to school and home as quick as possible.”
And her long-term goal, besides conveying students to and from school safely, is to put down roots in the Athabasca region.
“My hope is that I'll be able to finish out my career here and retire here. I absolutely love it,” said Welsh. “Everyone has been so incredibly welcoming here it has been unbelievable. It's absolutely been an absolute pleasure to come here and just to be here; it's been lovely. People literally walk up to me and say, ‘I noticed you moving in, welcome to Athabasca.’ It’s just random, it's been fantastic.”
