Southwestern Central School board members followed suit with Frewsburg Central School and Jamestown Public Schools to share transportation supervisor John Spacht for the 2023-2024 school year.

The resolution was unanimously approved Tuesday.

Spacht will split his time among the three school districts, working 40 percent of the time for Southwestern, 35 percent for Jamestown and 25 percent for Frewsburg in any given week. He will help to oversee each district’s transportation operations, Superintendent Maureen Donahue said.

“It’s a regional approach to transportation,” Donahue said. “It’s how we are going to survive with what is happening in the industry.”

SWCS, FCS, and JPS have been sharing services since Aug. 15, Donahue noted.

“It (the transition) is going well,” Donahue said of the transportation agreement. “Already we can see the benefits of one set of eyes working with three districts,” Donahue added.

Board members also unanimously approved hiring Roger Bingham Jr. as head bus driver for the three school districts. Donahue said Bingham will work 50 percent of the time for SWCS, 40 percent of the time for JPS, and 10 percent of the time for FCS in any given week. That agreement also began on Aug. 15. Both contracts will end on June 30, 2024 unless extended by each district.

Donahue said she is pleased with how well Spacht and Bingham are working during the transition.

Spacht has worked in school transportation since 2010, and previously served as Jamestown Public Schools’ head mechanic. In 2017, he joined Southwestern Central School as transportation supervisor before becoming the shared supervisor with Frewsburg in 2021.

“I am very excited to work with the transportation team at Jamestown again. JPS has a group of transportation professionals that are very dedicated to student safety. I look forward to this amazing opportunity to help make the transportation of our children at these three districts safer, more efficient, and cost effective,” Spacht said in a Sept. 4 statement to JPS.