BERNE — After 35 years of directing transportation at Berne-Knox-Westerlo, Alan Zuk is retiring.

His last day with the district is July 27.
"It was a good match for me. I can’t really explain why," he said. "It fit. It was like a natural thing for me to be here."

Zuk, who grew up in Berne on his family’s farm, started out as a bus driver in March of 1972. His father, a dairy farmer, was also a school bus driver and mechanic at the school.

A long-time volunteer in the community, Zuk is currently president of the Berne Volunteer Fire Company and Helderberg Ambulance. Serving in town government, as supervisor, a member of the planning board, and as a town justice, Zuk has lived in Berne his whole life.
"I’m a lifer," he said.
He attended Clarkson College, which is now Clarkson University, in Potsdam. After graduating with a management degree, Zuk sold insurance. "I found that it was really hard — a difficult way to make a living," he said. His father then recommended he drive a school bus. Shortly after, the position of director of transportation opened.

Zuk characterized his experience at the district, and the changes he has seen.

While growing up, Zuk said, he probably spent more time with his parents than the average person because they were both home. While working with them on their dairy farm, he said, he picked up their work ethic, working long hours. His mother was a school board member, and was also involved in the PTA, the Farm Bureau, and her church, Zuk said.

Charged with the day-to-day operations of the school’s transportation system, Zuk trained drivers, recommended equipment purchases, handled personnel issues, made recommendations to superintendents about delays and school cancellations, and planned for the needs of special-education students.
He said his earlier years with the district stand out. Enrollment, he said, was higher, and Zuk tried to accommodate by trying different routes. During the first five or six years, the district had three different routes. "Every year was a learning year," he said.

In the mid-1970s, legislation passed requiring schools to provide services to special education students. BKW then used large 60-passenger buses to transport just a few students to a program at the Middleburgh elementary school, he said. Currently, BKW transports nearly 40 special-education students to 28 different locations in the Capital Region.
"There were no small vehicles here," he said. "The cost of that service"was not a reason to not provide the service."

Now, the district has smaller buses, and more bus drivers, mechanics, and vehicles, Zuk said.
"Our population hasn’t changed that much, but the number of vehicles has more than doubled," he said. The number of bus drivers and mechanics, he said, has also doubled.
Standards for mechanics are much higher, he said, and maintenance programs are "much more defined." Mechanics are required to take "very sophisticated," and "specialized" mechanics training.
"Mechanics work really, really hard in keeping our fleet up," he said.
Bus aides, which BKW now uses regularly, "were unheard of when I started out," he said. BKW now monitors buses with video cameras.

The number of routes has also changed, Zuk said. This summer, he said, he has nearly as many routes as he did during the regular school year.
Once he retires, Zuk plans to not have a schedule. "I’ll probably pick up my actions in the fire company," he said, adding that he will do the same with the ambulance squad, which is planning for a satellite station.

Working as both director of transportation for the school and supervisor for the town of Berne, a post he held for 16 years, Zuk said, there was no time to develop a hobby.
"Not having a hobby is a little bit of a worry for me," he said.

On a warm day just before BKW’s graduation, he was considering traveling more on the weekends with his wife, Mildred, a long-time BKW elementary teacher who retired last year after 34 years with the district. His daughters are both grown. His elder, Stephanie, is a school teacher in Rhinebeck (Dutchess County). His younger, Laura, recently began graduate school at the University at Albany.
"I really enjoy my work here," Zuk said. Employees, co-workers, administrators, and educators have all been really wonderful, he concluded.
"It just fit."