Dec. 29 will be Maxine Mougeot's final day administering the state's pupil transportation services as she announced she is retiring from the Montana Office of Public Instruction after 25 years.

In an email to several associates with NASDPTS, Mougeot said "it was with regret" that she was formally retiring. The Montana Association of Pupil Transportation (MAPT) recognized Mougeot with its Transportation Person of the Year Award for 2010 earlier this year.

She added during an interview with School Transportation News that she hopes to remain professionally aligned with the industry.

Mougeot succeeded Gordy Conn as the state's director of transportation in 2001. Since, she has been active in MAPT and on the NASDPTS board of directors, most recently as regional director west. Her term concluded at the end of the NASPDTS annual meeting in Portland, Ore., last month. She was replaced by Steven Huillet, state director of pupil transportation at the Oregon Department of Education.

Mougeot was also a fixture at the STN EXPO each summer in Reno, Nev., and was a state delegate for Montana at the past two National Congresses on School Transportation. Her retirement from state office is at least the fifth nationwide among the ranks of NASDPTS members this calendar year.

Pete Baxter retired from the Indiana Department of Education this spring to accept an executive role at GPS provider Synovia. Gibert Perea also retired this spring from the New Mexico Department of Education, and Rick Soules left the Maine Department of Transportation. Earlier this month, John Green announced Dec. 30 would be his last day as supervisor of the California Department of Education's Office of School Transportation.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story inaccurately stated that Rick Soules was a consultant for Transfinder. The former director of transportation for Maine participated with Transfinder on two presentations on school transportation management services at the Association of School Business Officials 2010 Annual Meeting in Florida.