The school bussing policy for the Crowsnest Pass will remain as planned for the 2010-2011 school year, as the Livingstone Range School Division’s board reaffirmed its decisions at a public meeting on Tuesday, May 11, in Claresholm.
A local parent group went to the board in April with a list of concerns and requests. Among other things, they asked that the school division provide more options for parents who might struggle with the policy. The policy only allows children to be picked up and dropped off at home, or at another residence along the same route, while all students within 2.4 km of their school will not be picked up by a bus.
The parents were concerned about the safety of young children walking to school, especially in Coleman. They said that they would be willing to continue paying for a bus pass, as they were able to this year, but the bus pass is no longer an option for next year.
Dick Peterson, chair of the school board, says that the board reaffirmed its bussing policy and will not be changing it for the coming year.
“The policy applies to the whole division, not just the Crowsnest Pass,” he says. “I have nothing but sympathy for parents who have to work around it.”
Peterson says that the board must represent the interests of all of the communities and schools within the Livingstone Range School Division. With the transportation budget running an ever-increasing deficit in recent years, he says, they needed to do something to keep enough money in classrooms. He says that all of the communities must operate under the same rules, and exceptions can’t be made for one or another at the expense of the division’s financial position.
“We’ve all been hit by cutbacks,” says Peterson. “We’re up against a wall. We’re not ogres, we’re not uncaring. It’s not about any one community.”