A concerned parent held an open house at the Creekside Seniors Centre on Nov. 15 to discuss bus stop changes that School District 27 (SD27) has implemented this school year.
The event attracted around 40 parents to listen to Danielle Colbourne lay out problems she sees with SD27's bus stop changes as well as her issues with SD27 as a whole.
Colbourne has been one of the loudest voices opposing the elimination of dozens of bus stops in the South Cariboo and has run two safety walks in 108 Mile Ranch and Horse Lake to illustrate potential safety issues.
The Horse Lake walk, which took place after the 108 Mile Safety Walk, happened thanks to local parents expressing interest in doing a walk of their own. During this walk, Colbourne noted several safety problems.
"The posted speed limit of 80 kilometres is absolutely not followed by any means. It was observed that there's a lot of blind corners to be concerned about and that it's just overall a completely unsafe option for children to walk," Colbourne explained in an interview with the 100 Mile Free Press.
During the Horse Lake safety walk, Colbourne met up with members of the District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) and later attended a meeting on Oct. 29 to discuss matters related to stops, which she recorded. Colbourne said that persons with adverse abilities and disabilities were supposed to be exempt from the changes, but were not.
"And I brought that to (Superintendent) Cheryl Lenardon's attention and she was quite surprised - I don't think she realized that had even happened," Colbourne said.
Lenardon, in a statement to the simplymastery, said that she could not speak to the needs of individual riders and that "students with disabilities and diverse abilities have school-based teams that plan their programs and supports and work with families and transportation if there are needs to address."
In addition, Colbourne stated she believed that Transfinder, an American-based company which is a "leader in logistics software, providing intelligent solutions to schools, municipalities and adult care facilities" according to its website, was used to set stops. In the recording of the Oct. 29 meeting, Lenardon said that the stops were not set by Transfinder, and that the quick review done by the company effectively said "holy cow, you have way too many stops."
When Colbourne pressed further in the recording as to why SD27 did not do an on-the-ground review, Lenardon said that it is not about making it safe for every kid to walk to school - and that it is a parental responsibility.
In a statement to the 100 Mile Free Press, Lenardon noted "we had an initial report by the provider of the software used by the transportation department, Transfinder, that identified that we were running more routes and stops than necessary based on existing district policy, used and unused seats, and efficiency."
This issue attracted the attention of Cariboo Regional District director Al Richmond, who represents 108 Mile Ranch and Lac La Hache. Richmond tried to meet with the Minister of Education to share the parent's concerns, which proved to be difficult.
"We had challenges presenting the petition to the Minister of Education at UBCM - we were able to overcome these and present them to the Assistant Deputy Minister. They said they were going to call the school district. There's been little interaction since that time," Richmond explained.
Finally, Colbourne alleged during the meeting that SD27 did not conduct any sort of on-the-ground review prior to making these changes.
"They didn't review the stops. They just made them. So the stops that they have made and the stops they have taken away were never reviewed on the ground by staff," Colbourne said, citing a letter from SD27's superintendent.
In the past SD27 has told the 100 Mile Free Press they did conduct on-the-ground reviews.
Colbourne remarked that the BC Ombudsman was investigating the matter.
"The thing is, it grabbed enough attention with the BC Ombudsman to actually investigate it," Colbourne explained.
Lenardon said that the complaint has been resolved with the BC Ombudsman and that SD27 acknowledged they should have done a better job in communicating with parents regarding bussing changes.
"We have invited parents to provide feedback and already made some changes as a result of the input received. We have engaged with different government agencies sharing responsibility for various aspects related to student transportation. We are holding parent consultation meetings at the end of the month with a view to receiving more community feedback that we are open to responding to with appropriate changes," Lenardon said.
After the open house, Colbourne remarked that parents who attended were a bit surprised with the information that was received - but were also glad to know what was going on behind the scenes.
"It should not be this hard to get answers from our school district," Colbourne remarked.
There will be an additional, upcoming information meeting at Mile 108 Elementary at 7:00 p.m. on Nov. 28 which will be organized by SD27 as well as the school parent advisory council (PAC).
"We invite parents to attend, including those with specific concerns about the placement of bus stops," Lenardon said.
