Students and parents are settling back into their school routines these past two weeks. While the new school year is always a time of change and adjustment, this year some parents are experiencing some unwelcome changes.
School District 27 has made several changes to its busing policies this year, cutting some routes and enforcing a longstanding policy that requires students living within three kilometres of their school to walk or be driven by their parents. It's a change that several local parents have objected to, especially those who live in less-developed communities like the 108 Mile Ranch, Horse Lake and Forest Grove.
The prospect of children walking themselves to school, on its face, isn't objectionable. In 100 Mile House we have plenty of sidewalks for children to use and in some cases walking would likely be faster than taking a bus. However, that's not the case everywhere.
As many parents have pointed out communities like 108 Mile Ranch lack the infrastructure of 100 Mile House or Williams Lake. There are little to no sidewalks in the 108 while the shoulders for their roads are small. Parents worry that these narrow roads combined with careless drivers and walking students could be a recipe for an accident.
They also point out that in the winter conditions for both walking and driving will be even more dangerous, with ice on the roads and windrows of snow on the shoulders. This is without considering the lack of streetlights in rural communities and the potential to encounter wildlife.
As SD27 has said, they are not required to provide transportation and any money they spend on it could be better spent in the classrooms. It is worth asking, however, how much money this move saves when school buses with empty seats still go by the old stops?
Ultimately the education and safety of the community's children should be paramount. A potential solution that neither the parents nor SD27 may like is introducing a fee system to the buses. That would help offset the financial cost of running the buses and allow children to ride them rather than walk.
Or perhaps the Cariboo Regional District will choose to add sidewalks and streetlights throughout the 108 Mile Ranch, Forest Grove and Horse Lake? It would certainly be one way to address the safety concerns, albeit an expensive one.
For now, this dispute serves as another reminder to watch your speed around schools this year. More children will be on the road and it is up to all of us to make sure they make it home safe.
