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For some families in the Beechy area, getting their children to school has become a daily challenge, with students facing bus rides of up to 90 minutes each way while others have been left without transport altogether.
Parents are raising concerns about the impact of extended travel times on their children’s education, family schedules and well-being as the Sun West School Division continues struggling to fill three vacant bus driver positions in the area.
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For Michelle Walsh, whose two children attend Beechy School, the situation became particularly concerning when she learned changes to the bus route would mean her children could spend as much as three hours a day travelling to and from school.
Walsh lives approximately 25 kilometres north of Beechy, and says her children’s usual morning pickup time had been between 7:45 and 7:55 a.m.
However, before the start of the current school year, she was informed their pickup time had been moved to 7:05 a.m., with the bus not arriving at school until approximately 8:40 a.m.
The afternoon route would add another 90 minutes following the school’s 3:35 p.m. dismissal.
“I was just flabbergasted. Our kids have never been on the bus that long,” Walsh said.
She said the extended route would mean approximately 15 hours spent on a school bus during a five-day school week.
“I think it’s absolutely unacceptable,” she said.
Walsh’s daughter is in Grade 12, while her son is in Grade 9. She worries the additional travel time will leave them with less time for homework, studying, extracurricular activities and family responsibilities.
Living on a farm also means the children have chores and responsibilities at home, particularly during harvest.
“You’re starting to get the grades, you’re gonna have homework, you got studying, and you can’t really do that on the bus,” Walsh explained.
Rather than have both children spend three hours a day travelling, the family has made alternative arrangements.
While Walsh’s family is dealing with extended travel times, another Beechy-area parent says the problem is even more complicated for families whose routes have been eliminated.
Jason Swon says his children have no school bus service available when staying at his home.
Although he lives approximately four miles from Beechy, he says the lack of transportation creates scheduling challenges, particularly when extracurricular activities require additional trips.
He said the lack of available drivers has also created frustration for families.
While the division offers mileage reimbursement when bus service is unavailable, Swon said the paperwork is unnecessarily complicated.
He explained that parents must complete a separate reimbursement form for every day they provide transportation.
“You can’t do multiple days on one form. You have to do a form for every single day,” he said.
Swon also raised concerns about the division’s efforts to recruit additional drivers.
He said his fiancée applied to become a school bus driver in August and attended an interview on Sept. 4. He said she did not receive the expected followup after the interview and eventually accepted employment elsewhere.
“We had somebody that was willing to drive bus and now we have nobody,” he said.
Swon also questioned whether compensation is sufficient to attract drivers, saying his fiancée had been told the position paid approximately $60 per day.
In a statement, Sun West School Division acknowledged that extended travel times are creating difficulties for Beechy-area families.
“Sun West School Division recognizes the challenges that extended ride times create for students and families in the Beechy area, and we sincerely appreciate their patience and understanding,” the division stated.
The division attributed the situation to an ongoing shortage of drivers, which has forced route consolidations to maintain transportation services.
It confirmed there are currently three vacant school bus driver positions in the Beechy area.
According to the division, recruitment efforts have recently been expanded to include advertising in newspapers, on radio, through social media and on digital billboards.
The division is also offering paid training, licensing assistance and reimbursement of certification costs for new drivers.
— with files from CJME News
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