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The spring melt is making the wheels on school buses go splash, splash, splash this season, and even bringing some buses to a grinding halt.
Kevin Garinger, director of education at Horizon School Division, said “unprecedented water challenges” – at a level he hasn’t before seen in his twelve years of being a director – are making it difficult for school busses to complete routes.
He said melting snow has caused roads to be washed out within the school division area.
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“We’ve had water in particular in one school, water that, literally, was right up to the to the school,” Garinger reported, saying that challenge stemmed from a nearby creek with rising levels.
Garinger said student and staff safety is a top priority for the division, managing supervision and staying up-to-date on the latest conditions that could impact students.
“We’ve had multiple bus route cancellations over the last, really, three days since the this has kind of hit us and so we’re just trying to work through it,” Garinger explained.
“This is having a huge impact on on our families, our farming communities, obviously, and on our children being able to attend school.”
Garinger recalled that the recent state of emergency in Foam Lake led to students and staff being involved in sandbagging efforts in that community. He said the division is trying to do its part in supporting the community “in every way that we can.”
He pointed to washed out roads, a major concern in the Watson area where culverts are leading to major flooding challenges, particularly on roads.
“You have to stop and water is literally right up to the road and over the road in different parts of highway 20, coming out of going from Humboldt and up through Strasbourg that way,” Garinger explained.
He compared it to Last Mountain Lake flooding years ago when he was a principal in the Strasbourg area.
On May 4, eight school bus routes were cancelled. While the school division has not had any closures, Garinger said student absences have been significant.
“In one school where we would have approximately 160 students, we were down to 59,” he explained. “Almost a little over 100 students were not in attendance.”
Flooded and muddy fields, some still with snow, at Quill Lake School, part of the Horizon School Division, where a nearby creek has led to floodwaters creeping up to the school building. (Kevin Garinger/Submitted)
He said people in the area are not able to access some roads to be able to get their children to school.
“We are just trying to support in whatever way we can,” he shared, adding that the community is starting to see some of the pressure from the flooding lift.
He offered “huge commendations to our to … our communities, our RMs have been amazing,” he said, highlighting critical communication being shared by communities to alert the division to which roads are simply impassable at this time.
“That partnership is huge. … (We’re) all trying to do the best we can for for children. At the end of the day, families and the farming communities that we, that we certainly are, are important part of who we are.”
The director also pointed to a pattern of community strength and support, where kind, caring and supportive residents pull together to help each other during difficult times like these.
“People rise up,” he said, “and we’re grateful for that, and we do, too. I mean, that’s just what you do in Saskatchewan.”
He called it a “real testament” to the province and people who live in Saskatchewan.
Garinger warned the impact of spring flooding isn’t quite over yet. He said there is still snow to melt more north and east of the school division.
“As we all know, it hasn’t been spring. We’re kind of going from, I think, winter to summer in a lot of ways, but there’s still a fair bit of snow,” he explained. “Unfortunately, when we’re getting freezing overnight and cold temperatures that way, and then when we’re at three and and four degrees during the day, it’s not really having the impact of of melting in any significant way because things have frozen overnight.
“We’ll hope that Mother Nature is … (a) little more kind as May continues to unfold,” he shared.
– with files from 980 CJME’s Jacob Bamhour
