Mother of four calls CBE changes a ‘bomb being dropped on parents’
As the mother of four children attending three different schools, Sarah Bieber is already dreading next fall.
After this week’s announcement that the Calgary Board of Education is overhauling transportation, doubling up on all bus routes, changing bell times, and adding congregated stops and early dismissals to many schools, many parents worry how they’ll manage come September.
“I thought this was all supposed to be a lot easier, but it’s not making any sense,” said Bieber, whose family lives in the inner-city community of Glenbrook.
“Every year, it seems like there’s some kind of bomb being dropped on parents by the school board. And suddenly we’re all in panic mode about how we’ll have to handle it.”
All of Bieber’s children, who will attend grades 1, 4, 5 and 7 next year, are facing potential changes to bell times and bus routes.
And while her youngest daughter, who will attend Rosscarrock School, is only a few blocks east of Westgate School, where her elder brother and sister attend, their bell times will be almost a half-hour apart, at 8 a.m. and 8:25 a.m.
Meanwhile the eldest brother, who will attend A.E. Cross, about a 15-minute drive from the two elementary schools, will start at 9:10 a.m.
“It means I will have to drop off my two at Westgate at 8 a.m., and then sit in the car for half an hour with my youngest daughter, who doesn’t start until 8:25 a.m. at Rosscarrock. “Then I’ll have to rush home to pick up my son and get him to A.E. Cross on time.”
Bieber said she was considering putting her three youngest kids on buses, all more than 2.4 kilometres from their schools. But since they are attending alternative Spanish immersion programs, they will still have to pay $335 each, or a total of $1,005.
Through newly adopted provincial legislation, Bill 1 is eliminating transportation fees next fall for Alberta students from kindergarten to Grade 9 who live more than 2.4 km from their school, but only if they attend their designated regular program school and are assigned a yellow bus route.
Along with that change, CBE officials have introduced a new “streamlined” approach to transportation, saying it’s necessary to sustain service in future years as the system grows.
But part of that overhaul is seeing buses looping two full routes, and bell times changing by as much as 30 minutes by next fall, or by 45 minutes for 2018.
Parents say many bell times don’t seem to fit age or need, with some elementary schools starting late, while some junior high schools have starts as early as 8 a.m.
As well, up to 225 schools will have early Friday dismissals, leaving only 23 without, as more schools look to provide weekly staff meeting and development opportunities for teachers.
In addition to early dismissals, CBE schools now share a total of 10 system-wide professional development days, leaving parents to find additional child care.
“Our parents have told us, through our engagement processes, they like the system-wide PD days, especially if they have two or more kids in different schools, they can expect the same days off,” said Joy Bowen-Eyre, CBE chair.
But Lisa Davis, spokeswoman for the Kids Come First advocacy group, says these changes will be hugely difficult for single parents or families with two working parents.
“How can this happen in a city that’s seen the worst recession in years, and still has the highest unemployment in the country?” Davis asked.
She said parents’ jobs will be at risk as they scramble to find child care one day a week.
Other changes in the CBE’s transportation overhaul will see students in Grades 6 to 9 who are assigned to Calgary Transit and who attend alternative programs having to pay up to $700 a year for a youth bus pass.
Junior high students living more than 2.4 km from their designated school and assigned to public transit will still have to purchase youth bus passes, but will receive a $549 provincially funded rebate, meaning they will end up paying $151 a year.
Other students in regular programs living closer than 2.4 km but farther than 1.6 km from their designated school will still have to pay $335 a year, unchanged from last year.
Bill 1 legislation is also expected to affect instructional fees for next fall, with details to be released soon.