Students stranded

N.S. to review school buses after first day turmoil: education minister

Nova Scotia’s education minister says an internal review is looking at how the province’s school bus system works after what he says has become an annual set of complaints from parents during the early days of school.

On Wednesday, more than 100 children at an elementary school in the Halifax suburb of Bedford were left stranded after their buses didn’t arrive.

Dozens of parents of students at Basinview Drive Community School complained on social media over buses that were late, early, or didn’t come.

Education Minister Zach Churchill told reporters a new online system for registering for bus service and late registrations played a role in some of the confusion.

However, he says given annual problems with the service provided by Stock Transportation, his department is reviewing the busing system.

“We’re working very diligently to make sure those glitches are worked out as quickly as possible . ... We go through challenges like this at the beginning of every school year,” he told reporters on Thursday.

Churchill says there isn’t a plan to drop the contract with Stock, but rather to make the existing system work better.

“We have to make sure we do better in getting our kids to and from school, starting on Day 1.”

“I expect some immediate improvements each day as we move forward.”