Bus troubles
Borden-Carleton parents trying to secure all year busing for kids
The old adage of strength in numbers has proven true for a group of Borden-Carleton parents.
Parents in the town held a meeting last week to discuss ongoing concerns they’ve had with the busing situation to Amherst Cove Consolidated.
The crux of their concern is they would like to see busing services in the old village of Borden expanded.
Public School Branch rules say that any child, barring some special circumstances, who lives within one kilometre of their school should be able to walk or bike to the facility. That rule means there is currently only one bus stop in the village available all year. It is on the opposite side of the community from the school and is just barely outside the one kilometre rule.
However, there is also a winter bus that makes a number of additional stops in the village during the year’s worst weather.
This is a long-standing arrangement in the community that has continued, barring a few interruptions, up to this year.
The parents, arguing safety concerns mostly related to traffic through the community, are asking that the winter bus service be made available all year.
“Until you actually live in the community you have no idea (how bad traffic is,)” said one
mother at the meeting.
Also, they argue, it makes no sense for a bus to drive all the way through the community to reach that one stop while passing a number of kids along the way.
The uncertainty of the service has been a headache for parents for years, said Kendra Noonan. “Is there a bus? When is there a bus? How long will the bus go? The solution is simple, allow the bus driving by these children access,” said Noonan. There were about 15 people in attendance at the meeting, many of whom said they’ve approached the old school board, now called the Public Schools Branch, with their concerns in the past but have never been able to reach a satisfactory conclusion.
However, since organizing as a group and discussing the matter with Jamie Fox, their MLA, it appears a solution may be on the horizon. At the very least the parents have secured a commitment from the Public Schools Branch to meet with them and discuss their concerns.
That’s a big relief for parent Laura Gaudet.
“I am very happy that they finally seem to be seeing the light,” said Gaudet.
“Hopefully this situation can change and that all our children have safe transportation to and from school each day.”
No date has been set yet for the meeting.