High school students could lose their bus ride
More than 1,000 students across Niagara expected to be impacted
The distance to the local high school was never a great concern for families in Kerry Hamilton’s Port Colborne neighbourhood.
The walk is typically about 45 minutes, but school buses were available to help make the trip easier.
But in September, that will no longer be the case when her daughter starts high school in September, as Niagara school boards move the transportation eligibility distance to 3.2 kilometres from 2.5 km for secondary schools.
The decision comes months after the Ministry of Education announced a new funding model for student transportation. The ministry guidelines were put forward last April, with many Ontario school boards having already adjusted their bus routes for the 2023-24 school year.
For boards unable to implement those changes immediately, the ministry provided temporary funding for one year.
That ends this fall, impacting District School Board of Niagara and Niagara Catholic District School Board students.
Hamilton’s neighbourhood falls within that impacted range.
To adjust to the new regulations, Hamilton said her daughter will have to be ready by 7 a.m. to get to school on time, and with no car, “my kid is really screwed,” especially if it’s raining.
“I understand exercise is great and if you lived a few blocks from the school then no problem, but if some of these (decision-makers) actually came, stood at our houses and walked to the high school, it’s a hike.”
Many Ontario school boards have already adjusted their bus routes for the 2023-24 school year
Other concerns include street traffic, limited public transportation, as well as a lack of supervision that could lead to increases in fights or bullying.
And as the mother of two young girls, Hamilton said the idea of them walking to school in the dark — during early morning fall or spring months — is worrisome.
“What if a kid doesn’t have any friends and they’re doing that walk by themselves,” said Hamilton.
Neighbour Samantha Souder said it’s too early and dark to to have young people walk on busy roads, adding “it is way too unsafe.”
As a working mom, she also relies on her daughter to pick up her siblings from the bus stop after school, but said that will be difficult with the changes.
“I don’t think (Education Minister) Stephen Lecce has ever raised kids himself if he thinks a bunch of teenagers are going to willing walk to school 40 (minutes) every day,” said Souder, adding her daughter already said she won’t walk in bad weather.
“It’s putting their education at risk.”
Both DSBN and Niagara Catholic said the new guidelines put boards in line with provincial standards.
Giancarlo Vetrone, Niagara Catholic superintendent of business and financial services, said the provincial funding model was about levelling transparency and equity with a focus on reliability and consistency.
Boards receive funding through a set criteria of buses and on benchmark rates, which is where the threshold of 3.2 km came into play.
“In order for us to align not only with the ministry’s initiatives around transportation but also to align to our resources and our funding, we decided … it was in our best interest to move to the provincial benchmark,” said Vetrone, who oversees student transportation.
“We did not want to exceed our funding allocation and have to use other sources of funding to manage transportation.”
The changes will not impact special education transportation, areas already identified with safety issues on their walk or late buses.
Niagara Catholic said the changes will affect about 400 students.
For DSBN, about 630 students will be impacted. The numbers were put together before Grade 9 registration had taken place and do not include graduating Grade 8 students.
The public board said if it did not move to the 3.2-km distance, the additional costs would be about $500,000.
DSBN trustee Susan Jovanovic (Port Colborne/fort Erie) said the decision was not made lightly, but it became “a numbers game to some degree.”
“It’s unfortunate and we trustees, we would love to give every student everything they need, but at some point you have to pick and choose,” she said. “If we’re going to have to take something away somewhere else in the school board, what do we take away? That’s a hard choice.”
Jovanovic said she asked questions about student safety specific to Port Colborne, which has bridges, major roads, streets without sidewalks and a limited number of crossing guards. She was told there will be exemptions offered based on walking route hazards.
That includes multi-lane roads, higher speed limits, higher volume of traffic, as well as roads without sidewalks or controlled crossing, busy intersections without traffic lights.
Parents can log in to the Niagara Student Transportation Services and request a review for an exemption.
“We collectively work in a collaborative approach with DSBN and NSTS to define any unique instances where they may pose a hazard to a student and we review that on an annual basis,” said Vetrone.
Jovanovic said she was informed about 23 students in Port Colborne will be impacted, but numbers are not yet known when adding in Grade 8 graduates. Another possibility is to take advantage of the Ondemand transit and “get home that way if it’s dark or they feel unsafe.”
But filing a request is the next step.
“I strongly encourage parents to contact the NSTS for request and review, contact the superintendent and, hopefully, that will resolve the majority of them,” she said.