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Maple Ridge parents protest bus cuts

‘Private option is too expensive.’
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Trustees voted to cut regular bus service in order to save $650

Bus service could continue for Maple Ridge parents through a private company, at a cost of $150 per month for each student.

That is too expensive, say some parents who currently pay a fraction of that – $215 per year – to the school district for bussing service, which is to end at the end of the current school year.

The opinions of parents are being sought through a survey by the school district on private school bus service provider First Student Canada.

Paula Blamey, one of the organizers of a lobby to keep bus service in Maple Ridge, said the offer of $1,500 per year is not realistic for most families. She said parents are hoping the private option it is the starting point in a negotiation.

“I don’t think it’s going to be viable – that’s $450 per month if you’ve got three children.”

Friday, parents and students are planning a rally in support of keeping district school bus service in front of Garibaldi secondary. They also plan to attend the board’s budget public input meeting on Wednesday.

They have been getting organized on social media.

“I just simply said to the survey,” said Deepak Peshin, responding on the Facebook page Save Maple Ridge School Buses, “$150 per month for a child is too much. I suggest everyone impacted to reject the survey.”

For parents with more than one child, it will get expensive, said Kristan Taylor-Fehr, who can’t afford to spend $3,000 a year to get her two children to school.

“The letters and phone calls to the board, MLAs, education minister has obviously got the trustees to notice this is not an issue that will go away. So this is the first offer,” she wrote. “We agree we have to pay something, right. So say ‘yes’ to a fee, but no to $1,500 a year. But what are we willing to pay?”

The district has eliminated all regular busing effective September 2016 to save $650,000 from the budget, leaving 370 bus students to make their own arrangements to get to and from school.

The bus company, First Student Canada, declined any comment about the potential service, or rates.

“We’re not going to be discussing that in the media,” said Marilyn Tasaka of First Student Canada.

The private bussing company has locations across North America, operating in seven provinces and 39 U.S. states.

Blamey’s kids do not take a school bus, but she said more than a quarter of the school population at Webster’s Corners elementary, where she serves on the parent committee, do ride one to school.

“We have so many parents with hardship horror stories,” said Blamey, adding that three families from the school may have to move, while another would consider selling their house if school buses are cut.

Blamey said parents have to be grateful the board is now looking at options.

For example, she said the bus service for special needs students is continuing, and there may be opportunities for students who take what the board calls the regular bus service to ride with them.

“They’re inclusive in the school system. Why can’t they be inclusive in transportation to school?” she asks.

Throwing out ideas, she noted that PACs raise money for schools, and there may be an opportunity to raise money and get corporate sponsorships to purchase a bus to service for schools.

The operating costs could be charged to parents, based on income.

“We’ve got to provide a solution that’s accessible to these parents,” she said. “What are the actual priorities of the education system? It stars with getting our kids there.”

 



Neil Corbett

About the Author: Neil Corbett

I have been a journalist for more than 30 years, the past decade with the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News.
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