The Calgary Board of Education (CBE) wants to create a long-term busing plan that works for everyone.
At the beginning of the 2015-16 school year changes were made to the travel distance from homes to bus stops for some students. Many concerns were raised at the time, and now the CBE plans to gather feedback from parents, staff, students and community members to create a new master plan for student transportation.
“We know our transportation service doesn’t work for some of our families and it is financially unsustainable for the CBE. We want to work together with parents, students, staff and community members to develop a long-term, sustainable transportation strategy,” said board chair Joy Bowen-Eyre.
The CBE is anticipating a $13.2 million budget gap between provincial funding and the costs of delivering transportation to students at the current level.
The CBE has planned some in-person engagement sessions to gather input on topics like travel distances from home to bus stops, bus ride times, user fees, among other issues.
There will be 15 workshops over three days, all between 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. at the following locations:
Wednesday, April 6
- Tom Baines School, 250 Edgepark Blvd. N.W.
- Captain Nichola Goddard School, 405 Panatella Blvd. N.W.
- Crossing Park School, 500 Martindale Blvd. N.E.
- Ernest Manning High School, 20 Springborough Blvd. S.W.
- Centennial High School, 55 Sun Valley Blvd. S.E.
Thursday, April 7
- Sir Winston Churchill High School, 5220 Northland Dr. N.W.
- Sir John A. Macdonald High School, 6600 4 St. N.W.
- Gordon Higgins School, 155 Rundlehill Dr. N.E.
- Western Canada High School, 641 – 17 Ave. S.W.
- E.P. Scarlett High School, 220 Canterbury Dr. S.W.
Tuesday, April 12
- Thomas B. Riley School, 3915 69 St. N.W.
- William Aberhart High School, 3009 Morley Tr. N.W.
- Lester B. Pearson High School, 3020 52 St. N.E.
- Central Memorial High School, 5111 21 St. S.W.
- David Thompson School, 9320 Arbour Cres. S.E.
In May the CBE will communicate decisions on 2016-17 service levels and/or fee adjustments.
The public is encouraged to find more information and provide online feedback through the CBE website at cbe.ab.ca/dialogue.
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