HRSB to ask province to consider changing bus service distance eligibility

Halifax Regional School Board (HRSB) members passed a motion on Wednesday to send a letter to Nova Scotia’s education minister asking her to consider reducing the minimum distance students need to live away from their school to be eligible for school bus service.

“We have a lot of areas – I know in my district – that don’t have sidewalks, that don’t have crosswalks, and then you have small children that have to cross highways just to reach their bus stop,” said Nancy Jakeman, a member who represents District 2.

The blocked sidewalks and slick roads from last week’s snow have emphasized the problem, she added.

Currently, the provincial government provides funding for school boards to offer bus service to students living at least 3.6 kilometres away from their school.

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The HRSB provides service to elementary school students who live at least 2.4 kilometres away.

“This is something that hasn’t been reviewed since 2007. It’s also something that the Nova Scotia School Boards Association brought up as well – I believe in 2014 – so it’s definitely something that’s supported by them as well,” Jakeman, who pitched the motion, said before the board meeting in Dartmouth.

Earlier in the day, Education Minister Karen Casey was asked if she was considering changing the current guidelines.

“No, we know that the boards have the responsibility and the opportunity and the authority to change their own guidelines and many of them do have guidelines that are less than that,” she said.

Casey also told reporters that many boards offer “courtesy busing,” in which students who live too close to their school but are on the bus route are picked up if there is space.

Jakeman said the letter will be sent on Thursday.