The Calgary Board of Education (CBE) announced transportation changes Tuesday morning, which include adjustments to school start and end times for 48 per cent of CBE schools.
One child advocate believes the changes are not in the best interest of children and families but the CBE’s chief superintendent said the moves are expected to free up money in the board’s budget.
Lisa Davis, founder of Kids Come First – a group that advocates for quality education – told Global News she thinks single-parent families and those without a support network will be negatively affected by many of the proposed changes.
“When you consider that we’ve come off the worst recession in decades – we have the high(est) unemployment in Canada – that the CBE would add that kind of stress onto these families’ lives is just so difficult to comprehend.
“And what it does show is that these decisions were not made with either student learning in mind or frankly, with how this is going to impact families,” Davis said.
According to CBE Chief Supt. David Stevenson, the decisions regarding transportation were made after extensive consultation with the public last year.
READ MORE: CBE seeks public input to create better busing plan
Besides seeing more schools sharing buses – which will save the CBE an anticipated $5 million by 2018-19 – nearly half of all 244 CBE schools will see their start and end times adjusted by the start of the 2018-19 school year.
According to Stevenson, the majority of schools affected will see a one- to 15-minute change, some of which will be implemented for the 2017-18 school year. However, in consideration of schools and families, the board plans to hold off on more significant changes until the start of the 2018-19 school year.
Just over 40 per cent of CBE schools will see a change to their early dismissal days. The CBE told Global News most schools currently have an early dismissal day weekly, and the CBE lists 98 per cent of those early dismissal days as being on Friday.
Of the 99 schools with a proposed adjustment to their early dismissal days, 32 will add an early dismissal day into their schedule, 31 will have earlier dismissal times and 36 will see later dismissal times. The changes vary between two minutes to one hour and fifty-five minutes.
The NDP introduced Bill 1 in March, which will give the CBE $7.86 million to offset transportation costs.
WATCH BELOW: Calgary Board of Education say they were not consulted on Bill 1
Last year, the CBE took money out of their operational budget to supplement the cost of transportation for families, something Stevenson says they will not have to do in 2017-18.
“We’re not drawing operational dollars out of our overall budget to supplement transportation next year.
“That money can be used elsewhere in our classrooms and in our service units,” Stevenson said.
Davis believes the CBE is responsible for this budgeting challenge.
“I think one of the big concerns here is that the Catholic Board does not seem to have these problems. The Catholic Board has no early dismissal. So these are clearly problems just created by the CBE.”
According to Stevenson, the majority of people consulted on transportation costs last year said they would be willing to adjust their bell times in order to help save money.
The CBE said all changes to transportation are subject to government approval, and all changes to bell times are up to the individual principals’ discretion.
The CBE will host two information sessions on the issue:
May 24, 2017
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Queen Elizabeth High School
512 18 St NW
Register
May 25, 2017
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Dr. E.P. Scarlett High School
220 Canterbury Dr SW
Register
For a list of changes to bell times click here.