Discussions

I had a hard time believing most of this considering when I was attending high school and took the bus, my bus had to stop outside CATC and wait 20 minutes every day because the buses have a schedule and the other buses went first. This made us all very angry.  
 
So if the BDSC wouldn't let a 14-18 year old walk hardly half a block not even across a busy street to get to Neelin less then 10 years ago...and add in the bubble wrapped society now..I am not sure that they would now allow young children to cross busy streets by themselves.

Doug said "Lets ignore the fact that Greenacres has no area for bus drop offs. The school division is probably liable for issues when these kids cross major streets when there is other options.     One is no school bus transportation period for school of choice children. That has been mentioned in the catchment area coverage. In the case of Greenacres children a parent can use the city bus either with their child or by themselves if older.     Pretty simple. Kids in the catchment area can walk to school. Outside the area when a parent chooses that school,the BSD should not provide a bus.     In the mean time the current practice should stop. We should not put these kids in harms way. Maybe in the meantime a parent volunteer should greet the busses at the drop off point of these school of choice kids and help them get across.       Even the BSD should do that until the safety issue is solved. The catchment/school of choice issue is secondary at this time but in my opinion is part of the problem. "

Eliminating the school of choice will really help out. Still you would have to redraw catchment areas and ensure that those schools can handle the change. Meadows, Linden, George Fitton, etc would all have to change. What I don't understand is the safety concern. All of a sudden this is an issue? Hundreds of students cross roads every day both busy and ones with less traffic. I am not seeing in the paper where these kids are getting hit, run over, hurt, etc. Is there even an issue here?  
https://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=https://www.bsd.ca/OurSchools/DivisionMaps/catchmentMaps/PublishingImages/2016-2017%2520Grade%2520K-6%2520Catchment%2520Map.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.bsd.ca/OurSchools/DivisionMaps/catchmentMaps/Pages/Default.aspx&h=1265&w=987&tbnid=R4I66h20EH9xoM:&tbnh=160&tbnw=124&usg=__r9O0AmVBRcskjqd8SoTq_dHlErc%3D&vet=10ahUKEwiIjPDl9-TYAhUEGKwKHZUCAmEQ9QEIKzAA..i&docid=M4N1dMklv4oxWM&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiIjPDl9-TYAhUEGKwKHZUCAmEQ9QEIKzAA

I get your point about not being a issue. Oxford is right by a busy road and has been for eons . In my day nary a bus ever came to our k-6 school and kids crossed Victoria everyday. I do worry about the young ones on roads like 1st.  
 
 
Our school at least had school patrols. I do not think Green Acres puts any on 1st. Although there is a crosswalk with lights I think. I will add though once those children are on a BSD bus, they are the divisions to keep safe.

I realize I am off the original topic with my comment/question...school of choice will soon be eliminated however will it not still exist to some extent for those children already attending school of choice? Will their attendance at their present school of choice not be grandfathered so they will still be allowed to attend their current school rather than the school in their catchment area? I no longer have children in the school system so have not followed closely the recent decision to eliminate school of choice. If grandfathering is allowed, then there may still be instances where children will have to cross busy streets without school patrols and I do agree in those cases, it should be up to the parents, not BSD, to ensure their children get to school safely.  
 
Edited by Grandmama, 2018-01-19 16:02:52

Doug said "I get your point about not being a issue. Oxford is right by a busy road and has been for eons . In my day nary a bus ever came to our k-6 school and kids crossed Victoria everyday. I do worry about the young ones on roads like 1st.       Our school at least had school patrols. I do not think Green Acres puts any on 1st. Although there is a crosswalk with lights I think. I will add though once those children are on a BSD bus, they are the divisions to keep safe. "

I think that’s why these parents have to sign a liability form. I don’t think these students are the same as a regular bus student. So they sign a form saying that bsd is responsible for their child to the drop off point, but not after on their way to school, as that is not a busing area. It’s a kindness that bsd even offers some kids a bus to a school of choice, but they can’t change their schedules or routes to further accommodate it. So they offer to get you close, but the rest is the child or parents responsibility. I think bsd should just cut off transportation to all school of choice students. Parents should have to figure out their own transportation to school of choice except when it’s for French immersion!  
And you’d have to justify having patrols there? Like for instance is there a ton of kids that cross there or just this one.  
I’m also wondering why this is only a concern now? It’s already half way thru the school year, so the parent or child should understand the routine by now? And if other kids have to cross this street, why have no parents come forward in previous years with this problem?  
Oxford is on two highways... and they don’t use patrols anymore. Maybe a set of lights is needed in first street, as that’s what is used on other streets. But first I’d like to hear how many students this actually affects first, and if any of them are actually because of that being their catchement area and they have to go there.  
 
Just my opinion!

I agree with the last poster. Why do you not consider French Emersion the same as school of choice. I think it’s the same thing.

I did not expect this. IF you read the original post and a secondary post, not once did I ask anyone's opinion, simply just wanted to talk to the parents of the children that are affected. If you are not affected, why are you commenting??  
I also do not have to explain myself to anyone or defend myself to anyone (except the powers that be, and that I'm fighting against). And those powers that be have all also said that these kids walking 600meters to get to their respective schools is a problem. Every last person I have talked to ALL agree that there is a problem.  
I didn't post on here to debate, and I'm not going to. I simply wanted to connect to those affected by their children having to walk major streets to get to school.

"If you are not affected, why are you commenting??"  
 
Anyone paying taxes, school taxes or otherwise, may well be affected. Maybe comments are warranted.

Heavenly Auras said "I did not expect this. IF you read the original post and a secondary post, not once did I ask anyone's opinion, simply just wanted to talk to the parents of the children that are affected. If you are not affected, why are you commenting??   I also do not have to explain myself to anyone or defend myself to anyone (except the powers that be, and that I'm fighting against). And those powers that be have all also said that these kids walking 600meters to get to their respective schools is a problem. Every last person I have talked to ALL agree that there is a problem.   I didn't post on here to debate, and I'm not going to. I simply wanted to connect to those affected by their children having to walk major streets to get to school. "

Yes I do understand that I am not directly affected somewhat by this, therefore not your target audience. But I am a taxpayer, and a parent. So first of all I was concerned as to why this would be happening so I looked into it, as I was concerned about safety. But I see no reason to be concerned after looking into it.  
If my tax dollars would be affected (extra bus staff, buses, etc), I feel I have a right to know what the fight is for. Also those people you’ve been questioning are being paid with our tax dollars, so that too should allow me to question this scenario as they are discussing your concerns on tax payers dimes.  
And I’m still not sure why you think it’s not ok for a school of choice bus student to walk 600 m to school, but a catchement area child (that is not bus student) is allowed and expected to walk up to 1600 m (k-6 is 1.6km distance) to school, and another 1600 m home. That’s almost 3 times the distance and crossing busy streets. Why should a school of choice student get preferential treatment?  
 
And to answer an earlier question on why I feel French immersion children should still get bus transportation... we live in a bilingual country, and every child should have the right to learn both of our official languages if they choose too. So I feel busing definitely should continue to those schools. And I know personally of many children that are bused to French immersion that definitely do cross busy, non patrolled streets to get to their stop and Home from the bus. But I haven’t heard of those parents upset. Once again, just my opinion.

Heavenly Auras said "I did not expect this. IF you read the original post and a secondary post, not once did I ask anyone's opinion, simply just wanted to talk to the parents of the children that are affected. If you are not affected, why are you commenting??   I also do not have to explain myself to anyone or defend myself to anyone (except the powers that be, and that I'm fighting against). And those powers that be have all also said that these kids walking 600meters to get to their respective schools is a problem. Every last person I have talked to ALL agree that there is a problem.   I didn't post on here to debate, and I'm not going to. I simply wanted to connect to those affected by their children having to walk major streets to get to school. "

You’re surprised for real? You come on here and tell half of a story to garner support. Then once the truth comes out that you’re sending your child to school of choice and bitching because the school division won’t transport your kid right to the front steps, you get all defensive. The policy clearly states it’s your responsibility to get your child to your school of choice. You’re lucky the bus even takes them to Harrison. Many Kids walk across Richmond, Victoria and 1st every day to get to school. I’ve lived here all my life and can’t ever recall a child hit by a car on his way to or from school. Teach your kid how to be safe crossing streets. It’s not BSD job to do that for you. If your kid can’t walk 600 meters, you have bigger issues.  
 
Edited by BudLimeLover, 2018-01-20 02:28:19