The director of education for Hamilton’s school board says the next couple of days will be critical in solving the issue of busing in-person students to schools in the region.
The Hamilton-Wentworth School Board’s (HWDSB) Manny Figueiredo says the on-going issue revolves around data from guardians whose children need a ride and the bus drivers themselves reporting availability.
“So there will be further communication by the end of this week,” Figueiredo told Global News.
“Monday, students in elementary begin to return full time. Group A comes Monday, then Group B comes Tuesday. But then everyone comes Wednesday. So this week will be a critical time for us to deal with transportation and have that data sorted out.”
Read more:
How Hamilton’s high schools are planning for classes amid COVID-19 pandemic
Part of a potential resolution by the HWDSB will be the removal of remote students who are eligible for rides, according to Figueiredo.
“So in our elementary, we have about 6,000 students who’ve chosen remote learning fulltime. Now, not all of them are transportation students, but we’ll be removing those students.”
In a survey sent out to guardians last week, the HWDSB also asked guardians of in-person students whether they would be requiring transportation or transporting their children themselves.
Coronavirus: Ontario government providing $1.3 billion to support schools, $247 million to hire more school staff
Last week, Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) chair Alex Johnstone and Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board (HWCDSB) chair Patrick Daly issued a joint statement Friday, saying serious delays in student transportation services are expected for the return to school as a result of the ongoing school bus driver shortage.
Despite a contribution of $400,000 from the province to reduce the number of students on Hamilton buses, HWDSB chair Alex Johnstone said in late August the board’s situation with bus drivers continues to be challenging due to on-going driver shortages prior to the pandemic.
Read more:
Hamilton school boards warn of ‘serious delays’ due to school bus driver shortage
“It’s an area that has been identified by our board and boards across the province as an area that’s underfunded,” Johnstone said. “Of course, now that we are in the middle of a pandemic, those concerns are exasperated.”
Figueiredo said buses will also have the same cohort rules as classrooms with students in numbers of 15 being loaded together with an empty row between the driver and the passengers.
However, outside of social distancing rules on the buses, the board has no projections on how many students will require transportation and what the board will need to adequately serve those students.
The bus consortium, which is a joint venture between the HWDSB and Hamilton’s catholic school board, has been traditionally short by about 20 to 25 bus drivers over the past three years, according to Figueiredo.