LAKELAND – School transportation departments are reaching their breaking points across the country, the province and now the Lakeland.
On Sept. 15, NLPS Associate Superintendent Terry Moghrabi, told public school board trustees that “Right now, around the province and locally, many even in other provinces, are experiencing difficulty with driver shortages and contractor shortages and we're all feeling the pinch of getting kids to school.”
He continued, “There are of course, a number of factors which exacerbate this including COVID. And despite the many attempts for us to try to recruit drivers or to try to recruit contractors, we haven't been as successful as we wish we would be.”
According to Moghrabi, there are several contributing factors making the current bus shortages worse.
“Things like the (Canadian Recovery Benefit) extension, the 53-hour MELT (Mandatory Entry Level Training) program, and certainly the insurance hike of 300 per cent has made things even more difficult and more challenging for us to fill routes and to recruit drivers,” he told trustees.
This shortage of both buses and drivers has led to disruption to services, compressed bus routes and extended routes – meaning kids are on the bus for longer.
Matt Richter, the director of transportation for NLPS, says the need to address this increasingly worsening shortage is urgent.
By the end of September, Ritcher says there is a high probability — in the 90 per cent range — that the Northen Lights district will be short three routes in the Bonnyville and surrounding areas.
“We are in a crunch,” he said. “In some areas, we have maxed out our buses, because we've had to consolidate so many runs to get kids to school right away on Sept. 1.”
Contracts to fill the routes were put out over summer, but no bids were submitted to NLPS transportation. Reaching out to contractors beyond the Lakeland region has also been unsuccessful, Ritcher told trustees.
“I've talked to contractors in Edmonton and Fort McMurray, and all have indicated that they want securement of a large amount of buses before they come in. They're talking 30-plus runs, they want to guarantee before they would even come to Bonnyville,” he explained.
Currently, NLPS only require 10 to 12 routes to be filled. With a further reduction in contracted bus routes, the transportation director says NLPS has to develop a plan B.
“We need to look at getting a bus in place right away and we'll look at recruiting a driver,” said Ritcher expanding on what he feels like is the best short-term solution.
Plan B
Trustees immediately felt the urgency of current bus shortage, with some trustees having already experienced first-hand the effects of compressed routes and cancellations due to bus driver shortages in Cold Lake.
The board unanimously approved up to $130,000 of funding for the school districts transportation department to lease-to-purchase one bus immediately and up to three additional buses, before the end of September.
According to Superintendent Rick Cusson, the funds to purchase additional school buses will likely come from the transportation department’s funding portfolio due to the unclaimed contractor fees allotted for the routes that have not been claimed.
The board also went one step further and agreed to write a letter to the Minister of Education, the Minister of Transportation and other school districts in both rural and urban municipalities.
Lorne Kaban, the trustee for Ward 1, said, “Clearly that this is a not a phenomenon that we're experiencing in isolation. This is a provincial and a North American challenge. And ultimately, we need to help government recognize the importance and the criticality of transporting our students to our schools so that they can get an education.”
Board Chair Arlene Hyrnyk added, “If we can't get the kids to school, we can’t educate them. But further to that, our communities - rural Albertans - have an expectation of transportation delivery... We know we can't stop fighting to make something better because we are at the breaking point.”
St. Paul Education
At a recent board meeting, a shortage of bus drivers in the Two Hills region was brought up.
Superintendent Glen Brodziak spoke to how the whole education system is being stressed and stretched, and bus driver shortages are one of the reasons why.
Three routes in the Two Hills area have been affected.
Regular bus drivers have been affected due to COVID-19 related issues, and substitute bus drivers have been unavailable for non-COVID related issues, said Brodziak.
“Our transportation team is working closely with contractors and division drivers to minimize disruptions as much as possible, however, in some circumstances it may not be possible to locate a substitute driver. This may result in routes being cancelled or delayed,” reads information sent out to parents by St. Paul Education.
Brodziak also confirmed that the shortage is being felt far and wide, and is not a localized problem.
