All we expect in life is an even break, to be judged on our individual ability and not on our appearance, gender or age. If my daughter chooses to be a firefighter or a hockey player, I would hope she would be judged on her ability to do the job and not on her gender. So often we make assumptions and generalizations, which turn out to be wrong.
The St. Paul Education Regional Division (SPERD) has a policy that nobody over the age of 68 should be permitted to drive a school bus. Everyone over the age of 68 is assumed to be incapable of safely driving a bus. Although it is unclear exactly where the policy came from, it appears to be based on an old provincial regulation. The province probably changed the regulation because it discriminates. Apparently several school boards, including SPERD, decided to implement their own policy regarding the age of drivers.
The SPERD regulation used to be 65 years of age. However, last year because of a shortage of drivers, the age was changed to 68 years of age.
This year, the board was presented with a bit of a dilemma. There is a severe shortage of drivers to the point where schools in nearby towns have had to change school hours so drivers could make two runs in a day. One of the St. Paul town bus contractors is dangerously short of drivers. No students have been affected so far but only because the contractor himself drives a bus as a back-up driver when needed.
There is a man in town who is willing to work, meets all the provincial licence requirements and is very experienced. He drove a school bus safely in St. Paul for 13 years but he has not been able to work for the last two years because of his age. He is 70 years old now but kept his bus-driving licence active.
His employer, the bus contractor, told the SPERD board at the last school board meeting he finds the driver to be “very competent." The contractor has provided reliable school bus service for over 20 years and is unlikely to risk his reputation by recommending a driver who is not competent.
The SPERD board reluctantly made an exception for this 70-year-old driver but placed restrictions on him. He can drive in town only and only as a relief driver.
I do realize reaction time slows with age and health issues may come into play. However, it's the provincial government's responsibility to require medical tests for licence renewal. If a person meets all the requirements for the provincial licence and his employer evaluates his performance as good, what right does a third party have to apply restrictions based solely on the age of the individual?
I am sure at some point in our history women were not permitted to drive school buses, but the government saw the error in its ways and changed the discriminatory regulations. I am glad SPERD didn't decide to place restrictions on female drivers. All drivers should be evaluated on their ability, not on external factors.
