No more pencils, no more books … no more school bus service down Highway 7?
School may be out for summer, but for a group of about 200 Rockwood Centennial Public School students and their families, the initial euphoria of a seasonal break has been tempered by worries about what will happen in September.
Last week, the Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) rejected a proposal from a group of parents requesting that a temporary bus service along Highway 7 (Main Street) for students living on the north side of the village be extended by one year.
The majority of trustees (a motion to extend the service was defeated 6-4) felt that since Ministry of Transportation (MTO) improvements are now complete along the highway, there is no reason to extend the bus service, which was established through a township-board partnership in 2008 to specifically address the construction period.
Under the agreement the board paid $85,000 annually for the buses and the township contributes $15,000.
Shannon Stephenson, whose six-year-old son Austin will have to walk to school in September along Highway 7, said she was shocked the board did not approve the request for one more year.
“I don’t think it’s safe, especially with the transport trucks and having to cross Highway 7, for kids that age to walk,” Stephenson said during an organized protest on June 27.
Dozens of students and parents walked with signs from the corner of Highway 7 and Ridge Road to the school – the same route many local students as young as age seven (Grade 2) will have to walk in September.
Parent Amy Umrysh organized the rally after the board declined to extend the bus service. She appeared as a delegation at the June 25 meeting to plead for the extension.
Among the concerns highlighted by Umrysh include:
– “dangerous” speeds along the highway (in some areas the limit is 80km/h);
– a high traffic volume that has been increasing for a number of years;
– a lack of safe places to cross the highway;
– high retaining walls that could force students onto the road with the arrival of snow; and
– “blind spots” at several intersections.
Kathryn Cooper, the UGDSB trustee for the area, brought forward the resolution to extend the service at the June 25 board meeting after discussing the matter with concerned parents a few days earlier.
“I thought it was a worthwhile motion … it made sense because it would have been safer (than asking the students to walk),” Cooper said in an interview.
She said even with the improvements to Highway 7, she is concerned about the proximity of the sidewalks to the provincial highway, as well as the varying width of the sidewalks and that in some spots students will be “sandwiched” between the highway and a retaining wall.
“I even worry about the amount of traffic,” Cooper said.
A 2011 Ministry of Transportation report indicated an average of 583 vehicles per hour pass the intersection of Highway 7 and Harris Street in north Rockwood, with a peak volume of 737 in the morning, around the time when students would be walking to school.
UGDSB chairman Mark Bailey was one of six trustees to oppose the request to extend the service.
He said the decision was made based on comparisons with other routes throughout the UGDSB and on a report from Wellington-Dufferin Student Transportation Services (WDSTS), the consortium in charge of busing for the board.
“The transportation consortium convinced me the route was safe,” said Bailey, who added he voted in favour of offering the bus service during construction on Highway 7.
UGDSB spokesman Mark Weidmark, speaking on behalf of consortium general manager Wendy Dobson, who is new to the position, said WDSTS feels the route is now safe for students.
“They felt it was less hazardous than in 2008,” Weidmark said.
He also noted the cost of busing has increased since the agreement was first signed in 2008 and the number of students affected by the route has increased from 111 to 225.
Guelph-Eramosa Mayor Chris White said the situation may not be perfect, but it’s a lot better than it was prior to or during construction.
“The highway’s a lot safer now, in my opinion, now that there’s continuous sidewalks,” said White.
However, he added he understands the concerns of parents of younger students who are worried about the traffic and the distance walked along the busy route.
He said the township is committed to providing its $15,000 annual share of the $100,000 bill for the bus.
“We will continue to put that into busing as long as it exists,” White explained. He added if the bus service is discontinued the township will direct those funds to establishing a new crosswalk at Lions Park on Highway 7.
“A crosswalk is good, a traffic light is better,” the mayor said, explaining the township will continue to lobby for traffic lights along Highway 7 in northern Rockwood (perhaps at Harris Street or MacLennan Street).
The township has been told by the MTO that the area does not meet its traffic count requirements for traffic lights.
In addition to unsafe crossings and other complaints specific to the route along Highway 7 in Rockwood, Umrysh also pointed out the UGDSB in general has the longest walking distances of all school boards in the province.
Almost all public school boards have a 1.6km maximum walking distance for kids up to grade 6, while the Upper Grand has a 2.4km maximum. For grades 7 and 8 that maximum jumps to 3.2km, higher than all but seven public boards in the province.
“We as parents think the board should answer why and ultimately make a change to be more aligned with the other boards,” Umrysh said in an email to the Advertiser.
“We believe this is an issue of safety for our children.”
Bailey acknowledged the UGDSB has one of longest walking distances for students in the province, but he said there is a very good reason for that.
“Our board is underfunded,” he told the Advertiser. “We’re right down at the bottom for dollars received per student to transport our children.”
Bailey said that is the result of a move in the 1990s that “pinned” transportation funding for boards at a certain level.
However, he stressed the walking distances in Rockwood are the exact same as in every other area within the board. Bailey also noted that a few years ago the board lowered walking distances when it had the opportunity, thanks to efficiencies elsewhere within the transportation budget.
