If you haven’t heard, the PEI gov’t has pulled the school buses off the roads for the next two days leaving parents with the responsibility of getting their kids to school. Westisle high school was missing half of the student population because it is located in a rural area and some of the kids have to travel 30 min to get there.
“I’m disappointed,” said Dale Sabean, superintendent of education with the Western School Board.
“It’s not a wise choice” considering there’s just six weeks left and exams are looming, not to mention the loss of more than two weeks due to fierce winter weather.
“It’s sad to say there doesn’t appear to be the commitment to attendance on the part of students (at Westisle).”
If they have working parents and don’t have access to a vehicle, how do they expect students to get to school?
The thing that bothers me the most is that this didn’t just happen overnight. In a report written by the PEI Auditor General (Colin Younker) back in 2006, he stated that older buses should receive periodic inspections for structural integrity and that regular inspections on the buses were NOT being performed.
Of the 20 buses examined during a routine inspection, 16 of them had serious structural problems. My son travels on a bus to and from school and hearing those results infuriates me!
In 2006 school bus maintenance was no longer the responsibility of the school boards and was transferred to the provincial department of transportation. In a 2007 report, the PEI Auditor General noted there was staffing problems within the transportation department and has been “calling on the Department of Education to develop a long-term plan for school bus acquisition, which considers the cost-benefit of maintenance versus replacement, as well as the optimum size of the bus fleet.”
I’m sure if they took half of what government officials receive for travel/misc. expenses, we would have safe buses for our children. It’s no wonder that people lose faith in their government!
