MEDIA RELEASE Thursday, April 24, 2008

School Bus Drivers of SD79 Send Message Home

Bussing Cuts = Kids at Risk + Loss of Equitable Access to Education Programs

Duncan, BC: A letter was delivered today to Cowichan Valley families from the bus drivers of Cowichan Valley School District 79 (SD79). The bus drivers feel it is important to make the families of the students they transport aware of changes to bussing that SD79 Trustees will be voting on during the budget process in the next few weeks.

The initial reduction to bus service for the 2008/2009 school year is the removal of all cross boundary bussing. For your kids this means a loss of equitable access to programs and educational opportunities that are not available in their local schools.

The second cut back will be the strict enforcement of walk limits, 4 km for elementary students, and 4.8 km for all others. This will have many of our students walking down the highways that run through SD79 and along country roads with no sidewalks or streetlights.

School bus travel with professionally trained drivers offers the safest and greenest method of ensuring that our children arrive safely at school and return home.The distance and conditions these children will have to walk will put them at risk, says Dave Aldcroft, bus driver,USWA-180, SD79.

The environmental impact of these cuts must not be ignored. For the families that can manage it, that will mean driving their children to school-adding to the congestion on our roads and around the schools for drop off and pick up.

Dr. Lisa Wilson, Duncan El and Mt. Provost parent remarked, "Having 50+ parents carpooling instead of using a bus seems ridiculous.While it is nice to imagine that we would all get more exercise by walk/biking to the stops,in actuality,more parents would drive to the stops or school.We have buses, we have drivers,we have students, and we have parents who don't want to drive all the way to school every day. Surelythere is a way to make this work.It wouldbe extremely disappointingif we couldn'tcome together tocontinue efficient and safe busing for the students."

Over the last five years, the SD79 Transportation Department has faced the challenge of balancing a shrinking budget with the rising price of fuel while maintaining the fleet. This has been achieved through cutting the mileage our busses travel and reductions in drivers hours. The Administration is now asking for a $200,000 cut in the Transportation budget.

As a result, serious cuts to the service provided to our students and their families will be required to meet this demand. This 10% cut to the Transportation Department budget comes at a time when the Government has assured SD79 it will receive the same funding for the 2008/2009 school year that it received this year.The transportation department has managed to maintain the service to students and remain a mere 3% of the over all budget, even though the cost of running and maintaining the SD79s fleet of forty five busses has increased dramatically due to the rising cost of oil, commented Tom Clark,Plant Chair, USWA-180, SD79.In public meetings the District Administration has painted anuntruepicture of an over the top expensive system that has been allowed to run unchecked and unaffected by budget cuts. People need to know the facts and that is why we are speaking up.

The bus drivers are encouraging those that are opposed to these proposed cuts to contact SD79 Trustees before they vote and implement these cuts. Interested citizens can contact the Board of Education Trustees through e- mail or letters to the Board of Education Trustees or by attending any open Board meetings.

SD79 Board of Education Trustees
e-mail:Trustees@sd79.bc.caor
Tel: 250-748-0321
or
2557 Beverly Street, Duncan, BC V9L 2X3.