By Steven Dominey
Wendy Bennett loves walking her eight-year-old daughter to and from Elgin Street elementary school, but she is frightened this experience may soon be taken away.
The mother of three, who lives on nearby Waverly Street, is scared the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s proposal to slice $33.7 million to meet the provincial funding formula will force her and other parents to drive their children to school, or even worse, put them on a city bus.
The proposal has an apparent policy contradiction in it that, if approved on Feb. 25, threatens to shut down seven elementary schools at a savings of $4.6 million. However, the proposal also eliminates transportation to all students within the “urban transit area.”
These closures would force children to travel a greater distance to school, so theoretically, bus service would have to be increased.
While another $6.45 million would be saved, transportation would not be available to any student who lives within a kilometre of an OC Transpo bus stop. Thirteen-thousand children between kindergarten and Grade 6, now bused to school, would be forced to take alternative transportation.
Bennett says she would not put her child on a public bus.
“I wouldn’t and I don’t think I know anybody who would feel safe letting their children bus across the city,” she says. “If the school board thinks kids will take OC Transpo, they’re dreaming.”
She says car pools or even switching to the private system would be more attractive options for many parents.
Centretown school trustee Joan Spice says parents would have no choice but to drive when deciding how to get their child to and from school.
She believes many parents would not put their children on OC Transpo. “There would definitely be a safety issue if you put a young kid on a bus across town,” says Spice. She also knows closing schools while cutting bus service is a policy contradiction, but says the province leaves the school board with few options.
“We can’t cut any more teachers or we would be breaking the law,” says Spice, referring to the fact that Ottawa schools are already below the recommended one teacher for every 24.5 elementary students.
“We’re cutting in those areas because they’re the only discretionary areas we have left.”
Ottawa Police Sgt. Dan Longpre, co-ordinator of the school resource officer program, says even if the cuts are made, it is still the parents’ responsibility to ensure their children arrive at school safely.
“The parents are the ones who know if their kids are capable of taking public buses,” he says. “Parents have to make sure their children are careful, if they know the route to school and back, rules of the road and not to talk to strangers.”
While school resource officers have been lecturing children for years on these types of safety issues, the budget cuts could cause other problems. More parents driving would lead to increased congestion at schools and children could get lost when transferring OC Transpo buses on their way to school.
Longpre says if these problems become reality, the police would work closely with schools to rectify them. “We’ll keep our eyes on it and if the need arises to focus on a specific [safety issue], we will make sure it’s dealt with in our lectures and presentations,” he says.
Lucy Doré, communications manager for OC Transpo, believes until the proposals go through, it’s too early to talk about safety issues a child might have riding the bus.
However, she says they will have further discussions with the school board if transportation becomes a problem.
“Once the school board lets us know what their needs are, what their budget is and what their solutions might be, we’ll try to provide them with whatever transportation needs they have,” says Doré.
Spice says she hopes there will be no need for added transportation in Centretown.
“My schools are doing very well,” she says, pointing out they are all near capacity. Centennial is currently 77 per cent full while Elgin Street sits at 84 per cent and Cambridge at 90- per- cent capacity.
“I don’t think they’re good candidates for closure because they’re all pretty full and there’s no easy way to relocate these kids.”