The Clearview Board passed a motion during their February 8th meeting to update a portion of their bus fleet this year. It is board policy to replace 10% of the fleet each year, which means that five buses are up for renewal.
Clearview will gather quotes from busing companies for three 46 passenger buses, and two 70 seat buses which will be brought back to the board for approval at a future meeting.
Trustees also received an update from the Transportation Department to set their annual goals for the service. The department has been gathering ride time information since the 2002/03 school year, and shared their findings with the board.
Clearview has split their ride time criteria into two categories: K-9 students, and Grade 10-12 students. The school division’s goal for K-9 students are ride times no longer than an hour, to which the average student ride time was reported at 57 minutes.
Grade 10-12 students have a goal of ride times no longer than an hour and fifteen minutes, which is what the current average ride times are registering.
There are 46 bus routes in service across the Clearview division, as a handful of routes have gone out of service over the last four years.
Outside factors have also influenced ride times over the last number of years. In-town busing within Stettler came into effect in 2008, and the closure of the Catholic school in Halkirk have put additional pressure on drivers to collect all of the students within the aspired time-frame.
Finally, field trips fees were also cut in half in 2016/17, but were reinstated this school year to help cover a $194,037 deficit. This is in part due to the loss of a provincial grant for fuel contingency that helped the board subsidize busing costs.
To cover the shortfall, Clearview has taken $125,000 out of their reserves, as well as $100,000 in instructional dollars that could otherwise be used on staffing.
landin.chambers@stettlerindependent.com
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