'They’ve pretty much stonewalled me': Sask. mom frustrated with struggles with school bus policy

A family in rural Saskatchewan said they’ve hit a brick wall trying to get their school division to approve a second bus drop-off for their child.

Stephanie Aadland told CTV News, she has been asking the Sun West School Division for two bus drop-off and pick-up locations for months.

“They said well, it's a safety and liability reason, at which point I countered Well, other school divisions do it so obviously they can find a way to do it in a safe and a manner that kind of addresses those liabilities is it not something that we could look into? At that point in time, I was told no.”

She said she even reached out to her MLA who contacted the Ministry of Education but didn’t find any help.

“Basically they said the same thing, ‘We don't do policy for the transportation divisions for schools. That's up to them, so it's all dependent on their policy.”

Sun West School Division stretches from Biggar to Davidson to Beechy to Easton and Estonia. Aadland said their family lived in the eastern part of the division.

She said the whole situation has her contemplating leaving her job as a registered nurse in Outlook.

“It's honestly a huge impact with where we live. My husband has to be within a certain location to his workplace because he's on call. So, right now I drive just shy of 70 kilometres one way to work,” she said.

“Lots of times I'm backtracking, so driving even further. The cost of fuel, the cost of childcare, the stress of doing (shift) trades so that I can be at home in case ... has been astronomical. Just the cost of all of those things combined,” she said, adding that when she added up the numbers for next year she would be driving 3,000 kilometres to accommodate her child’s school.

“We're kind of at the point where next fall if we don't get a change in our busing routine I will go down to casual and give up my position.”

CTV News reached out to the Sun West School Division but has not heard back.

Aadland said the family likes where they live, but the struggles with the school bus system have left them frustrated.

“They've pretty much stonewalled me almost at every single turn. And yet in the next breath are like but don't give up. Keep going.”

EMAIL RECORDS

Several emails spanning from October 2022 to February 2023, provided by Aadland show the school division’s reasons are unclear.

Aadland also investigated what other divisions offer families and heard back from a transportation supervisor that said they offer up to three alternative pick up and drop offs. The individual also said they were surprised to hear Aadland was not being offered similar options.

The family made a final appeal in December and heard in February that the division’s position had not changed.

John Collins responded in writing saying:

“We deal with many requests every year all with their own circumstances. Our goal is to have an efficient and safe transportation plan. Many factors play into it and unfortunately what seems simple can become complex for what seems no real reason. Equity is one of those factors and when we make exceptions in one area of the division then it is expected everywhere…In your case, I do believe we would have bus drivers and the school more than ready to make it work by doing the extras to facilitate the two drop-off locations you’ve requested. Unfortunately, other schools and drivers may not be as comfortable with a similar arrangement and then we can’t supply the same service in that locations.”

He added that “everyone at the division understands this is not the easiest solution for your family but we are trying our best to make the best decision that we can then be consistent throughout the division with so we can provide the best and safest transportation system.”

'IT’S JUST VERY FRUSTRATING'

Aadland said everyone at the school and even the bus drivers were willing to work with her, but the school division isn’t cooperating.

“It's just very frustrating because there is a better option that everyone who's involved is happy to do,” she said.

She added that she even had a family friend who also had a child bussing to school that was willing to take Aadland’s child after school.

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“One of my friends was like yeah, we can take her before and after school so that it wouldn't be an extra stop. So it wouldn't be adding time to the current bus route. It wouldn't be disrupting the current bus in any way. I tried to find as many ways to ease it for them and just often got no with no explanation as to why.”

She said she believes the policy changed because of COVID-19.

“Before COVID, they did occasionally allow a secondary drop off with a permission form. Then with COVID, I think they brought in a lot of restrictions, and they just haven't really eased any of those restrictions.”