MOOSE JAW — Prairie South School Division covers nearly 33,000 square kilometres of southern Saskatchewan, which means transporting students during the winter can sometimes be hazardous — especially in rural areas.
To keep families informed about whether schools are open and buses running, the division has updated an administrative procedure that focuses on severe weather and bus cancellations. Trustees ratified that change during their December board meeting.
“Because of the geographic size of Prairie South School Division, the board believes that enabling policy providing local discretion in dealing with weather conditions is both prudent and appropriate,” the policy says.
Schools will remain open despite the presence of inclement weather, while buildings will only be closed during a threat to health and/or safety, the document continues. However, parents may drive their kids to school at any time during the regular school day, whether buses are running or not.
The main change in the policy is to the responsibilities of the transportation manager, as he — or his designate — is now expected to inform bus drivers, school principals and others when transportation services are cancelled by posting that information on the division’s website instead of on social media.
Furthermore, the manager or designate will also direct drivers to contact parents or guardians with this information, although — as a new feature — parents who register with a software program called Bus Planner Web will receive notifications about cancellations of their children’s routes.
Meanwhile, the transportation manager or designate will maintain files about bus cancellations and will cancel applicable regular routes when the temperature — including wind chill — reaches or goes below -40 C, and paratransit routes when the temperature reaches or goes below -35 C, the policy says.
The manager may cancel bus routes for various reasons, such as roads with major snow drifts or that are icy, limited visibility because of fog or blowing snow, other environmental conditions that Environment Canada typically announces, and information the division collects from Weather Canada.
The manager will decide by 6 a.m. whether to cancel buses, while a bus cancelled in the morning will not operate in the afternoon, and buses provided for out-of-school curricular or extracurricular activities will also be cancelled when general services are cancelled, the policy says.
Meanwhile, principals will ensure a process is in place to billet youths if required — the division will assume any costs incurred — and ensure all bus students have a billet.
Rural drivers will be responsible for cancelling a route after consulting with the transportation manager or designate to ensure the safety and well-being of passengers.
“If the decision is made before students have been picked up from home in the rural area, the driver is to inform parents or guardians of all passengers that the bus will not operate,” the document continued.
Furthermore, drivers are prohibited from starting a route at the height of a winter storm, while they are prohibited from starting their routes before the usual departure time. However, if the decision to cease operations is made after students have been picked up, drivers must arrange to deliver each student to a safe, supervised destination.
In rural areas, drivers must inform parents or guardians, the principal, and the transportation manager or designate directly or indirectly of the location of students.
Meanwhile, parents or guardians must arrange for appropriate billeting for their students if necessary and inform the school of those arrangements, the report said. However, adults may keep their kids at home during severe weather conditions or if they have concerns about their children’s safety, while they can also drive their kids.
“Parents or guardians are responsible to ensure that their children are appropriately dressed for weather conditions,” the document adds.
The next PSSD meeting is in January.
