The first day of a staggered return to school saw some parents driving their kids to school when in past years, they would have taken a bus.
Both the Bluewater Board and the Bruce Grey Catholic District School Board say there are nine bus routes in Grey Bruce that are cancelled due to a shortage of drivers, and they could be cancelled for some weeks. They include: 036, 808, 863, 901, 257, 724, 726, 1023
1025.
Bluewater Director of Education Lori Wilder says,”We have been encouraging our families to look at other options in terms of driving their children to school or if they’re able to walk or bike. That’ not always the cases in many cases, we realize.”
As for buses that are running, Wilder notes there may be fewer students on them because some have chosen to learn online.
Wilder says locally, nine per cent of students within the board have opted for online learning. Wilder says that works out to about 1,600 students. “Compared to the province, for us in Grey and Bruce Counties, that percentage is low.”
In the public school system, the first day of school for JK/SK and Grade 9 students will be today. Wednesday will see the additions of grades 1,2,3 and 10. Thursday will see grades 4,5,6 and 11 return and Friday will see the return of grades 7, 8 and 12. Remote learning sarts Friday.
Wilder notes, elementary students who are enrolled in online learning who want to go back to school in person can do so, “There might just be a bit of a delay while we ensure the proper protocols are in place and the necessary paperwork,” says Wilder but we do welcome them back face to face.”
She says, “I know some families might just want an opportunity to see how things go the first few weeks before they choose to send their children back if they’ve originally chosen the online learning option so that will be available.”
Wilder says for secondary students, those who chose online learning must stay with that option until the end of the ‘quadmester’ at the end of November.
Wilder reminds the community, “Masking is mandatory for students in grades four to 12 and optional for students in Kindergarten to grade three. There will be exemptions for those will medical conditions and of course our staff will be masked as well.”
She says there will be staggered entry and exists in the hallways, one-way routes in the halls, regular cleaning of frequently touched surfaces and enhanced hand hygiene requirements and ‘respiratory etiquette. Wilder also notes outdoor classes will be held when it’s suitable.
So Bluewater sports activities along with OFFSA and CWOSSA are still shut down for now.
“We really welcome people back into our buildings and we have worked hard to ensure health and safety is of the utmost importance and we’ve focused on that throughout all of our planning and we feel confident with our students returning.”
The first Bluewater board meeting of the school year is also set to be held tonight that meeting will include a presentation with a back-to-school update.
Meanwhile the Grey Bruce School Bus Consortium says known cancellations will be posted 6p.m. for the following day. They says, “There may be routes cancelled early in the morning due to illness or other causes so parents will want to view the cancelation site evening and morning.”
Parents can see the postings at https://mybrucegreyschoolbus.ca/Alerts.
The Consortium adds, “Optimistically, if the system does not continue to lose bus
drivers, route optimization will allow for students to start receiving transportation as early as the third week of school. Updates to the status of this unfortunate situation will be made to this site throughout September.”
https://www.mybrucegreyschoolbus.ca/Cancellations.aspx
