One out of nine Rainbow District School Board trustees attended a “school bus challenge” a Levack parent organized Monday morning to give them a taste of the long bus commutes some students face.
Gord Santala was the only trustee to attend the event, in which he and some concerned parents followed a school bus' route from Geneva Lake, north of Onaping, to Confederation Secondary School in Val Caron. No senior administrators took part in the challenge.
The trip started at 6:40 a.m. and ended around 8:25 a.m. at the Val Caron high school.
Some students currently travel from Geneva Lake to Chelmsford Valley District Composite School, which takes around 1.5 hours.
But the Rainbow board’s accommodation review has pegged the Chelmsford high school as one of a number of schools to be consolidated.
If the students from Geneva Lake had to go to Confederation Secondary School instead, it would add up to 30 minutes to their commute each way, depending on weather and traffic conditions.
Levack had its own high school until it was closed 15 years ago,” said Chantelle Gorham, who helped organize the event. “Chelmsford (Valley District Composite School) was the new ‘accommodation’ at the time.”
Organizers said that while Santala was the only trustee to take part in the commute, Larry Killens did intend to participate as well, but couldn't make it in time due to the distance from his home on Manitoulin Island.
Rainbow District School Board chair Doreen Dewar said she was not prepared to participate in the challenge before the school board's administration released its final accommodation review report on Nov. 24.
“I'm waiting to see what the administration is going to come up with,” she said.
Dewar said some Rainbow Board students, such as those in Killarney, have always had to travel long distances to get to class each morning.
“There are certain situations we have no control over,” she said. “We'll do the very best we can for every one of our students.”
Since 1980, there have been 47 school closures carried out by the Rainbow board and its predecessor, the Sudbury Board of Education, Dewar said.
“This is a new process that we've got now,” she said about the current accommodation review.
“Every process we've used before now has not been one darn bit better. There is no process that the province can come up with that is going to make school closures easier. It's a terrible, terrible decision that boards right across this province are looking at.
“We know the impact school closures have on communities. It's heart-wrenching.”
