The pandemic wiped out almost half the school year in 2020 for in-person learning, while it also played havoc on school divisions’ ability to record data such as transportation costs accurately.
During their January board meeting, trustees with Holy Trinity Catholic School Division received a summary about transportation issues in the division for the 2019-20 school year. Sandy Gessner, chief financial officer, presented the document during the meeting.
“Normally, this report that’s presented includes more costed information, but because of the class suspension from the end of March to June because of COVID-19, that would have skewed any comparative numbers,” she said. “So we’ve chosen not to focus on that this year, but focus on the initiatives in the Swift Current and Moose Jaw transportation arrangements.”
Holy Trinity operates seven double-run routes on the north side of Moose Jaw, with one spare bus available in the fleet and Prairie South School Division providing additional spare buses as necessary, Gessner explained. The division transported 548 students daily on these routes — including six students to Vanier Collegiate and the Kinsmen Inclusion Centre — while Prairie South transported seven students on an accessible bus with nursing staff on a contracted basis.
Separate school division buses normally transport students over 186 school days in a year, but after classes were suspended on March 20, 2020, that reduced the number of school days travelled to 131. The division also provided 267 charter trips during the year for in-town, out-of-town and extracurricular excursions. Including regular routes and charter trips, buses travelled 57,264 kilometres last year.
The Catholic division signed a joint transportation agreement with the public division and commenced the agreement during the 2019-20 school year, Gessner continued. PSSD transports 133 students who attend Sacred Heart School and St. Mary School on South Hill.
“That was an arrangement that has worked very, very well for us,” she added.
There are nine buses that Holy Trinity owns and operates, while it leased one bus to Prairie South in 2019-20. The average age of the division’s fleet is 8.4 years, while buses are normally operated on a 12-year life cycle.
Holy Trinity has a contract with Federated Co-op Limited for propane purchases in Moose Jaw for the nine buses that the division operates, Gessner said. The division also participates in the Saskatchewan Central Services Standing Offer for gasoline and diesel fuel purchases, a provincial initiative that allows school divisions to purchase fuel at bulk rates.
Prairie South maintains and repairs all of Holy Trinity’s buses, an agreement that began on Sept. 1, 2017, she continued. Meanwhile, Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) monitors the operation of the school buses through random inspections.
“All drivers perform daily circle checks and perform their duties in accordance with requirements of The Education Act, The Highway Traffic Act and the Vehicle Administration Act,” Gessner remarked. The division then collects weekly bus log sheets and sends them to the public school division’s transportation department for maintenance purposes, with the original copies stored with Holy Trinity’s transportation department.
The board office arranges other transportation methods with parents or transit companies instead of regular conveyances to address circumstances that cannot otherwise be accommodated — this occurs in Moose Jaw and Swift Current, added Gessner. Holy Trinity also purchases bus passes from Moose Jaw Transit for high school students who live on South Hill and attend Vanier Collegiate.
The next Holy Trinity board of education meeting is Monday, Feb. 8.
