The number of students currently being transported to and from schools in the South East Cornerstone Public School Division (SECPSD) has been reduced by about 1,000 compared with 2019 statistics.
School student transportation reports, including student rider numbers are delivered semi-annually by Andy Dobson, the division’s manager of facilities and transportation.
That task was carried out remotely on Jan. 20 during the board’s monthly business meeting that was also in an online version.
While facilities were not the main objective of the report, Dobson added a few informational items of interest dealing with damages inflicted on Cornerstone schools as a result of the high winds that arrived with blizzard conditions in southeast Saskatchewan on Jan.13.
One notable damage report indicated that the Gladmar School roof was nearly completely destroyed by the high winds, some brick work was damaged and other schools suffered varying degrees of damage including the relatively new Weyburn Comprehensive School that also suffered roof damages. He said roof anchors kept the WCS roof in place, but damages were still significant. Other facilities like the Estevan Comprehensive School and the new Legacy Park Elementary School in Weyburn suffered more minor damages.
Dobson said replacement and repair programs were well underway and classes resumed in Gladmar within three working days of the event.
Total damages could exceed $1 million he said.
Prior to the school damage report though, Dobson brought the transportation report to the forefront. He stated 3,361 students were regularly riding in SECPSD buses in January compared with 4,158 recorded for the same time period last year. Most of the downward trend is attributable to the COVID pandemic and a request from the division to have families drive their children to schools whenever possible rather than have them taking a bus for health reasons and the fact that bus rider numbers have to be reduced to comply with spacing regulations implemented with the re-opening of schools following the arrival of the pandemic last year.
Dobson said there are three transportation garages/shops under the direction of one supervisor, three foremen and a group of five technicians with three journeymen mechanics in Weyburn and Estevan shops and one in the Moosomin facility. There are 154 drivers and 23 substitute drivers on call for the 112 routes overseen by SECPSD and 42 routes under the direction of a contracted company, First Student Transportation.
Dobson addressed the issue of buses with significant kilometre readings, saying that 29 of them had now registered more than 300,000 kilometres. He said some are taken out of service around the 350,000 km. mark, but it sometimes depends on overall condition. He said one exceptional bus has tracked over 460,000 kms and is still in service as a back up or fill-in bus as are several others with more than 350,000 kms on the odometers.
Dobson noted that 42 buses run from the newly constructed Weyburn garage, which is the same size as the Estevan facility where 48 buses are dispatched and maintained. A further 22 buses are under the control of the Moosomin garage and shop.
Dobson said the recruitment of spare drivers is an ongoing problem but there has been some relief in sight following newspaper advertising plus a bonus offered to those who are successful recruiters among the current driver rosters.
The new drivers undergo police security checks as well as health checks to go along with the training and testing regime.
Weather this winter, with the exception of Jan. 13, has mainly been co-operative with most of the cancellations of routes being caused by a lack of a driver, rather than weather conditions.
Dobson will provide another transportation report near the end of the school year.
