Just a couple of weeks ago, a topic of increasing concern was brought up during a community council meeting: school bus transportation. As the City of Humboldt grows, so does the need for inner city transportation for students.
As it stands, the only transportation for students to and from school is provided for students who live outside the city limits, typically on farms and rural routes. Students in Humboldt have to either walk or get driven by their parents. While this wouldn’t be an issue for students who live down the road, it is for parents who live on the outskirts in new development, especially if they have to leave for work hours before school begins.
Unfortunately, despite continuously growing, Humboldt does not have yet have a population large enough to subsidize public transportation. Nevertheless, the City and the school divisions are starting to look at alternatives.
“So the community is growing in size, but at the same time, the community is becoming busy and the schools are located on major arteries in the community,” said Mayor Malcolm Eaton. “The highways and traffic has increased, so finding some way to move students safely around the community is of interest to us.”
When the City had their community council meeting on June 8 at the Humboldt Public School (HPS) library, the principals of the four local schools were in attendance: St. Augustine School, St. Dominic School, HPS, and Humboldt Collegiate Institute (HCI). Bus transportation was one of the topics that were brought up, though briefly.
“I think it was basically not too much of a concern (at this time), but it’s something that all the schools feel would be a good idea for us to pursue,” said Cal Theisen, principal of St. Augustine. “It’s been talked about before. I guess the issue is how much it’s going to cost, who’s going to pay for it, etc. We need to come up with a plan for how it would work.”
Since the topic was only just brought up recently, even the discussion is still in its infancy. There are no proposals as of yet, and any that are brought up would have to enter consultation with both school divisions.
Currently, Horizon School Division and the Greater Saskatoon Catholic School Division have a longstanding contractual agreement whereby the latter gives funds to Horizon School Division in exchange for their bus system to pick up and drop off students at the Catholic schools as well as the public one.
“What’s critical is that we understand what the City’s perspective is and that we ensure that it’s understood where Horizon sits on it,” said Kevin Garinger, director of education for Horizon. “Those conversations have sort of begun when the principals were asked to the town meeting.”
Considering the discussion on the topic is only just beginning, it will be a long time yet before parents no longer have to drive their children to school. With so many parties involved, hammering out the details won’t be easy.
“The next step is for school divisions to be involved and explore the topic,” said Garinger. “Our partnership is critical between us and the City and the Greater Saskatoon Catholic School Division. We have to understand where each organization is coming from and have a deeper conversation and that hasn’t happened yet.”
