Northern Lights School Division No.69 wants to be proactive in avoiding any possible school bus driver shortages, said a local school trustee.
At a meeting on Sept. 29, the school board had identified that there are bus driver shortages in other parts of the province, said Ward 3 trustee Danny Smaiel. The board decided to think of ways to deal with this before it becomes an issue in this area, Smaiel said.
“We wanted to be proactive,” he said. “We don’t want that to become a reality here.”
The board is considering introducing programs to attract drivers and to retain them, Smaiel said.
“We don’t want to get into a situation where we have bus routes that don’t go because we don’t have drivers,” he said, adding that if this were to happen, each individual parent would have to make arrangements for their children to get to school.
The board will be raising this issue with MLAs Genia Leskiw, Ray Danyluk and Jeff Johnson in meeting planned in the near future.