It looks like a young Barrhead girl will not miss her first day of Grade 1 after all.
On Monday, Aug. 24, Carson Meunier, a single father contacted the Leader because he was worried that his seven year-old daughter who is going into Grade 1, Blaze, would not be able to start the school year on time, due to a problem with his child allowance tax benefit.
“The Pembina Hills School Division will not allow children on the school bus unless they pay their school bus fee in full,” he said, adding that he was planning to use his monthly child care allowance to pay the fee. “But when I found out my family allowance was going to be delayed until Sept. 20, I called the Pembina Hills office to see if I could make some sort of payment arrangement.”
However, it turns out that the school division has had a change of heart.
The next day, Meunier received a phone call from David Garbutt, Pembina Hills School Division assistant superintendant of employee services, facilities and transportation, and after he explained his situation to Garbutt, the school division decided Blaze would be allowed on the bus for no charge.
“I am so relieved,” he said. “After my first conversation with the school board when I was basically told my daughter would have to walk to school.”
An option that really wasn’t possible for Blaze.
Due to an epilepsy related health issue, which causes her to have numerous seizures on a daily basis, she isn’t able to walk to school on her own safely.
Meunier said he is also unable to walk her to school because of his own health issues.
“I had to do that last year when she was in kindergarten,” he said. “The full day was often too much for her and I ended up having to walk her home, but it was really tough on both of us, especially in the winter.”
According to the Pembina Hills in-town transportation fee schedule, students from Grades 1 to 6 are subject to a $350 transportation fee, which has to be paid in full, before they are allowed to ride the school bus.
“I really am so grateful,” Meunier said, adding that he wanted to thank the school division, the Barrhead Leader and Yellowhead MP Jim Eglinski’s office for the efforts in resolving this issue.
In an effort to be able to pay the school bus transportation fee, Meunier called Yellowhead MP Jim Eglinski’s office to see if his child allowance tax benefit could be sent earlier.
Although the Leader, after talking to Meunier, attempted to contact the Pembina Hills School Division for their side of the story, we were not able to talk to anyone due to a day-long school board administrators meeting, until both Meunier and Garbutt called saying the issue had been resolved.
Meunier said he was especially surprised and happy to hear the school division had waved his transportation fee saying his budget would have been stretched to accommodate the increase even if his child allowance tax benefit would have arrived on time.
“Last year I think I paid $175 and the jump to $350 is a big increase,” he said.
Garbutt said he believed part of the problem that occurred was a communication break down.
“I called him today (Tuesday, Aug. 25) because I didn’t have a good understanding of his circumstances,” he said, adding sometimes what happens in situations is that people will call the school division front office and because of their anxiety over the situation may have difficulty explaining the situation.
Whatever the reason, Garbutt said, he didn’t really understand the situation until he was able to speak to Meunier directly.
“Once I was able to get more of the details and understand the situation fully, we were able to come up with a solution quickly. For her own safety, due to her medical situation, she will be able to take the school bus,” he said. “In situations such as this one we don’t charge a fee. We are here for and about the kids, so this makes perfect sense.”
