FORT ASSINIBOINE — The upcoming Pembina Hills board of trustees meeting on Wednesday, April 17, will likely see trustees revisit a decision made last April regarding transportation of students to schools of choice, which the superintendent warned could have implications for the entire school division.
That's the upshot of a somewhat contentious meeting between Pembina Hills administration and a contingent of about a dozen parents that was held April 3 at the Fort Assiniboine Library.
During that meeting, parents raised their concerns over the board's 2023 decision to only provide transportation to schools of choice (ie. a school outside of the attendance area they are living in) if a student had a religious/language-related reason for attending another school.
As well, the parents brought up a failure on Pembina Hills' part to communicate that they could have applied up until the end of June 2023 to send their children to a school of choice if they were prepared to pay for it.
As outlined in the Education Act, school boards are required to enrol resident students in any school operated by said board if there are sufficient resources and facilities available to accommodate that student.
However, each school has an attendance area with boundaries set out by the board, and for a student to attend a school outside of their attendance area, parents/guardians must follow a process laid out in Administrative Procedure (AP) 50-01.
While the division cannot prevent a student from enroling in a non-designated school without a valid reason, the transportation of those children has always come down to one of two scenarios: either the parent must handle transportation of their child on their own, or they can pay a fee to ride a bus if there is space available.
However, a wrench was thrown into the works last spring, when the province announced changes to the eligibility requirements around funded transportation for students.
After that announcement was made, superintendent Brett Cooper said the Pembina Hills board passed a motion at the April 26, 2023 meeting to only provide school of choice transportation serve to those students currently approved under the provisions of AP 50-01. That motion passed by a 5-1 vote.
As a result of this motion, Pembina Hills committed to only providing bus transportation to students attending non-designated schools for religious reasons or language-related reasons (ie. a child wanting to attend Neerlandia Public Christian School or Barrhead Elementary School for its French Immersion program).
Cooper also noted at the April 3 meeting that assistant superintendent of student services Rob McGarva also had the power to direct students to a non-designated school, and that students would also be provided funded transportation. However, he stressed those decisions are not made at a whim, and usually occur with the input of specialists.
A bus does run from Fort Assiniboine to Barrhead, but its purpose is to transport Grade 10-12 students to Barrhead Composite High School, as well as other students directed to Barrhead for French Immersion or other programming reasons.
Cooper said that the board's decision was not focused solely on one school, but the entire division.
"There are a few schools that we are concerned about that if we open this door (and provide bus transportation for all students to schools of choice), we’ll be having conversations in communities about shutting schools down," he said.
"I’ve been in this division 22 years, and that’s not a conversation that goes well. Ever."
Communication failure
One of the major points of contention at the April 3 meeting was parents being unaware of Pembina Hills deciding to "grandfather" in students who had already submitted their application and paid their fee to attend a school of choice.
Cooper indicated the division felt it was only fair to those parents who had already followed the division's process of requesting a school of choice, as they couldn't have anticipated the government's decision, which even the school division was unaware of until it happened.
Several parents complained they were not made aware of the fact that they could have submitted their application to send their child to another school outside of Fort Assiniboine up until the end of June.
“As a parent, that was not made clear to me," one woman said.
Parents also generally complained about not being made aware of the fact that trustees would be debating the motion regarding transportation to schools of choice at the April 26, 2023 meeting.
Another parent said she had looked up the role of the trustee on the Alberta Teachers Association website and saw that their No. 1 priority is to advocate on behalf of children.
“That is my issue: why are you not advocating for our children?” she asked trustee Melissa Hanna, who was in attendance.
Going to Barrhead
Many parents at the April 3 meeting expressed a desire to send their children to the schools in Barrhead for a variety of reasons, such as getting more involved in sports.
Though Cooper made it clear that this could potentially put the future of Fort Assiniboine's junior high or the entire school at risk, the parents insisted that their priority was getting the best education possible for their children.
“We're all part of this community, and we want this community to strive, but not at the expense of the quality of education our children receive," one parent said.
Cooper ultimately said he was prepared to bring this matter to the April 17 board meeting for the trustees to have a discussion. He also encouraged parents who wished to make a presentation as part of a delegation to contact the secretary-treasurer ahead of the meeting.
When asked if the division would provide compensation to parents if they had to transport their children to Barrhead on their own, Cooper indicated that only occurs in instances when parents have to bring their children into a school division from outside its borders.
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