If your child takes the school bus to grandma's place or a child-care centre after school, the company that runs the buses in the Halifax area is making changes that could force you to make changes too.
And some parents are not happy with the changes -- or the way they're finding out about them.
Tasha Comeau has kids of her own, but also looks after other children at her house after school.
Some get dropped off at her house after school by the bus, but she’s concerned how that will play out next year.
The concern comes from a letter sent to parents last week from Stock Transportation. It outlines a number of changes coming to the bussing system in the Halifax area and one change in particular sticks out: that a child can only be dropped off at one primary address.
“I have two part-time kids that will only come here two or three days a week,” Comeau said. “So they'll have their residence and my residence, but if this new thing passes that won't be able to be the case.”
It was also a concern among parents with custody agreements, but the Halifax Regional School Board confirmed Monday that they've found a way to accommodate those transportation requests.
“They were getting some information that wasn't exactly accurate, only because we ourselves are new in terms of understanding the software that stock is putting in place for September,” said school board spokesman Doug Hadley.“We don't want parents to believe that they're going to have something, that they've always had, taken away from them.”
He says if a child needs to go to another residence for after-school care, or if they go to a mother’s place for half the week and then a father’s home for the other half, that can be accommodated, so long as they're planned well beforehand. He says a last minute change cannot be accommodated.
Patricia Sabourin also gives after-school care to several students. She wonders if more buses are needed to allow for all accommodations.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Brown.
