Stock Transportation has hired security officers to keep an eye on students at 15 Halifax-area schools until their teachers arrive at work.
The Halifax Regional School Board says changes to bus schedules have resulted in students arriving before teachers.
“We have in some cases some schools where students are arriving to class late, so we've asked Stock Transportation, our bus provider, to address that issue,” says school board spokesperson Doug Hadley. “One of the ways that they've been able to come forward and address the issue in 15 of our schools is us to implement some earlier arrival times.”
Monday morning, students at Harry R. Hamilton Elementary School arrived to school between 7:35 and 7:50. But teachers aren’t required to be there until 7:40, so Hadley says some students would have been left unattended without the security guards.
“It's a measure that's going to be in place between now and June, and we expect over the next few days they'll get to know these people by name. It'll be the same person, and hopefully they'll just become part of the school community,” says Hadley.
But it’s not sitting well with some parents.
“I think our children aren't prisoners. They shouldn’t have security guards watching them,” says parent Sarah Fitzgerald.
“I would rather teachers, but if they aren't going to be here, if that's what they have to do to protect my kids, then that's fine with me. But of course, the kids would prefer teachers too,” says another parent.
The school board says it was a solution Stock Transportation brought forward, and the busing company will be the ones footing the bill.
The Nova Scotia Department of Education says they're aware of the adjustment, and that it's "not unusual for outside supervisory services to be used at schools" when they may be needed.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Brown.
