Kristen Niemi is the Director of Education for the Renfrew County District School Board. (RCDSB photo)
The director of the Renfrew County District School board says she shares the frustrations of families as the disruption in school bus service continues for the second week.
We connected with Kristen Niemi after the first week of school.
Niemi tells myFM that student safety is top priority and that she is grateful for the support of all who are contributing to managing through the contract dispute between school bus operators and the Renfrew County Joint Transportation Consortium.
She said she understands how much of a challenge the situation presents to all involved.
Managing the situation has been an all-hands-on-deck endeavour.
There were some significant delays during drop-off and pickup times last week and staff are adjusting, working with families and implementing additional measures as needed, said Niemi.
Among the biggest worry is how the service disruption will affect student learning, particularly for those who may have to miss school altogether.
Niemi said attendance is being closely monitored and data is very preliminary, said Niemi, but on the first two days of school there was a 97 per cent attendance rate (Wednesday), and 95 per cent attendance rate on day two (Thursday).
Essentially, about one-to-two per cent of students are missing because of transportation and one-to-three per cent for other reasons, she noted.
Staff are working to identify the students who are not able to get to school so they can put individual support plans into place for them and starting this week synchronous remote learning is being set up for students who have connectivity, meaning students can download their work. For those without connectivity, work packages are being provided.
In terms of negotiations, Niemi said there is still communication going on between the two sides, which is a good thing.
She noted that the school boards did advocate for increased funding and an extra $2 million was provided, offered and turned down. She reiterated the consortium’s point that extra funds for bus operators would have a negative impact on students.
(Written by Sherry Haaima)