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Speak Up

A provincial interdepartmental working group has called for better vehicles, better tires and tires suited for the climate, more enforcement, and greater accountability in the transportation of students to and from "extracurricular" activities. As noted here before, it is a sad matter that eight people had to die before anyone in Fredericton took this issue seriously or realized that something could go amiss.

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But the Department of Education should be transporting students on extracurricular activities, not depending on volunteers for the job.

An RCMP report determined the 11-year-old van carrying the Bathurst High School basketball team rode on balding all-season tires, had brake problems and holes in the bodywork. The highway was covered in slush and there was light freezing rain, making driving conditions very poor. Neither vehicle was speeding when the van skidded into the path of the transport truck. It was a horrible accident, but there are steps the province can and should take to help prevent this terrible tragedy from happening again.

For decades, the province has shirked its responsibility for transporting students to sporting events or other extracurricular activities. That responsibility fell to parents, the volunteers involved in the activities or community groups. In the case of Bathurst, a non-profit company was set up by school administrators to operate the three vans used by the school. It should not be the duty of school principals or teachers to become fleet transportation specialists. But, what else could school officials do when the province refuses to provide after-school transportation?

It is accepted that the provincial responsibility for students doesn't start and end at the school door. The province has a comprehensive bus network to transport students who do not live close to the schools, and the provincial accountability for students starts when they enter a school bus. It is silly to pretend the province does not have a stake in students getting to and from a sporting event safely when they are representing the school at a school-approved activity.

It is a waste of taxpayers' money to use large 70-passenger school busses to ferry a basketball team or a volleyball squad to a tournament. The province should invest in a fleet of smaller school buses and hammer out a contract with bus drivers to provide transportation for extracurricular activities.

If that is too cumbersome, put out a tender and let private industry contract a safe, professional service for N.B. students. Charge the teams a portion of these fees.

It will certainly be more expensive than the current volunteer system, but the province should accept responsibility for providing safe and effective transportation for all school-related activities.