Education
November 16, 2012

Proposals Sought for School Transportation Review

The Provincial Government has issued a Request for Proposals for an independent consultant to review and evaluate provincial school transportation policies and guidelines.

“The focus of the consultant’s work will be to review current policies and practices and determine how to enhance school transportation services within existing budgets,” said the Honourable Clyde Jackman, Minister of Education. “Almost $48 million is currently spent on school transportation services each year – getting our students to and from their zoned schools in a safe and reliable manner. It is incumbent on us to determine whether that system is running as efficiently and effectively as possible, and what changes may be made to improve the existing service in both urban and rural areas of the province.”

The review will include an evaluation of service delivery models, school busing eligibility zones, courtesy seating arrangements, the delivery of driver training programs, an examination into the relative benefits of surveillance cameras and other technological equipment designed to enhance student safety, and more.

“Student safety will always be the primary objective of all school busing operations,” said Minister Jackman. “The bottom line is that we want to see how we can do things better, and what improvements may be made to ensure we continue to meet the needs of our students.”

The consultant’s work will involve a review of programs in other jurisdictions, including data collection and analysis of the current programs, policies and practices.

This evaluation follows recent improvements to policies related to the transportation of special needs students and new guidelines introduced to strengthen the standards for use of private vehicles to transport students.

Information on current school busing policies and guidelines can be viewed at: www.ed.gov.nl.ca/edu/k12/busing/index.html.

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Media contact:
Heather May
Director of Communications
Department of Education
709-729-0048, 697-5061
heathermay@gov.nl.ca

2012 11 16                       12:25 p.m.