Busing policy puts children at risk, parents claim

Parents in central Newfoundland protested Thursday, saying their children are being kicked to the curb by the plan to strictly enforceschool busing policy.

A long-standing English School District rule states that anyone living within 1.6 km of their school is ineligible for busing, and come September, the board says there will be no exceptions.

"It's not safe for the kids," said Gregory Cutler, a father of two from Centreville-Wareham-Trinity. "We don't have sidewalks for our kids to walk on. We don't have crosswalks."

Cutler helped organize a protest in front of the community school Thursday morning. Around 60 other students and parents joined him, signs in hand.

Terry Hall, an NLESD assistant director of education, told CBCNews last week that the board was striving for "consistency" and wanted to treat all regions the same.

• School district cracking down on distance rule for busing

But Cutler said that small rural towns like Centreville can't be looked at in the same way as St. John's.

Road shoulders, for instance, can be covered in snow during the winter,forcing pedestrians to walk in the middle of the road, said Cutler.

He's also concerned about wildlife, specifically coyotes. His kids sometimes aren't allowed to go into the schoolyard for recess because of the animals.

"But now it's going to be okay for us to have our kids walk to school?"

Cutler said the board needs to look at each community on a case-by-case basis, not "try to make it equal for everybody, 'cause it's not equal."

Who's calling the shots?

It's unclear to Cutler and the Centreville parent council whether the school board or the government is enforcing the rule.

He said in a meeting with Centreville's MHA, he was told the NLESD was responsible for the decision. However, during the protest Thursday morning, school representatives told him it was the government's doing.

The council wants a second meeting with the MHA to clarify the matter and determine how to proceed.

"We are going to fight this as much as we can to get our point across to the board that they need to reevaluate their stance on this," said Cutler."To get this rule changed for the safety of our kids."