When Anne DeBruin goes to sleep at night, she worries about a 6 a.m. email from the South Shore Regional Centre for Education [SSRCE] saying her son and daughter’s school bus is cancelled. “It’s a huge impact,” she says. “I arrive late to work, and then I have to leave work early – usually 2.5 hours early – I have to go to Petite [Rivière] from work in Bridgewater and then come back to Hebbville to get my daughter.” “SSRCE is currently experiencing a higher-than-normal number of absences and as well as staffing shortage to cover these absences,” a spokesperson told CTV News in an email Friday. Overall, DeBruin’s kids’ daily routes have been cancelled four times since classes started six weeks ago, including yesterday. But when her kids have extracurriculars, it makes it even more challenging, as she has experienced already. “They both had school at the same time because my daughter had band,” she says. That forced her to decide which of them would go to school that day because she couldn’t feasibly get them to their separate schools on time. School bus drivers are employees of the South Shore Regional Centre for Education; they do not work for a contracted company. The centre emailed parents yesterday, calling the situation an “urgent issue” they’re working to solve, adding that finding replacement drivers for absences is challenging. But DeBruin wonders why the problem wasn’t addressed before the school year started. “I don’t feel like they feel it’s an urgent issue at all,” she says. “I’m really scared for the rest of the school year.” No one from the South Shore Regional Centre for Education was made available for an interview on Friday, but a spokesperson told CTV News in an email that, to date, just under two per cent of the runs – or 49 routes – have been cancelled so far this year. “Because the primary underlying issue is a staffing shortage, SSRCE is currently leading a hiring and training blitz for school bus drivers,” a spokesperson said. “We are also actively recruiting more drivers, with training ongoing throughout the year to ensure drivers are available as soon as possible as well as exploring all options to reduce and cover absences.” One round of driver training finishes next week, and another session begins the following week. The centre acknowledged the “challenge this presents to parents and is actively working to address the problem.” It’s also considering reorganizing bus routes to reduce the number of required daily runs. “This would reduce the impact of the staffing shortage and mean that fewer routes would have to be cancelled,” the statement reads. But DeBruin remains concerned about what’s to come. “I have zero confidence; every night I wonder if I’m going to have to call in to work or lose extra hours,” she says. She now has to worry about a potential school support staff strike that could happen later this month, which SSRCE told parents would impact custodial, trades and transportation staff. Negotiations between eight Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) locals and the province’s English and French school boards to reach renewed collective agreements have not been successful. The union plans to strike on Oct. 26 if a deal can’t be reached, although no formal notice has been filed. -With files from CTV Atlantic’s Natalie Lombard For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
