City of Lethbridge School Buses near Wilson Middle School 

By Lara Fominoff

School Districts ‘well aware’ of discussions to potentially cut ties with City on busing, says Mayor

Nov 26, 2019 | 3:38 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman says both the Holy Spirit and Public School Divisions should be looking to Medicine Hat and Red Deer for advice on how to run school buses at little to no cost to parents and taxpayers.

That, after councillors voted unanimously Monday evening, not to renew the service contract between the City of Lethbridge and both school divisions as part of sweeping recommendations by consultants KPMG, in the Phase One Fiscal and Operational Review Report. The city had been running services for about 50 years and the school districts say they were neither consulted nor advised of the path council was likely to take.

Spearman told reporters Tuesday afternoon the school divisions should not be fear mongering and that the money provided to the city for school bus services would simply be kept by the divisions so they can take over.

The school districts contend that the model- which is the only one of its kind in North America – was touted as one to aspire to provincially, and as a model other regions are/were looking to implement in some capacity. Spearman disagreed.

“It’s kind of like a whole regiment walking, and one-person out of step and claiming everybody else is out of step,” he explained. “I would say the school boards need to accept their responsibility. We will work with them to have that orderly transition. We’re very disappointed that they’re alarming parents.”

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City Manager Bramwell Strain told council Monday the city has run the service as a ‘cost recovery’ operation, and liability issues are a concern – meaning if anything happened to a child using the service, the City of Lethbridge would bear ultimate responsibility. As for whether liability was a concern in previous decades?

“Awards now are higher,” Spearman said. “And corporate entities like cities are seen by the courts to have bottomless pockets and so it’s a risk we’re not prepared to take anymore.”

In addition to the above concerns, the KPMG report includes information indicating that training all drivers and paying to complete a Class 2 license could be costly, along with securing additional property to maintain and house an expanding school bus fleet.

Bottom line, said the Mayor, is that school districts have about nine months to figure out how to run school busing services for students.

“I think we have to look at the advice we’ve been given. When you’re given advice to get out of a business, and I think we have to take that very seriously.”

He added that he is ‘astounded’ nine months notice is not enough time for the transition to take place.

“They’ve got from Dec. 1 to Sept. next year to arrange for transportation. I’m amazed that they can’t do it. If they’re looking for advice, they might want to contact other school boards to figure out how they’re doing it.”

Spearman also cautioned that “to signal without even contemplating the process that it’s going to cost $300 to $500 more I think, is a bad business approach.”

Representatives of both the Catholic and Public School Divisions are expected to make a presentation to the Community Issues Committee Monday, Dec.2