(Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Lethbridge School Division looks to hire private firm for bussing

May 27, 2020 | 1:14 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – School busses in Lethbridge will likely be run by an independent company in the near future.

Back in December 2019, LNN reported that the City of Lethbridge sought to sever its school bus partnership with both the Lethbridge School Division and Holy Spirit Catholic School Division.

At the time, Mayor Chris Spearman cited expensive liability as his primary concern.

Since then, Lethbridge School Division Board Chair Clark Bosch says they reached out to consulting firm Evans Safety Solutions to look into what their options would be for a new bussing system.

The most feasible option is to contract out.

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“The summary of the document suggests that, if you’re not in the business already, you shouldn’t really be considering going into that business. Hire people to do that as their sole business.”

According to Bosch, the list of things they would have to do to set up their own in-house system is “monstrous”.

That would include hiring people, having maintenance shops and equipment, and purchasing large amounts of land to store the busses. The consultants discovered that there is a shortage of bus drivers and mechanics who are trained to work on them.

When we spoke to Superintendent Cheryl Gilmore last winter, she was worried that hiring a private company with their own profit motive would have been too expensive and would likely result in parents having to pay extra fees.

While Bosch admits that there are still plenty of unknowns at this point, the division appears to have changed their tune a little after seeing what other districts have done.

“In the feasibility study, they have a lot of examples of school divisions that have been faced with that very decision and none of them have found themselves to regret going with a private provider.”

“I don’t know if that lead to fees or not. I know that their discussion was going private could lead to fees, and if it does, I guess it will, but it’s too early to understand where in the fray that will be.”

The Lethbridge School Division, working alongside Holy Spirit, will be putting out requests for proposals in the near future.

The City of Lethbridge will stop providing bussing services in July 2021, so the school boards will have to have something in place for the fall 2021 semester.