High absenteeism at public secondary schools in Lambton-Kent during inclement weather has forced the Lambton-Kent District School Board (LKDSB) to change its student transportation policy.
The public school board announced on Tuesday that effective immediately all secondary students attending a school in a zone where school buses are cancelled will learn virtually regardless of whether they ride a bus to school or not. The secondary schools will also be closed to in-person learning during snow days, a departure from the previous policy.
"If buses are cancelled for the bus zone in which the school is located, all LKDSB secondary students who attend that school will engage in remote learning on that day," read a school board statement.
The board said too many high school students were missing school on bus cancellation days and made the decision to change the policy after careful consideration and consultation.
"The LKDSB considered this transition after reviewing examples from other school boards and decided to implement this change for secondary schools only. While we recognize that there may be times when there will be weather-related bus cancellations due to inclement weather during the school year, we are concerned about the lack of attendance on dates when school buses are cancelled, as the number of students absent on those dates is significant," said the public school board in a statement. "With the quadmester timetable for students, for which students participate in one course per day on alternating weeks with two courses during a quadmester, we hope to engage as many students as possible in remote learning on bus cancellation dates."
The board added there's typically higher attendance rates in elementary schools on bus cancellation dates, which may be attributed to a variety of reasons, and that's why the current bus cancellation practice will remain in place for public elementary schools. Elementary schools will stay open to students for in-person learning on days the buses are cancelled.
The school board added the ability for staff and students to transition to remote online learning has significantly improved and all secondary teachers have been asked to develop an online presence to facilitate student learning. The public school board also said it will continue to work with families who don't have reliable Internet service to make sure those students have equitable access.
The board's public relations officer Heather Hughes said if a single bus is cancelled or delayed in that school's zone because of fog for example, then the secondary school would remain open to students for in-class learning. LKDSB also said if buses in other zones for a school are cancelled, but the buses in the zone where the school is located are operating, the secondary school will remain open for in-person learning.
Secondary students will receive instructions to transition to remote, teacher-led virtual learning when buses are cancelled.
Parents and guardians who have a specific question about their child, can contact their school principal. Click here to find individual bus zones for each secondary school. School bus cancellations can be found by clicking here.
The St. Clair Catholic District School Board is reviewing its policy but Education Director Deb Crawford said the new public school board policy wouldn't work for her schools. Crawford said closing the two regional high schools in Chatham and in Sarnia would shutdown one-eighth of the board. She said her team is meeting the week of March 22 to discuss ways to make subtle changes to the snow days policy.