The Saskatchewan Rivers School Division has made some administrative procedure (AP) changes to simplify the bus cancellations policy and transportation and attendance area policies.
The changes were approved by the board of education during the regular meeting on Sept. 8. Director of education Neil Finch explained that with the bus cancellations policy, the changes reflected a language change. He said that for AP it is best to have broad enough language that the policy is always in compliance.
“And if it’s too narrow and too specific, sometimes it brings you outside of compliance when you have to make a decision, especially when it comes to student safety,” Finch said.
Finch explained that to make the language more compliant the word noon was changed to midday in one of the parts of the procedure.
“And last winter taught us some lessons, I’ll give you an example, it might be two in the afternoon, and a storm starts setting in and you need to get students on the road and get them home safely before the storm really settles in.
The passage now reads ‘The Director or designate will announce morning bus cancellations or school closures by 6:30 a.m. Midday cancellations caused by deteriorating conditions or other unforeseen events will be announced as early as reasonably possible.
“According to our AP, we would be late on what that cancellation would be because of the noon language, but midday allows us flexibility to ensure student safety that forefront,” Finch said.
The language ‘as early as reasonably possible’ replaced ‘as soon as the decision is made. Finch explained that the new language keeps the division in compliance but also allows for more flexibility.
“(It) Gives you the ability to make good decisions based on student safety,” Finch explained.
The other language changes in the AP were regarding attendance areas. Finch explained that the word changes made it so the policy aligned with the current practice but was not in writing. The language changed to have students living in a rural Pre-K to Grade 12 transportation area be a minimum of 48 months old, whereas the old language stated 42 months old.
“That was just aligning the practice, but wasn’t actually written in there, but aligns with other safety languages,” Finch said.
Finch said that it changed the language in such a way as to suit what was already happening.
“It’s just additional language to capture what’s happening already,” Finch said.
AP is dealt with as a consent item and passed by the board as administrative changes are necessary.
