TUESDAY NOVEMBER 3, 2015
PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT
MLA REPORT
Macdonald on document shredding. See LOCAL NEWS page 3
WILDSIGHT EVENT
WILD & SCENIC FILM FEST
See LOCAL NEWS page 3
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THE BULLETIN PROUDLY SERVING KIMBERLEY AND AREA SINCE 1932 | Vol. 83, Issue 209 | www.dailybulletin.ca
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SD6 trying to sort out which students are ‘courtesy riders’ in Kimberley Zone
C AROLYN GR ANT Bulletin Editor
Administration at Rocky Mountain School District No. 6 have been wrestling with a few school bus issues this year — from parents at Sheep Creek upset at the cancellation of a bus route, to parents from TaTa Creek concerned about over crowding. Now a Kimberley parent is questioning why the Board is contacting parents and asking them to designate whether their child is a courtesy rider or not. Rochelle Corneliuson says she doesn’t like the term ‘courtesy rider’. “As far as I’m concerned that means your child can be booted off the bus and forced to walk,” she said. “Don’t they have a right to transportation to school?” Corneliuson says she was surprised to learn that in fact students don’t have that right. The Board’s transportation policy states that “Where there are sufficient students to justify the service and where road conditions are suitable for school buses, school bus transportation may be provided for students who reside within the school district boundary and who live a considerable distance from the nearest school.” That distance is four kilo-
metres. “Annually, at the beginning of each school year, parents of students who are not eligible for school bus service and would like their children to ride a school bus are to request permission in writing (i.e. email) from the Operations Supervisor for their child to ride the school bus as a courtesy rider,” says Steve Jackson, Director of Operations for SD6. “In Kimberley, we have been contacting parents and asking them to do this, because it is a requirement of Board Policy 3600 and many parents were dropping off or sending their children to bus stops without the appropriate policy process being followed. In these calls we have been taking the time to explain the policy and answer questions. Across our district there are hundreds of courtesy ride requests and to manage this across our system we rely on the cooperation of parents. “Once we receive the courtesy ride requests every effort is made to expedite processing, however these requests may not be approved until September 30th. Until approval is granted, parents/guardians must provide transportation for their child.” Corneliuson says that most Kimberley students are within the four K limit, but not all. “When Blarchmont School was closed we were allowed to choose which school we would send our kids to,” she said. If you send your child to Marysville even if Lindsay Park is closer, your child is considered a courtesy rider, she says. That has caused some confusion, Jackson agrees. “In Kimberley there are no identified catchment areas for Marysville and Lindsay Park Elementary schools.
JOHN ALLEN PHOTO
The first Home Grown Coffee House of the season took place at Centre 64 on Saturday, October 24. Above Tamara Sonntag performs. See more from Home Grown later this week in the Bulletin.
Mine rescue competition officially awarded to Kimberley for 2016 and 2017 C AROLYN GR ANT Bulletin Editor
Kimberley will be hosting some high profile events in the next few years. In addition to the 2018 BC 55 Plus Games, which will be hosted jointly by Kimberley/Cranbrook, Kimberley has just been officially informed that they have been chosen to host the Provincial Mine Rescue competitions in 2016 and 2017. The 2016 competition date has been set for June 4. Coun. Albert Hoglund says it should be a good event and he is pleased to see See BUS, page 3 Kimberley’s mining history acknowl-
edged despite the fact that the Sullivan Mine has not operated since 2001. Mayor Don McCormick says that Fernie recently held a similar event, which was a success. However, Kimberley will need to be diligent about finances for the event, he said. British Columbia’s mining laws require that trained mine rescue personnel and mine rescue equipment be maintained at all mines. Basic mine rescue training courses are conducted at mining properties across the province so that miners have an opportuni-
ty to learn the skills mine rescue teams require. Once the basic skills are learned, many hours of training and practice are needed to develop a competent mine rescue team that can work together and with other teams to accomplish rescue objectives in the event of a mine disaster. It has been suggested that the old Watkins School site would be a good location for the competition as it would be highly visible and accessible for Kimberley residents who wish to watch the competition.