Come September students from Grades 2 to 8 in the Wellington Catholic District School Board will be eligible for buses when they live more than 1.6km away from their school.
In past years Grade 2 to 8 students were only eligible for buses when they lived 2.4km away, while junior kindergarten to Grade 1 students were eligible at the 1.6km mark.
The change was made primarily to provide consistency across all grades and for families with multiple elementary-aged students, said WCDSB superintendent of corporate services Tracy McLennan.
“If you had, in particular, a child in between JK to one and you had an older sibling who needed to be home after school to look after that child they may not be eligible for busing but the younger child would be on the bus,” she said.
With just one walking distance all elementary students from the same family will be eligible to bus together regardless of their grade.
McLennan said this would impact 146 students and would cost the board approximately $90,000 a year. “So it will probably equate to a couple of (additional) buses,” she said.
The new 1.6km walking distance was ratified at the May 4 board meeting and will be implemented in September.
