Blackfalds mother hits dead end after daughter's busing application rejected

A mother in Blackfalds, Alta. has to find a new way to get her nine-year-old daughter to school after guidelines set by the province made her ineligible for busing.

When registering her daughter for busing, Jolene Van Vliet wrote her home address on the application believing the bus would take her daughter between school and the day home without issue. 

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"Students who are eligible for Yellow School Bus must reside over one kilometre from their primary residence to their catchment school," Van Vliet told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday, who lives less than one kilometre from her daughter's school.

A statement from Ryan Ledene, the associate superintendent for Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools (RDCRS), stated that "transportation eligibility for students is determined based on their primary residence, and not their day home address."

Ledene said the RDCRS "recently implemented changes to reduce the walking distance for students from their homes to school, lowering the limit from 1.6 kilometre to one kilometre for students up to Grade 6."

Jolene Van Vliet holding an e-mail rejection letter for her daughter's busing application for school on Aug. 22, 2024. (Nicole Weisberg/CTV News Edmonton)According to Van Vliet, they picked their day home based on that criteria before finding out about her daughter's ineligibility for busing.

"It's incredibly challenging to find childcare, especially for before and after school care," she said. "We had numerous interviews, and we did find a day home that was a wonderful match for our family – it was 1.6 kilometres from our catchment school."

When Van Vliet's application was rejected, she spoke with friends and family about other avenues they could approach.

They recommended that she use the day home's address as the primary as a work-around solution. That application was also rejected.

CTV News Edmonton reached out to the Ministry of Education regarding the mother's concern.

"Alberta's government requires school boards to provide transportation to and from a student’s primary residence. Student transportation provided by a school board to a secondary location, such as an out-of-school care site, is not a requirement of the province," said press secretary Kevin Lee in a statement.

Lee's statement went on to say "if a school board is to provide transportation service to a secondary location they would determine if a student is eligible for transportation service to and from the location."

St. Gregory The Great Catholic School located in Blackfalds, Alta. on Aug. 22, 2024. (Nicole Weisberg/CTV News Edmonton)

Van Vliet said reducing the distance for students' eligibility is a step forward but sees the oversight in the decision as it "does not include eligibility for all students who would need to access before and after school care from a day home."

When she reached out to her MLA regarding the issue, she was told that it couldn't be "easily changed from a divisional level" and would need to be brought forth to the province.

"All children should have equal access to transportation to and from school, regardless if they are being picked up from their home or being picked up from their childcare provider, it's important for children to be able to access education free of barriers," said Van Vliet.

The first day of classes for Van Vliet's daughter is Sept. 3.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Nicole Weisberg.