After a "lengthy" battle to get school bus service reinstated for their son, the Ford family is still facing issues in Surrey.
Like many other families, Brenda Ford was notified at the end of last school year that her son would no longer be bused to school through the Surrey school district's bus service. This decision came down as the board decided to limit the service to only those students with the most complex needs, such as those who are blind, deaf, physically dependent or enroled in a specialized intervention program.
"Channing is not able to walk to school safely, both me and my husband are full-time workers, I work the night shift and we have one vehicle between the two of us, so there鈥檚 no way we could get Channing to and from school every day. We relied on it (the bus service) every single day," Ford told Peace Arch News in an interview.
Her son, who is on the spectrum, was a part of the cuts made to the busing services that the Surrey school district funded for students who needed it, namely those who receive special education assistance.
Last year, 1,050 students were being bused to and from school in Surrey, but this year, that number has seen a steep decline. Surrey Schools' communications representative Rena Heer said this year, only 230 students are being transported to and from school through the district's bus service.
After initially being told the service would end for Channing, Ford's son ended up in the hospital for what was initially thought to be a sprained ankle. But after a cancer scare, two surgeries and having a chemo port inserted, Channing ended up needing a wheelchair and spent nine weeks at BC Children's Hospital.
Now, the high school student has a walking boot and uses a walker for support and has requalified for busing to and from school, after many back and forth emails with the district.
However, the bus service has proven to be less than ideal.
In the mornings, the bus arrives to the Ford home after Channing's first class at 脡cole Salish Secondary has already begun, meaning he misses his entire first class. And after school, the bus picks him up about 40 minutes to an hour after his last class has ended.
"Channing has an EA from bell to bell for coverage for his safety because Channing doesn鈥檛 have any concept of danger. He鈥檚 a flight risk. If he runs out of school, there鈥檚 a language delay, he doesn鈥檛 know how to verbalize his needs or thoughts or wants," Ford explained.
"If he were to run away, we wouldn鈥檛 know where he went, that鈥檚 why we have bell to bell coverage with an EA. ... We can鈥檛 rely on staff to watch him because they鈥檙e off, they鈥檝e done their job, so he needs to be picked up on time."
The mother has gone to several representatives in the school district and the company providing the transportation services for a solution, emails shared with PAN show, but no solution has been forthcoming thus far.
"No parent should have to advocate this intensely for their child鈥檚 safety, education and well-being against the school district. They should have been advocating for our children better," Ford said.
School district superintendent Mark Pearmain, in a previous interview with Peace Arch News, explained that inflation has caused the cuts to be made in the district.
"When it comes to busing, that鈥檚 not something that鈥檚 actually funded as a mandatory part of our budget, so it鈥檚 coming out of operating," Pearmain said.
"Busing still continues for our most complex kids, so we continue to do that this year, and we continue to support them as much as we can, but we recognize that for some of our families, it鈥檚 been a change of practice."
Channing's mother said she has been speaking with several other families who were cut from the district's busing service, emphasizing how much this change is affecting the community. She feels that disabilities are being ranked from most to least important with how the cuts with busing have been implemented.
"When Channing used to get picked up, the bus was full, but now it鈥檚 Channing and one other student from the whole school," Ford said.
"The kids need this, they absolutely need this."
