Stoney Creek parents riled by Bishop Ryan school bus changes

Alisa Infanti says she isn't about to go into the mist quietly" on a decision to kick her kids off the school bus to Bishop Ryan Catholic Secondary School this September.

The upper Stoney Creek mom recently got a letter informing her that her daughter Olivia only qualified for the bus due to a lack of municipal infrastructure," and is losing her spot now that improvements have been made.

Olivia and her brother, who starts Grade 9 in September, face a three-kilometre walk to Bishop Ryan on Rymal Road - within the 3.2-kilometre maximum set by the Catholic and public school boards, who contract buses through a jointly run consortium.

Both boards agreed to review exemptions to the policy - typically for safety reasons, like lack of sidewalks - to help address a persistent driver shortage that's made it difficult to get students to and from school on time.

Infanti and others living near her home by the corner of Astra Street and Paramount Drive are livid, arguing that asking their kids to cross three major intersections to get to Bishop Ryan is neither reasonable nor safe.

It's a 38-minute walk. School start time is at 8. The kids have to be on the road walking just after 7 in the morning, in the dark, rain, snow, whatever, to get to school," Infanti said.

There's no city bus, and even if there were a city bus, do they think we're just going to absorb a $100-per-month cost per kid?"

But Catholic board chair Pat Daly said although the driver shortage prompted the review, students who had exemptions for circumstances that no longer exist are now being treated the same as others already walking up to 3.2-km.

It was a matter of fairness as well as trying to alleviate the bus driver shortages," he said.

Louis Agro, the area's trustee, said he's received many complaints and is offering to help parents appeal the change to the consortium, Hamilton-Wentworth Student Transportation Services.

He acknowledged trustees, not the consortium, approved removing the exemption, but said he abstained when the issue came to a vote.

I'm certainly not happy with the reasons they're giving," Agro said. Especially in the wintertime with the cold, you can't expect them to walk that distance in the cold and freezing weather."