Weber School fighting to retain school bus route

Karen Phelps, interim principal at Weber School, believes losing the Akitio bus run will impact not just the families in the area, but also the school. Photo / Leanne Warr

Staff and parents at a country school are pleading for compassion from the Ministry of Education as it decides the future of one school bus run.

Karen Phelps, interim principal at Weber School, held a meeting to inform parents and anyone with an interest in the school that the ministry was proposing stopping the bus route to Akitio, because there was less than the required number of students.

Under the transport policy, there must be a minimum of eight students on the run, but currently there are only four.

The school was asked in August to provide a snapshot of how many children were on each bus run and Phelps was told there were not enough children on the Akitio run.

She was told part of the route could be added to the Herbertville run, but that would mean children needing to catch this bus would have to be at the stop at 7.30 in the morning instead of around 8am.

That would also mean the children wouldn’t get home until well after 4pm.

The Ministry of Education says there aren't enough children on the Akitio bus.

There was concern among those at the meeting that the younger children, especially those aged 5 and those with specific health needs, would not be able to cope with the extra travel time required.

In a submission to the ministry, Phelps said the change would severely impact the families already on the run, and this meant those living on River Road and any future families gaining employment on farms in the area.

This would also impact the numbers of students at the school, she said.

She also questioned whether there would be any guarantee of future considerations - possibly reinstating the route should the numbers increase to the requirement.

In a submission, one parent said that Cyclone Gabrielle in February had a huge impact on families in the area.

The damage and loss had put a lot of financial strain on families.

“The mental health load of these circumstances makes no school bus another blow,” the parent said. “While we understand we are not meeting numbers, we hope you can use compassion in making this decision.”

While there was conveyance funding available, parents believed it wouldn’t be enough to cover the costs of travel, as well as the amount of time away from the farm.

The distance from Akitio to Weber School was 43km and according to the ministry, the funding available for one child per day was $4.72. Parents with more than one child could get up to a maximum of around $24.

One supporter, who had previously had children at Weber School, as well as driven the Akitio bus, said there were a number of properties in the area where the labour units were always changing - the point being that the numbers of bus users would fluctuate.

It was felt the ministry also needed to consider families who had children who would be attending Weber School in a year or two.

Tararua District Mayor Tracey Collis said she had gone to Kieran McAnulty, as the district’s MP, the Minister for Rural Communities and the local cyclone recovery lead, and requested that he put a stop to it for at least one year.

“Based on the fact that this community cannot have that added pressure,” she said, “the ministry needs to understand the impact on a community like this.”

James Meffan, group manager of school transport for the Ministry of Education, said school bus routes were designed around the locations of eligible students and aimed to transport as many of those as efficiently as possible.

“Over time, eligible students and their families do move into or out of areas, which means that our school bus routes need to be adjusted to accommodate the changes,” he said.

An audit was conducted in May this year on school bus services and a meeting was held with Weber School on August 23 to discuss the proposal to terminate the Akitio run due to low patronage.

The school was given until September 15 to make submissions on the proposal, which would go before the ministry’s Route Review Committee on September 20 for a final decision.

“If our committee accepts the recommendation to cancel the school bus, the route will be terminated at the end of 2023 school year,” Meffan said.

“If the ministry determines that a route is not viable due to low patronage, the eligible students may be able to apply for a conveyance allowance to assist with their transport costs.”

Leanne Warr is editor of the Bush Telegraph and has been a journalist on and off since 1996 when she joined the Levin Chronicle, before moving on to other publications. She re-joined NZME in June 2021.