Salmon Valley joins Bear Lake without morning bus service

“They are working diligently to come up with a solution for it, and we should know by Friday what the solution is.”

Those were the words of School District 57 Assistant Superintendent Lee Karpenko last week on Tuesday, October 25th.

Friday, October 28th, has come and gone, and parents in Bear Lake are still waiting for a bus and a solution.

Jennifer Reimer, who has become a reluctant spokesperson for the parents and students in Bear Lake, said that things have gotten worse, not better.

“Now, it is not just Bear Lake,” she said. “It is everywhere from Bear Lake to Salmon Valley, that whole north run” is without morning bus service this week.

Afternoon busses returning to Bear Lake have continued, as they have all year, but getting to school in the morning has been a series of inconsistent carpools with parents able to make the drive.

“There still isn’t a resolution or an end in sight, if this is actually going to get fixed or not,” she said.

For a brief moment last week, the Bear Lake families had hope.

First Student, the bus company, sent out an email saying there would be no Bear Lake bus coverage from October 31st to November 4th in the morning.

“But then on Sunday (October 30th) night, we got an email from the school district saying ‘this is the new time, they should be in Bear Lake by 6:58, they are going to start November 1st, and this will be running for the rest of the year.'”

Happily, Reimer drove her kids into town for what she thought would be the final time while another parent phoned First Student to confirm the route.

“First Student had no idea that the district sent this email out. They didn’t know why they sent it out in the first place, because there is not a bus driver now to run route two this week. We have no idea what is going on, again.”

Since this email was sent out on Sunday, Reimer says that she and other parents have not been able to contact the school district.

She said communication from First Student has not been much better.

“First Student was being very very vague on what was going on. Every time we asked something, they would say ‘we are working on it.’ Working on what? What are you trying to do? I want a solution, you are supposed to be picking my kids up.”

Even today, Reimer said the miscommunications continue.

“Some people got an email about route three not running this afternoon” – the route that takes students back to Bear Lake – “I went to drop my Kindergartener off this morning, and her teacher also said it. When the bus showed up I ran over and asked her, and she said she was running. So why am I getting emails saying you are not? There is so much that is so confusing and nobody knows what is going on anymore.”

Reimer said her kids have missed between seven and nine days so far this year, and she is afraid that especially her kids in high school, are falling behind as a result.

“It is our kids that are losing the education that they need. [They] can’t be missing too much, or they are going to fall behind. It is discouraging to know that, because of this, [they] might have to re-do some stuff.”

To School District 57 and First Student, Reimer says directly: “it is unacceptable. You’re not providing the service that you are supposed to be doing.”

On Tuesday, School District 57 did not respond to our requests for comment.

This continued Bear Lake cancelation is one of an ongoing series of issues that the school district and First Student have had since the school year started under two months ago.

48 hours before the first day of school, First Student said that several drivers quit their positions, leaving them heavily short-staffed.

A Blackburn family said their second-grade son was dropped off in the middle of a high-speed, rural road in early September.

And the start of this Bear Lake saga (also linked in the second line) that saw the northern community abruptly cut off from bus service, which even drew the attention of Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Mike Morris.