On June 27, Regina Public Schools and Regina Catholic Schools announced that they have agreed to participate in a joint transportation pilot for the 2018-19 school year. Regina Board of Education, Katherine Gagne and her Catholic Board counterpart, Rob Bresciani made the official announcement at École St. Elizabeth, which is a joint school with École Wascana Plains School. Students going to these two schools will participate in this pilot project. Regina Catholic Schools will be providing the transportation services.
A number of adjustments will need to be made for the 2018-19 school year to help make this pilot project successful. These include:
- École Wascana Plains School students will start and finish eight minutes earlier (8:45 AM to 3:29 PM) than was the case this year;
- École St. Elizabeth School students will start and finish five minutes later than this year; (8:50 AM to 3:25 PM)
- Pick-up and drop-off times may vary from this school year with, in most cases, pick-up times being earlier; and
- All students eligible for transportation will be required to walk to collector stops for pick-up by the bus.
Student safety and the importance of reliable transportation were the first issues taken into account by Regina Public Schools and Regina Catholic Schools officials. They also worked on not creating unnecessary disruption to school families. The key aims for this pilot project are to:
- Reduce overall transportation costs, which allows for the reallocation of these savings to frontline supports, including teachers and educational assistants;
- Limit bus traffic down city streets; and
- Reduce emissions due to a reduction in the number of buses used each school day.
Regina Catholic Schools buses will be providing transportation services to approximately 150 École Wascana Plains School students who reside within the current Regina Public Schools transportation zone. Those students will join the approximately 410 École St. Elizabeth students who will be transported during this pilot project.
