gŏđŏ editionap.ca Upper Canada school board reviews student busing policies
at Kemptville Public School fell asleep while on the morning bus run. The child was left behind when all the other students had gotten off the bus. He remained unnoticed as the bus driver returned the vehicle to its regular parking spot until it was needed for the afternoon run. The child stayed sleeping on the bus un- til the driver came back and found him at 12:45 p.m. The driver took the child home. The parents had not received any notice from the school that their child was absent.
During its April 24 committee of the whole session the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) reviewed a report from David Coombs, superintendent of school effectiveness, on the incident. The report stated that the driver did not check the bus to make sure all students had left before driving back to the parking site. The report also noted that the teacher supervising the junior kindergarten class that day forgot to do the usual attendance check using a clipboard sheet to mark if any students are absent. These attendance sheets are handed in to the front office. The teacher did make a mental note that the student was not present but failed to notify the front office right away. Instead she took the rest of the class to gym for the first part of the day and did not report the child as absent until an hour later when she had a preparation period. She told the office administrator that the child was absent. The information was noted on the corrected at- tendance list but the sheet was set aside be- cause the administrator was occupied with other matters. The administrator meant to phone the parents and confirm the absence but did not do so. The UCDSB report concluded that several factors combined to create the incident. It made six recommendations to prevent or reduce the chance of a repeat incident. First the UCDSB should have all school buses equipped by Sept. 1 this year with electronic “child check” systems that will show drivers if any student is still on a bus.
Second is the UCDSB work with Student Transportation of Eastern Ontario on re- viewing bus safety and looking at other aids for drivers, like video cameras to both ensure student safety. Third is for a review by Sept. 1 of the safe arrival protocols for schools. Also the new Family Portal system, which goes online in the UCDSB region in the 2013-2014 term become part of the school-home commu- nication setup for confirming student ab- sences and notifying parents if their child has not arrived. The report stated that “this will not replace the importance of speak- ing to an adult in cases of unexplained ab- sence.” Fifth is a review of the present school attendance tracking and recording pro- cedure, including looking for an efficient electronic data recording system if one is available. The last recommendation calls for a com- plete outline of the safe arrival procedures included in the board’s September opera- tions message to all school principals, ad- ministration and staff. “This message,” stated the report, “must stress the importance of safe school calls in all school offices at the start of the school day.” The UCDSB committee of the whole ap- proved the report and passed a resolution calling on the district board to have the audit committee set up a plan to monitor high-risk policies and report to the commit- tee of the whole within a six-month period.
VISION@EAP.ON.CA PRESCOTT-RUSSELL
BROCKVILLE | An incident involving a Kemptville kindergarten student left be- hind on a school bus has spurred the Up- per Canada School District to review how it keeps track of students who have to ride buses to school throughout the district. Last month a child in junior kindergarten
Counties looks at highway signage control bylaw
the county table for a few years now,”Mayor Lalonde said. “No, it’s not because of that.” Mayor Lalonde noted that local housing developers are concerned about the im- pression some highway signage makes on potential investors. “We are trying to promote tourism and economic development,” he said. Members of No Zoning for Asphalt Plant (NZAP), a local citizens lobby group, erected the protest billboards on private land bor- dering County Road 17 and its right-of-way as part of a campaign against an asphalt plant that was proposed for development in the Jessup’s Falls Escarpment area. Last December the township council approved a resolution to protect the escarpment against heavy industrial development. The protest signs still stand along the county road because NZAP wants the UCPR to change the Official Plan for Prescott-Russell and remove the mineral aggregates area designation for the escarpment. Clermont told counties council his staff will need to first review what other munici- palities and counties have done with bylaw regulation about highway signage. “There’s no bylaw (for us) right now,” he said. Individual municipalities may or may not have their own signage bylaws which their staff are responsible for enforcing for both commercial and private signage. Those by- laws may or may not be applicable to sig- nage along county roads. A UCPR signage bylaw might be something for local bylaw officers to enforce.
GREGGCHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
PLANTAGENET | The idea may or may not have started when protest signs started popping up in Plantagenet about a pro- posed asphalt plant. But those signs are not the sole reason that the counties council is thinking about a signage con- trol bylaw for county roads. The United Counties of Prescott-Russell council (UCPR) has accepted a recommen- dation from its public works committee to have Public Works Director Marc Clermont and his staff prepare a report on commer- cial and other types of signage along coun- ty roads for review at a future session. The report will include recommendations for drafting a bylaw and policy guidelines deal- ing with signage along county roads. Champlain Township Mayor Gary Barton expressed concern during the counties council April 24 meeting about the state of highway signage along County Road 17 and other county roads. “It’s getting more and more junky,” he said. Mayor Jean-Yves Lalonde of Alfred-Plan- tagenet explained during an interview fol- lowing the counties council session that the committee’s recommendation is not just a response to billboard-style signs erected along County Road 17 in protest against an asphalt plant development proposal. “It (highway signage bylaw) has been on
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