Seine River suggests electric buses, full-day kindergarten
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Seine River School Division (SRSD) trustees want other school boards to join them in calling for electric buses and full-day kindergarten – maybe.
The two motions proposed to be brought to the regional meeting of the Manitoba School Boards Association (MSBA) were tabled a second after details on whether electric buses were already allowed, and if they should ask for a KAP-style program instead were not ironed out Oct. 8. The deadline for sending their proposals is Oct. 16, a week before the next public board meeting.
Interim superintendent Reg Klassen said he will have answers for trustees and email them on the state of electric buses before the deadline. Trustees passed a motion to bring forward the proposal subject to whether or not it is redundant. The last time SRSD proposed it, school buses that were electric could not have students on them.
Klassen had told the board at its last meeting that it would be a good idea for them to draw up a plan for a pilot project that looked like the division’s Kids at Play (KAP) program that was cut due to budget deficits. Daycares in some communities have stepped in to fill KAP’s role at a number of schools.
Trustees voiced their support for that idea Sept. 24, but the MSBA full-day kindergarten proposal came up again on the agenda.
“MSBA is not very keen on going after full-day kindergarten because the government has said in a matter-of-fact kind of way that they’re not prepared to go with full-day kindergarten,” explained Klassen to the board.
The full-day kindergarten idea will be brought back to the school board table in November, when trustees will decide to propose it directly to the MSBA instead of going through the regional meeting.
Even with the province being direct about its desire for alternatives to keeping kindergarten kids in school all day that do not involve the cost of fully certified teachers, some trustees said it was still a good idea to lobby for it.
Only the three prairie provinces, Yukon, and Nunavut do not provide full-day kindergarten in Canada.
“There’s strength in numbers so if we can get all of our school boards on board, and advocating for this – because that is our responsibility, is to advocate on behalf of our schools,” said Ward 2 (St. Adolphe, Iles des Chenes and Lorette) trustee Christine Roskos.