OCSB cuts bus attendants for students with special needs, alarming parents

The Ottawa Catholic School Board is cutting school bus attendants for students with special needs starting this September, affecting roughly 100 children and alarming parents who say the decision could have life-threatening consequences.

Amanda Jollymore and Brian McPhail learned Friday, June 13 that attendants assisting their six-year-old daughter Mia — a non-verbal child with epilepsy and lung disease who requires around-the-clock care — would be eliminated. Mia attends St. Francis of Assisi School in Orléans, where she's in the developmental education program.

"We can't even wrap our heads around how a bus driver is going to drive through rush hour with numerous medically fragile children on board," Jollymore said. "The majority of them are non-verbal, non-mobile and completely dependent on adults around them for all requirements of care."

The board says the cuts follow a review of on-going service challenges, including situations where buses were cancelled when an attendant was unavailable, resulting in students missing school. The board says feedback from families indicated many preferred consistent transportation, even without an attendant, rather than cancellations. The board says it will transition to a model where support is co-ordinated through health-care professionals.