INSPIRE LEAD ACHIEVE Box 870, High Prairie AB, TOG 1E0 I (780) 523-3337 March 26, 2019

The Honourable , Premier of Office of the Premier 307 Legislature Building 10800 - 97 Avenue , Alberta T5K 2B6

Dear Premier,

Our board of trustees would like to voice our concern with school bus drivers being included in the newly introduced enhanced driver training program called Mandatory Entry Level Training (MELT) and we are requesting that school bus drivers be exempt from the program.

Safety of our students is this board's number one priority and we believe that it is safe to say that this is the case for every school jurisdiction in Alberta. We have always known that parents deserve to feel secure in the understanding that their children will be transported to and from schools in school buses manned by trained professionals. We have taken this responsibility seriously and can attest to an excellent safety record right across this province. The S Endorsement program that is taken by school bus drivers along with the comprehensive training that our drivers undergo is extensive.

Apart from our excellent safety record, we believe there are a number of factors that sets bus drivers apart from other truck driving occupations. School bus drivers do not drive for extended periods of time in one day. Our school bus drivers drive an average of two hours morning and afternoon. This eliminates the fatigue that may be experienced in other industries. The MELT program includes air brake training that is not applicable to school bus drivers as it is for the full operation of a tractor-trailer Air Brake system. We believe that at a minimum, the program should have included an Air Brake training module for non-trucking related vehicles and should be classed as "Q-SB".

We believe that the MELT program has been rushed in its implementation and that the impact to students in this province was not fully examined. High Prairie School Division already has a difficult time attracting personnel to train as bus drivers. With the low wages that come from part time work, attraction and retention of staff is a serious concern as it is. Given the additional training now required, our pool of candidates will surely shrink and if we, as a school board, incur all the costs associated with having a new driver trained, the likelihood of retaining these employees for part time work is negligible. The time restraints of MELT alone will make it near impossible to fill vacancies. We can 100% conceive of situations where drivers will not be found for all of our school bus routes which will leave students without a secure way to school. We know that when buses do not run, most of the students stay home as parents are not able to leave their other responsibilities to take them to school. The cost factor is significant which further puts pressure on school board budgets. It is expected that the increased costs will mean that funds will have to be diverted from the classroom into the transportation department. Eighty one percent of school boards in this province are reporting transportation deficits, with an average deficit of more than $500,000.00. These new requirements will only serve to put a further strain on school board budgets.

We certainly advocate for any measure that enhances student safety, but in our opinion, this rushed legislation is not the answer. While trying to enhance safety the number of unintended consequences will likely hurt students in our opinion. We believe that the professional drivers we have driving our school buses are well trained and supervised. While we believe that the MELT initiative is good to address issues of inadequacy for commercial "goods" and "for profit" carriers, we believe that school bus carriers are leaps and bounds ahead of all other carriers when it comes to safety programs. We believe that School Bus Carriers should be reclassified.

We hope that this letter has helped outline the implications of MELT on school boards and that you will consider exempting school bus drivers from the requirements.

Sincerely,

Tammy Henkel Chair

Cc The Honourable Brian Mason, Minister of Transportation The Honourable , Minister of Education Alberta School Boards Association Public School Boards' Association of Alberta High Prairie School Division Board of Trustees Laura Poloz, Superintendent, High Prairie School Division