Houston mother wants better school bus service in town

Houston resident April Armstrong is actively voicing her concerns about a lack of bus service for high school students that live within the municipality.

Armstrong told Houston Today that her daughter has to walk to school at Houston Secondary School every day on a route that consistently has used needles lying around, as well as strangers loitering.

“My daughter has to walk two to three kilometers to school every day. The path she takes goes through Jamie Baxter Park, and at the back hill of the park she always sees used needles on the ground, and strangers hanging out on the steps,” Armstrong said.

“It’s dangerous for high school students to be walking that far alone, and as a working mother, I can’t drive her to school every day. I think there should be a bus service for kids in town so they don’t have to walk,” she continued.

Armstrong says that she hasn’t contacted the RCMP about the issue, but has reached out to School District 54 (SD54) to inquire about putting in a bus service in town.

There are several bus routes that go to HSS, coming from Walcott, Highway 16 east of town, Buck Flats and Topley, but Armstrong believes these routes leave local residents out of the picture.

Houston Today reached out to SD54 Superintendent Mike McDiarmid to see if the school board had any plans to alter bus routes to be more inclusive of students within town limits.

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“Historically, secondary students have walked to school within town limits, or have been parent driven. Just as in Smithers, we haven’t bused secondary students within town limits due to lack of demand, no bus funding, high cost, and supply of drivers. Busing of secondary students has not been an issue historically,” said McDiarmid

“The school district did offer busing from Silverthorne Elementary up to HSS a few years ago when we had extra bus and driver. We found that the minimal ridership did not justify the time and cost. Based on our current situation and our history, bussing of all students is not a realistic option at this point as we are unable to find drivers for existing routes already,” he continued.

McDiarmid also said that SD54 will open a dialogue with its students about being safe in the community.

“While I can’t comment on what someone deems as dangerous, obviously the school district cares about student safety while in the community. We work with our students regularly about safety and will be revisiting those conversations with them,” he said.

Armstrong says that she’s gotten lots of supportive responses when posting about the issue on various community Facebook pages. She plans on starting a petition to try to change the bussing routes.

Houston Today reached out to Houston RCMP to see if there had been any reports of loitering or used needles being found in the park, but didn’t receive a response by press time.

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