CollingwoodToday welcomes letters to the editor. They can be submitted via the site, or emailed to [email protected]. Please include your full name and location as well as contact information for verification. The following letter was submitted in response to a recent story about multiple changes to school start and end times in Collingwood, Orillia, Severn, and Coldwater.
Editor,
My daughter attends Coldwater Public School and they are changing their bell times for the 2023/2024 school year from 8:45 a.m. to 3:05 p.m. to 9:30 a.m. to 3:50 p.m. This news came as quite the shock and during brief conversations with other parents over the last week many of the parents are concerned with the new hours for a number of reasons.
My daughter currently gets off the bus at 3:45 p.m. With the new bell times, I anticipate her getting off the bus next year around 4:30 p.m., and she is not the last stop. For a large portion of the winter, elementary students will be getting off the bus in the dark. In the rural settings, the bus does not stop at every driveway and many are required to walk down the side of the road where there is no sidewalk and no street lights. This is putting our children in danger.
The letter sent out said the new time changes were to "create efficiencies and cost savings", but shouldn't the safety of our children be the priority?
Furthermore, the village of Coldwater offers very limited extracurricular activities, so families are required to drive into Orillia, Midland or surrounding areas for all activities. Many of these activities start at 5 p.m. With the 20+ minute drive required to get to these locations, it is almost impossible to get your child off the bus, load them in the car immediately, and get to their activities on time. Let alone have time to eat dinner, spend limited time as a family, and get ready for bed.
The daycare and before/after school care in the Coldwater area is incredibly limited. This drastic change in times will now require an increase in before-school care where there simply are no spots available. This will require more children to go into non-licensed care which comes at a greater financial burden to the family.
The safety and well-being of our children should always be the number one priority. The transportation consortium and the school board did not have our children's best interests in mind when they approved this decision. I strongly urge the Simcoe County District School Board and the Simcoe County Student Transportation Consortium to re-evaluate the time changes proposed for Coldwater Public School.
Alex Klett
Severn Township, Ont.
