Help Us Make School Transportation More Accessible for PLAP school board division.
Imagine being told that your five-year-old child cannot be picked up by the school bus from the licensed daycare where they are already safely supervised — simply because the transportation policy does not allow morning daycare pickups.
That is the situation facing our family.
Because of work, I rely on licensed daycare to care for my daughter before school. Having her picked up directly from daycare would allow her to remain somewhere safe and supervised until the school bus arrives. Instead, I have been told that morning daycare pickups are not permitted.
The alternatives we have been given are extremely difficult: meeting the bus approximately 20 km away, driving her to the beginning of the route so she can spend approximately 1.5 hours on the bus, or considering a different school.
For a five-year-old child and a working parent (already driving to daycare with my 1 year old for drop off and pick ups each day) these aren't reasonable solutions.
But this petition isn't just about our family, as many others over the years have struggles and tried to have these rules changed and some daycares have even shut because of this.
This is about whether our school transportation system works for the families and children it is supposed to serve.
Many parents in our community rely on licensed childcare because they work early mornings, have inflexible schedules, or simply cannot be home when the school bus comes. A policy that automatically excludes daycare pickups can create significant barriers for these families — even when there is a safe, supervised daycare location where a child could board the bus.
We understand that school transportation needs to have rules, routes need to be efficient, and safety has to come first. We aren't asking for unlimited exceptions or special treatment.
We are asking the Portage la Prairie School Division to review this policy, listen to the families it affects, and consider reasonable exceptions for children who are safely supervised at licensed daycares.
Why sign if this doesn't affect you?
Because policies that don't affect your family today could affect you tomorrow.
Your circumstances may change. Your child may start daycare. Your work schedule may change. You may have grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or friends who depend on childcare and school transportation.
More importantly, a community can advocate for reasonable policies even when we aren't personally affected by them.
We believe children should have safe and reasonable access to their designated schools, and parents shouldn't be forced to choose between being at work and being physically present for a school bus pickup when their child is already safely cared for at a licensed daycare.
Please sign this petition and help us ask the Portage la Prairie School Division to reconsider its policy on morning daycare pickups and work toward a more flexible, family-friendly solution.
Your signature could help make a difference not only for our family, but for other families who may face the same situation in the future.
7 Comments
As a single parent who relied on daycare to provide for my kids, this would have been an impossible situation to navigate. I feel terrible for families affected by this baffling policy.
Most families require 2 incomes to make ends meet. In rural communities this often means a commute of some kind. If you’re lucky enough to find daycare in these small towns, access to school bus transportation should not be a hurdle to a secure and safe daycare spot, the opportunity to provide for your family, or the opportunity for your child to attend school in their home community. PLPSD suggesting that parents move their children to city schools is the opposite of family focused care.
Our child needs before and after care and there is not any but when he has it he will need a ride Everything is so expensive that both parents need to work!
It's important that all children have access to school, regardless of where they need to be picked up.
Every child matters
-
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Help Us Make School Transportation More Accessible for PLAP school board division.
Imagine being told that your five-year-old child cannot be picked up by the school bus from the licensed daycare where they are already safely supervised — simply because the transportation policy does not allow morning daycare pickups.
That is the situation facing our family.
Because of work, I rely on licensed daycare to care for my daughter before school. Having her picked up directly from daycare would allow her to remain somewhere safe and supervised until the school bus arrives. Instead, I have been told that morning daycare pickups are not permitted.
The alternatives we have been given are extremely difficult: meeting the bus approximately 20 km away, driving her to the beginning of the route so she can spend approximately 1.5 hours on the bus, or considering a different school.
For a five-year-old child and a working parent (already driving to daycare with my 1 year old for drop off and pick ups each day) these aren't reasonable solutions.
But this petition isn't just about our family, as many others over the years have struggles and tried to have these rules changed and some daycares have even shut because of this.
This is about whether our school transportation system works for the families and children it is supposed to serve.
Many parents in our community rely on licensed childcare because they work early mornings, have inflexible schedules, or simply cannot be home when the school bus comes. A policy that automatically excludes daycare pickups can create significant barriers for these families — even when there is a safe, supervised daycare location where a child could board the bus.
We understand that school transportation needs to have rules, routes need to be efficient, and safety has to come first. We aren't asking for unlimited exceptions or special treatment.
We are asking the Portage la Prairie School Division to review this policy, listen to the families it affects, and consider reasonable exceptions for children who are safely supervised at licensed daycares.
Why sign if this doesn't affect you?
Because policies that don't affect your family today could affect you tomorrow.
Your circumstances may change. Your child may start daycare. Your work schedule may change. You may have grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or friends who depend on childcare and school transportation.
More importantly, a community can advocate for reasonable policies even when we aren't personally affected by them.
We believe children should have safe and reasonable access to their designated schools, and parents shouldn't be forced to choose between being at work and being physically present for a school bus pickup when their child is already safely cared for at a licensed daycare.
Please sign this petition and help us ask the Portage la Prairie School Division to reconsider its policy on morning daycare pickups and work toward a more flexible, family-friendly solution.
Your signature could help make a difference not only for our family, but for other families who may face the same situation in the future.
7 Comments
A residence-only transportation policy warrants review through a human-rights and substantive-equality lens. A facially neutral policy may create an adverse and disproportionate impact based on family status where parents have bona fide childcare obligations arising from employment. Where an alternative daycare stop can be accommodated safely and without undue hardship, an inflexible refusal raises legitimate questions regarding the duty to reasonably accommodate under Manitoba’s Human Rights Co
As a single parent who relied on daycare to provide for my kids, this would have been an impossible situation to navigate. I feel terrible for families affected by this baffling policy.
Most families require 2 incomes to make ends meet. In rural communities this often means a commute of some kind. If you’re lucky enough to find daycare in these small towns, access to school bus transportation should not be a hurdle to a secure and safe daycare spot, the opportunity to provide for your family, or the opportunity for your child to attend school in their home community. PLPSD suggesting that parents move their children to city schools is the opposite of family focused care.
Our child needs before and after care and there is not any but when he has it he will need a ride Everything is so expensive that both parents need to work!
It's important that all children have access to school, regardless of where they need to be picked up.
Every child matters
-
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A residence-only transportation policy warrants review through a human-rights and substantive-equality lens. A facially neutral policy may create an adverse and disproportionate impact based on family status where parents have bona fide childcare obligations arising from employment. Where an alternative daycare stop can be accommodated safely and without undue hardship, an inflexible refusal raises legitimate questions regarding the duty to reasonably accommodate under Manitoba’s Human Rights Co