6-year-old Woodstock boy with health condition finally to get a seat on school bus

A young child in Woodstock will be given access to school bus transportation after being denied last year.

Jennie Groff's six-year-old son Sawyer has Type-1 diabetes, and she asked the school district last year if he could ride a school bus. The single mother said she does not have a car, and walking the 1.7 kilometres to school would exhaust the child and make learning difficult.

But a clerk with the Woodstock Education Centre denied the request, because the family lives closer than the 2.4-kilometre radius set under provincial regulations for school bus transportation.

Even when she went back to the school with a doctor's note, Groff said, she was denied. For most of last school year, Groff spent more than $300 a month on taxi rides for Sawyer to and from school.

CBC News wrote about Groff's trouble with the school bus rules two weeks ago, and she now reports she has been told an accommodation will be granted for Sawyer after all.

"I think it was unnecessary," Groff said of her year-long effort to get Sawyer on a school bus.

"I don't think it should have got to the point where I needed to go to the media about it."

Groff says her fight to get Sawyer on a bus should have been unnecessary. (Submitted by Jennie Groff)

When she went back to the school after CBC News reported she had been denied, Groff said, she simply got another copy of the same doctor's note she handed in last year.

"I don't understand how they didn't get the letter from last year. The letter that I sent in was the exact letter that I sent last year."

While her situation is close to being remedied, Groff said she worries about other parents who may be in similar situations or without a family doctor to help advocate.

Despite the struggle to get Sawyer on a bus, Groff said, his teachers have been nothing but helpful with his condition.

"The school itself was amazing for everything, for Sawyer with his diabetes, like there were never issues. And so I have no problem sending him to school."

School district says parents have way to escalate concerns

Education Department spokesperson Diana Chavez directed all questions about Sawyer's case to the school district, since "decisions regarding accommodations ultimately fall to the districts."

Anglophone School District West spokesperson Paul MacIntosh said superintendent David McTimoney was unavailable for an interview because the district was preparing for the first day of school.

MacIntosh said school bus transportation is being finalized for Sawyer, and school transportation officials approached Groff on the same day that the initial news story was published.

"It looks like busing is going to be in place and that's great, so we're happy to say that," MacIntosh said.

"In cases like this, we do need a doctor's note, and now we do have one."

Paul MacIntosh, a spokesperson for the Anglophone West School District says the district has no record of receiving the first doctor's letter brought in by Groff. (Roger Cosman/CBC)

Groff said she brought the letter to the school last year. CBC News has viewed a copy of the original letter, which is dated Sept. 11, 2023.

MacIntosh said the district has no record of receiving Sawyer's doctor's note.

"And if it was given to us and a mistake was made, of course it's on us," MacIntosh said. "As soon as there is the existence of a medical note, all of our considerations are done, it's our duty to accommodate."

When parents are faced with situations where they think needs are not being met in a school matter, MacIntosh said the proper way to raise the issue is to fill out a "parent or legal guardian corners" form or to email asdwinfo@nbed.nb.ca.

MacIntosh acknowledged it can be difficult for parents to know how to escalate things when they have an issue, and that he does "feel for people that don't know the process, so I do think that will help inform the public and parents that if they do feel they need to bring a concern higher than the school level, there are steps that they can take."

Lawyer says school could let boy on bus all along

Lyle Skinner, a constitutional lawyer who grew up near Fredericton and has Type 1 diabetes himself, questioned why Sawyer was denied the accommodation in the first place.

The school district is interpreting the Education Act, which includes school bus transportation, too specifically, he said.

Nothing strictly ties every school district to the 2.4-kilometre radius, he said, pointing out that some have a lower radius. 

"And so, it's interesting that nothing prevents a district from having a smaller radius as long as it doesn't affect the budget," Skinner said.

Constitutional lawyer Lyle Skinner says nothing is stopping school districts from having a smaller radius for busing than 2.4 kilometres, if they are able to on their budgets. (Submitted by Lyle Skinner)

He said a section of the act allows the district council to exempt any student from the 2.4-kilometre radius if the superintendent asks for it.

CBC News sought information from the other school districts in the province.

Anglophone South tries to offer school bus services to students at a 1.5-kilometre radius when operationally possible, a spokesperson said. For Francophone Northwest School District, the distance is only one kilometre for elementary-age children. Anglophone South has a 1.5-kilometre distance available when operationally possible, district documents say.

"So [the superintendent] has the power all along and he doesn't require any medical documentation because it could be for any, any purpose," Skinner said.

Logistical challenges a factor

MacIntosh said the school district covers a large geographical area, and there are some children and neighbourhoods within 2.4 kilometres that get bused, "so I think similar to the other districts, it's not necessarily a hard and fast rule, it's a guiding principle."

"It comes to balancing the logistics of the system as a whole."

MacIntosh, the district's spokesperson, says organizing busing across the whole district requires balancing logistics. (Sam Farley/CBC)

MacIntosh said superintendent David McTimoney was not aware of Sawyer's case before the news story.

Skinner said provincial regulations need updating, because currenty the language around an exception to the 2.4-kilometre radius for a "physical or mental disability" is outdated.

Skinner said he empathizes with Sawyer as someone who has the same condition.

"I think today we're talking about a six-year-old student, a child that  simply wants to go to school and not have any health complications," he said.