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12 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 23, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Public board makes elementary busing uniform Some older elementary students will be able to share a school bus with their younger siblings starting this fall. Trustees with the Halton District School Board have voted to expand transportation service for students in Grades 6-8 by cutting in half the distance required before they are eligible to be bused to school. Effective September 2008, all elementary students living more than 1.6 kilometres (one mile) from their designated home school will be eligible for busing. Currently, students in Junior Kindergarten-Grade 5 get busing if they live more than 1.6 km from their home school, while students in Grades 6-8 are provided transportation only if they live more than 3.2 km (two miles) away. Grades 9-12 students can catch a school bus if they live more than 4.8 km (three miles) from their home school. "Halton parents identified having a different transportation distance for the Junior Kindergarten to Grade 5 students and the Grade 6-8 students as a problem," said Wayne Joudrie, director of education for the Halton public board. "Establishing the same busing distances for all elementary school students will help many families. This change in policy aligns our elementary transportation distances with the other publiclyfunded school boards in Halton," he said. The policy change will increase the number of students eligible for transportation and add 45 school bus routes to the current 370. The projected extra cost of the policy change is $1.3 million annually, which includes money individual schools can apply to receive to develop, communicate and promote safe walking routes to school.