School Bus Program Teaches Safety To New Learners

It was all one syllable replies - “Good” “Ya” “Ya” - to reporter’s questions from a noticeably excited five year Daxton Tighe after he took his first ever school bus ride on Thursday afternoon.

Daxton and his mother Emily Tighe had boarded a school bus as part of the First Rider Program.

Started in 2018 the First Rider Program is designed to teach first time bus riders and their parents the ins and outs of riding a school bus to school. The program was cancelled last year due to the COVID - 19 pandemic so it has operated in three of the four past years.

“They did wonderful,” Emily Tighe said adding her son may not have followed all of the rules but the excitement of the bus ride and anticipation of heading off to kindergarten was something that Daxton was looking forward to.

“I hope he listened, we will be working on making sure he sits down when he rides the bus…he was very excited today about all of this,” Emily said.

FIRST TIME ON THE BUS - Five year old Daxton Tighe sitting next to his mother Emily Tighe was all excited about his first ride on a school bus on Thursday afternoon. Daxton will be attending kindergarten in the fall and will be taking the bus.

The excitement and attention garnered by the program is something that has the approval of Ward Strueby newly minted Superintendent for the Holy Trinity Catholic School Division (HTCSD).

Holy Trinity and the Prairie South School Division partnered in the program to “number on ensure the safety of our students,” Strueby said.

Speaking to the five media outlets - three from Moose Jaw and two television stations from Regina - he said the program was important step to ensuring student safety from the very beginning of their school years.

“(The program teaches) how to get onto the bus and off of the bus safely…school safety is number one for the school divisions.”

CLIMBING ABOARD - An excited three year old Auorihnna Guefferoy-Pomeroy climbs aboard the school bus for the very first time. The pre-K student is off to school for the first time in September.

Having the program with parents and students attending helps to ensure that safety and gives the divisions the opportunity to also address any other concerns parents may have. The program also gives new students the opportunity to understand and better prepare themselves for the big first days at school.

“They get experience (from the program) about being on the (school) bus for the first time.”

On the short bus ride new school bus riders were told the differences between their parent’s car and the school bus - the most notable being school buses do not have seat belts.

Children and parents listened intently as they were told to think about invisible seat belts that were holding them in their seats and the importance of remaining seated, and not standing or wandering around, on the bus ride.

“It’s what starts our school year,” Nadine Easterby said about her great niece’s Auorihnna Gufferoy-Pomeroy being enrolled in the afternoon program.

“It does help quite a lot not only as a parent and an aunt,” Easterby said, adding she has found children seem to “kind of listen when other people tell them more” when a parent or relative might.

About the anticipation of the ride Easterby said “we like to get on the school bus for the first time.”

WAITING TO GET ON THE BUS - Three year old Auorihnna Gufferoy-Pomeroy waits with her great aunt Nadine Easterby to ride the school bus for the very first time

Speaking to MJ Independent Strueby said the event might seem to be about liability for the school divisions but the main concern was student safety.

“This is about setting yourself (students and parents) up for success,” he said.

“This is about teaching parents and students what they see at our bus stops and preventing accidents…it is about how to ride on the bus sitting properly and front facing.”

As part of the event parents were provided with a guide containing further details on how to properly wait for the bus, bus safety, bus cancellations due to weather as well as reviewing the infractions and the consequences for breaking the rules.

For those concerned about infractions Strueby said “it is really important to let the driver know so that does not happen.”

All Holy Trinity buses he said are camera equipped and they act more of a “deterrent” to having infractions on the bus but in the rare occasion where an incident does occur there is a stringent criteria where approved individuals can review the footage if need be, he said.

“If there is an issue both Holy Trinity and Prairie South can deal with it.”

Strueby said overall the annual program has met with rave reviews with parents and has improved school safety.

At the end of the bus ride students and parents were told about the importance of waiting for the bus to come to a full stop, how to get up and exit the school bus properly by staff from both divisions. The small set of instructions intently listened to by parents and children alike.

It is a message both divisions approve Strueby said before the ride.

He went on to focus the attention onto the transportation coordinators Heather Boese at Prairie South and Gerry Turcotte at Holy Trinity for their hard work and dedication to not only make the bussing at both school divisions safe but a memorable experience for children and parents alike.