New school will face transportation problems

The following letter, addressed to Cathy Saytar, superintendent of education with the Dufferin - Peel Catholic District School Board, was submitted to the Citizen for publication.

I am writing this letter to you after the Feb. 13 meeting in Bolton regarding the proposed St. Michael Secondary School on Columbia Way.

Here are some comments to consider.

The board will provide bus transportation for students living beyond 4.8 kilometres from a school. Yet, the bulk of the students who may attend the proposed school live on the south hill of Bolton, and are likely members of the Holy Family Parish and attend holy Family School, plus others. Parents don't now realize that their children will need to walk to and from north hill each day to attend the proposed secondary school.

Similarly, families living in the valley of the village of Bolton, east and west of the corners of King and Queen Streets, will need to have their children walk to school, since many residences there are less than 4.8 kilometres from the school.

Weather conditions, which are now commonly unpredictable, will cause many youngsters to experience problems walking to school within the 4.8-kilometre distance, affecting learning.

Youngsters walking to the north hill via Queen Street will discover that there are no sidewalks on the west side of the road beyond Laurel Hill Cemetery, and there are serious dangers to such youngsters due to the excessive traffic on Highway 50 (Queen Street North). Safety becomes a concern.

Many of the subdivisions on both the north and south hills of Bolton presently only have sidewalks on one side of the street, if at all. On Bell Air Drive, we don't have sidewalks on either side of the street. Such conditions are a problem.

Many families will soon discover after the school opens that their children will find walking to school less and less viable due to weather, the state of the streets, the absence of sidewalks, etc., and many parents will deal with this problem by driving their teens to school, adding to traffic chaos on the north hill of Bolton. Together with buses coming from areas beyond the 4.8 kilometre range, you can see the implications for Columbia Way and for the residents of the north hill in the village. Also, we'll see even more family stress, due to the school location and bus issues.

You can appreciate then that the proposed site poses many problems for the board. the design info provided at the Feb. 13 meeting was interesting, but nothing was said that will correctly address the points I've outlined here. There are no easy answers.

My grandchildren attend Holy Family School. Their family lives beyond the 4.8- kilometre marker. Probably, they will be able to have bus transportation in the future. What about the other families though? The board has a huge problem.
Joe Grogan,
Holy Family Parish,
47-year separate
school advocate