Some members of Kincardine Council have a bone to pick with the Bluewater District School Board.
It involves what they say is a lack of foresight because of increased traffic at Elgin Market School.
Kincardine Public Works Manager Jim O’Rourke says they’ll be scrambling over the next three weeks to construct a reasonably safe drop-off zone on Princes Street for students that are not bussed.
O’Rourke says because of an increase in school enrolment for the Junior Kindergarten to Grade 3 students.
He says where last year the school had 8 school buses on the property, that has doubled to 16.
As a result parents can no longer drop off students by car on school property but must do so on Princes Street where there is no designated safe drop-off zone.
Councillor Mike Leggett didn’t mince words as he said the school board doesn’t care and has left the safety issue up to the municipality.
Leggett called for O’Rourke to contact the board to find a final solution to the safety issue.
He says he thinks the board should be paying the freight on this one.
Neverthless, council agreed to spend eight thousand dollars to get the 200 foot long, 6-foot wide drop off zone on the west side of Princes Street constructed before winter.
Meanwhile, Councillor Ken Craig voted against the motion.
He says the board should have known ahead of time that the increase in school population and school busses would create a problem.
Craig suggests this issue should never have made the council table but the board of education table.
The eight thousand dollars is coming from an operating account to be moved to a capital account for the construction.
Municipal staff have received several concerns from parents and school officials about the safety of students that are not bussed to the facility.
