No solution to special needs transportation issue

Parents of an eight-year-old boy with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy will have to wait a bit longer to hear how the Northwest Catholic District School Board will provide wheelchair transportation to the outskirts of Dryden.
Education Director John Madigan said a report to be presented at the board’s regular monthly meeting Tuesday night will not include a solution to this issue.
“There certainly has been a lot of communication about potential partners in Dryden,” Madigan said Tuesday morning. “As of Friday, there hasn’t been a commitment with anybody for a partnership.”
The problem lies in that Casey Gould lives on the outskirts of Dryden and the local handi-bus will not extend services to his location. Madigan said with the extreme cost of providing this service, few private operators are willing to make a commitment to the board.
While a plan hasn’t been decided yet, Madigan said he’s confident a solution will be found in the coming months.
“We haven’t closed the door on this issue. We recognize that this student is going to need to be transported to school,” he said.
The school board also will vote tonight on an Education Quality Accountability Office action plan, which aims to help schools build on results of the Grade 3 and Grade 6 testing.
Madigan said the board is required to put together an annual plan based on past EQAO results, which were announced in October.
Ron Fryer, curriculum co-ordinator for the board, said this plan will focus on everything from initiatives aimed at improving student achievement to monitoring how effective the plan is and sharing results with other educators.
“The main goal for the action plan is that it is trying to cover a number of different things,” Fryer noted. “It will provide support for teachers and students for student achievement.”
The meeting gets underway at 7 p.m. at the board’s office next to St. Francis School here.