The Nanaimo school district business committee is recommending that Cedar and Cinnabar students be provided busing to Ladysmith Secondary School.
The previous school board decided against providing buses after closing catchment school Cedar Community Secondary, forcing parents to either drive their children or pay for additional busing.
Following a request by current trustees back in March, staff came back with a report featuring two options. One was based on providing service to the 165 area students currently attending Ladysmith Secondary, with an annual operating cost of $110,253.
The other was based on 265 students, the current number of area students attending Ladysmith, plus 50 per cent of those attending John Barsby Secondary School, designated catchment school after the closure. The second option has a price tag of $211,213 attached.
The committee is recommending that board approve a plan that will see busing to the high school for one year in 2015-16.
Steve Rae, school board chairman, proposed the recommendation and suggested the $211,213 option.
“The reason I picked scenario two, because that is the worst-case scenario. That’s the most money it would cost us,” said Rae. “I don’t believe that it will cost us that much, but at least if we put it in the budget, that it costs that much, we can go backwards. It’s hard to go forwards, it’s easier to go backwards.”
The committee is also recommending that the Cedar school be re-opened as a high school for the 2016-17 school year.
The board is expected to vote at its next meeting.