The Minister for Planning and Infrastructure, Alannah MacTiernen has personally intervened to resolve the issue of Jarrahdale students being evicted from buses which had carried them on part of their journey to and from Kelmscott Senior High School.
Ms MacTiernan has advised parents in a letter dated the 8th March that a bus service will be provided from next Monday 12th March.
It is expected that all KSHS students living in Jarrahdale and along Nettleton and Jarrahdale Roads will be able to use the new bus service.
Minister MacTiernan has written to parents as follows:
I am pleased to advise you that arrangements have now been made to ensure your children are provided with transport assistance from Jarrahdale to Kelmscott SHS.
An existing bus service will be re-routed through Jarrahdale and transport your children to Kelmscott SHS, via Armadale SHS. The re-routed service will begin running through Jarrahdale on Mon 12 March 2007.
As you are aware current student transport assistance policy provides for a reasonable level of transport assistance to the nearest appropriate Government school, or non-Government school of religious denomination or ethos.
The level of education and curricula offered at individual schools are the province of the Department of Education.
Hence, the appropriate school is not determined on the basis of special programs or the perceived lack of opportunities in education when determining transport assistance eligibility.
The current situation arose when the Armadale High - Jarrahdale school bus service was overloaded at the start of the year and the students travelling to Kelmscott SHS were removed, as they were classified as complimentary students because they did not meet eligibility requirements in that they were not attending Armadale High School, which is their nearest appropriate school,
However I asked that this matter be reviewed for two reasons:
- Firstly, that transport support had already been provided for some years, and I think it is not reasonable to remove the support without better notice.
- Secondly, these are genuine rural students. As such, I think is reasonable that they should be provided support to their nearest appropriate school, and then pay a fare on either this bus or on a Transperth service to access their "school of choice". I think this achieves a balance between an equitable and reasonable outcome.
The School Bus Services Branch will be re-routing the Armadale - Serpentine Service in to Jarrahdale. This is a Regular Passenger Service which is an express service.
The students travelling from Jarrahdale to Kelmscott SHS will be treated as eligible students for the Jarrahdale to Armadale SHS leg (which is their nearest appropriate school) and will be required to pay a 50 cent fare to complete their journey to Kelmscott SHS, as part of the journey is within the Perth Public Transport Area (PPTA).
There is currently a review of the existing routes for all buses servicing Armadale SHS including the network of transfers, as part of the introduction of fares for students travelling on "orange" school busses within the PPTA.
The Serpentine-Jarrahdale service is part of the review, but the principle established in this decision will be maintained.
