Area school boards cut funding for school bus monitors

Bus monitors, parents and other supporters turned out last Thursday in Woodstock for a rally and march in support of reinstating the monitors. (Lee Griffi Photo)

Lee Griffi, Editor

The 2026-27 school year is fast approaching, and many elementary and secondary students across the region will be back on their buses to get to and from their learning institutions. However, some of the most vulnerable kids will be without school bus monitors, a move not sitting well with those formerly in the role.

Heather Sheridan was a bus driver for three years before transitioning to a monitor role, where she spent eight years sitting with special-needs children to ensure they remained safe and properly buckled in. She and her fellow Teamsters members were informed about a month ago that the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) and the London District Catholic School Board (LDCSB) would no longer be hiring them. She is now concerned about the safety of the kids she and her coworkers served.

“It is absolutely beyond dangerous. Part of our job is to ensure the kids stay belted in, and we work very hard to do so. Last year we had a child undo her seatbelt and within 10 seconds was at the emergency door with her hand on the handle.”

Several monitors and supporters held a rally and march in Woodstock last Thursday to bring awareness to their cause. The monitors are members of Teamsters Local Union 879 who said approximately 67 school bus monitors in the area are expected to lose their jobs this summer.

“School bus monitors help ensure the safe transportation of our most precious cargo: our children. Most are assigned to buses serving special education students, while others work on regular routes where special education students ride alongside other children,” said a union statement.

It added monitors are trained to professionally de-escalate crises on buses, including situations where students in distress are screaming or banging their heads against windows, allowing drivers to keep their eyes on the road. Without monitors, drivers are left to handle these situations alone.

"School bus drivers and monitors have been beaten, bitten, pushed, scratched and injured on the job. In one case, a student opened the emergency exit while the bus was hauling kids. In another case, a student in crisis tore flesh from a monitor. Imagine a driver going 80 km/h having to deal with an emergency like that alone," said John McCann, President of Teamsters Local Union 879.

The monitors earn $18.60 an hour on split shifts and have no paid days off. They are employed by Voyago, a transportation provider serving both school boards.

"These school boards mismanaged their budgets for years, and now low-wage workers and vulnerable kids are being made to pay the price. The boards of education are jeopardizing the safety of our children, and that is unacceptable," added McCann.

Sheridan explained she and her fellow monitors don’t do their job for the money.

“We do this because we love the kids. We build a bond with them and their families. If we see these kids out and about, they come running and give us a big hug. We are a lifesaver for some of these parents.”

She added some parents have told her they will no longer send their children on a bus without a monitor.

“These parents need this break. They are on 24/7.”

Sheridan also said parents have not been directly informed about the cuts, but she wants to get the word out to as many of them as possible. The Echo reached out to the TVDSB last week but still had not received a response as of press time. We tried the LDCSB on Tuesday morning, but it also hasn’t replied.

Danielle Blake lives with her family, including two children with special needs, just outside Woodstock and heard the news second-hand. Her children attend TVDSB schools.

“I found out through our bus monitor. We have a very good relationship with him and he reached out to me over text messages. I contacted the school, and they said it was the bus company who said it was all the school board.”

Blake then called her school superintendent and was able to get an answer.

“She told me she would be very honest with me and told me there are major (spending) cuts, there’s no funding for bus monitors and it probably isn’t going to be happening.”      

She explained one of her children is severely autistic while another is mildly autistic.

“Our more severe son, historically, was not allowed to ride the bus unless a monitor was there, so there have been times he can’t ride the bus with his siblings, and we would need to pick him up. He goes to another school now that has transit, but I worry about those kids who aren’t allowed to use the bus without a monitor. What’s happening with them?”

Blake said the cost of employing monitors amounts to “peanuts” for the board, making the decision to cut the positions even harder to understand.

“I would pay (my monitor) out of my pocket. He is that valuable to the wellbeing of the kids on the bus in the kindest way. We have such a positive reaction to him on there. The bus is going to show up on Sept. 8, and these parents have no idea there are no monitors.”

A rally in support of reinstating the monitors is being held on Saturday, Aug. 29 at Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman’s office at 1 p.m.