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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, March 7, 2013 | 18 Students will ride Francobus starting in September ing a service," said Fran Fournier, superintendent of business at CSV . Oakville Beaver Staff However, the decision to pull out of consortium was based on other variables. "It's more about functionality of the French lanThe students at the two local French school boards will be riding the French bus (Francobus) to school, guage, efficiency from the point of view of management. It's one less consortium to manage." starting in September 2013. HSTS is a consortium of the school boards to Conseil Scolaire Viamonde (CSV) and Conseil Scolaire de district Catholique du Centre-Sud (CS- provide transportation to students in Halton. It DCCS) are both withdrawing from Halton Student was formed in 2007 after the Ministry of EducaTransportation Services (HSTS), which they share tion required English-language coterminous school with the English speaking public and Catholic boards across the province to participate in a consortium for their transportation needs. school boards in Halton. At the time, the two French boards, which have "The Halton bus was very good about provida coverage area from Windsor to Oshawa and up to Penetanguishene, joined the HSTS for their Halton transportation needs, while creating their own consortium (Francobus) for the rest of their juRASTICALLY EDUCED O LEAR! risdictions. "We're part of the Francobus for most of the other regions, and we circle all around Halton. We didn't have Halton in there. When we first created Francobus, we didn't have the capacity to add on too much. So we've added that on now for September," Fournier told the Oakville Beaver. The number of French schools in HalBURLOAK CYCLE & MARINE ton has increased over the years. Current4150 South Service Rd., Burlington ly, the Catholic French board has three (between Walkers & Appleby Line) schools in Halton and more are on the www.burloakcycle.com 905-632-1212 way, while the public board has two with Serving the Golden Horseshoe for over 30 years by Dominik Kurek We find when transportation issues come up, it's very difficult to make changes because there is a consortium. Amy Collard, chair Halton District School Board 2013 In Stock Sleds D R T C $AVE NOW more in the works as well. The switch to the Francobus will eliminate the need to manage several bus consortiums for the two French boards. Furthermore, as some students attend school outside of their municipality, Fournier said having a full Francobus system will make managing crossborder student transportation easier. Fournier expects the transition to be seamless for students, while it will allow both boards to provide transportation service to their families in French. Halton District School Board and the Halton Catholic District School Board will maintain the HSTS. It is unknown how the change will affect the consortium, service wise or financially, until there is a review. The current transportation policies will remain status quo, unless both English-language boards make changes. There could be a need for some school start time adjustments, said Karen Lacroix, HSTS general manager, at the public board's Feb. 6 meeting. In recent years, transportation issues have arisen a number of times at the public board, such as when trustees had to decide whether to provide transportation for safety reasons to certain groups of students who don't normally qualify for busing. Several trustees said the HSTS change provides both the English-speaking boards an opportunity to affect change to the transportation policy. The chairs of both school boards have already met to discuss such options. "We find when transportation issues come up, it's very difficult to make changes because there is a consortium," said public board chair Amy Collard. "It's difficult for policy changes to be made and we want to be working with our coterminous board to make sure any changes that we're proposing are of mutual benefit." 2013 G & IN STOCK OR F E L B AVAILA IMMEDIATE DELIVERY · 18 17 GOLF TDI WAGONS 9 56 4O LFS GOLF ANYONE? SWING BY AND SEE WHAT'S NEW... · 7 GOLF GAS WAGONS Golf Season Now Open at Oakville VW · 8 GOLF GTIS · 6 3 GOLF 3 DOOR TRENDLINES INCLUDED Y WITH EVER IN STOCK E HAS GOLF PURCES AT E 2 GREEN F TH H PIPERS EA 13 0 2 FOR THE ** . SEASON · 7 5 GOLF TDI 5 DOORS · 10 8 GOLF 5 DOORS MANAGER'S SPECIAL Golf 3 door Trendline (Stock #16418) 5 speed transmission plus Cold Weather Package* CELEBRATE · MSRP including freight, pre delivery, air tax, Ontario Tire Stewardship fee $21,779 · Plus applicable taxes and licence fee · Zero down, bi weekly payment of $149, based on APR of 5.04%, 96 months, total cost of borrowing over term $5502.32 **Includes cart, taxes, and range privileges. Value $238.00, valid with in stock purchases until March 31, 2013 vw.ca