‘Roads have to be passable’: School District 60 board talks concerns over bus cancellations amid heavy snowfall

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The School District 60 board has expressed its concerns about snow removal, the conditions of roads along bus routes and how it has affected the school runs. 

During the SD60 meeting on January 19th, board chair – Helen Gilbert – updated the board about the concerns brought forward at its labour management meeting. 

This comes after there were multiple school bus cancellations in December due to “road and weather conditions.” 

She shared: “There had been a reach out from Dawson [Road Maintenance] to say it didn’t seem fair we were indicating we had to cancel bus runs because of the conditions of roads and not temperature.” 

Gilbert highlighted the city has not received this kind of snowfall in a long time and as a board there needs to be a plan to do better. 

Ida Campbell, trustee for area four, said: “We’ve always had a dialogue with the minister of transportation [and transit] about the road conditions. 

“I think we advocate to the minister of transportation [and transit] that the roads have to be passable for our buses to get kids to school. It’s not only cold weather, it’s also road conditions.” 

The Ministry of Transportation and Transit used to be called the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI). 

Tom Whitton, trustee for area five, said: “If we’re going to say, MOTI, your roads are bad, we need to make sure that we’re trying to do better for next year.  

“When it comes to our roads, within our schools, around our schools, [we need to make] sure we’re taking care of those roads as well.”

Stephen Petrucci, superintendent of SD60, shared: “[At the] labour management meeting, the transportation manager expressed frustrations on the conditions on the road. 

“We always trust our professional drivers to sometimes use their discretion as to whether [to] enter, for example, a side road or a cul-de-sac and [if] it’s not safe, they’re not supposed to and so there’s nothing we can do about it.” 

This comes after the City of Fort St. John hired extra contractors to tackle the above-average snowfall the region experienced in December 2025 in the city. 

Energeticcity.ca got in touch with Dawson Road Maintenance, which deferred comment to the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Transit, which in turn did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.