Yukon First Nation School Board apologizes for wording in letter to parents in Pelly Crossing

There is no school bus service in Pelly Crossing, Yukon, for the foreseeable future.

On Thursday, parents at Eliza Van Bibber School got a letter notifying them of the suspension in service.

The letter, which was attributed to school principal Mary Shkimba, said that "behavioural issues of some students" are the reason behind the stop in service.

The letter went on to encourage parents to have conversations with their children on respectable behaviour when using the school bus.

However the Yukon First Nation School Board, which has jurisdiction over the school, said the letter should have been worded differently.

"The First Nation School Board has always asked all of our team to always make sure communication is respectful to our families and our school teams," said Melissa Flynn, the board's executive director.

"We do acknowledge that blaming children for the loss of service in the community is not a respectful approach."

Flynn said that the Yukon First Nation School Board is working with staff at the school to address this and move forward "in a good way."

"We maintain expectations of respect to and from our student bodies for and from all staff partners," she said.

"We live our Yukon First Nations ways. We live in reciprocal relationships, and we all, in our families, in our communities, expect levels of respect from everybody." 

Flynn says she'll be reaching out to families to address any disrespectful behaviour that occurred around this situation.

Standard Bus is contracted by the Yukon government to offer school bus services in the Yukon. 

Nobody from Standard Bus in Whitehorse was available to comment on the service in Pelly Crossing.

Meantime, Flynn said the Yukon First Nation School Board will assist with trying to find a replacement driver so that bus service resumes as soon as possible.