The Seine River School Division saved just over 1 million dollars during the period of at-home learning brought on by COVID-19, but their Superintendent anticipates nearly all of that surplus will be needed in fall.

Savings in Seine River came from several sources. Michael Borgfjord lists deferred maintenance projects and decreased staffing requirements as having saved his division $140,000 and $250,000 respectively. However, he notes the bulk of the savings, roughly $400,000, came from the decrease in busing costs... a number that he expects will be flipped in the coming school year.

“Transportation is probably going to be one of our biggest costs, dependent on how many kids are allowed to go on the bus,” explains Borgfjord. “Right now, we are in the process of looking at using our buses to go on longer runs and do double routing in all of our communities which will mean paying for more miles, more fuel, and more hours for our bus drivers.”

Meanwhile, Borgfjord acknowledges the heavy toll learning at home took on students’ families in recent months and says it is his division’s priority to avoid such reliance on parents this coming school year.

“We want our plans to have as minimal impact on families as possible,” he says, “really doing it in a way that is more convenient for families than it is for us.”

Whether that means incurring extra transportation costs to promote social distancing in buses, investing in technology to make online connectivity easier, or changing timetables to align with parents’ work schedules, Borgfjord says the Seine River School Division is adamant on making things work and willing to pay the price.