CHARLOTTETOWN -- Getting students to and from school proved to be an ordeal for parents on Prince Edward Island yesterday after the province's entire fleet of school buses was pulled off the roads for inspection.
The move came after older buses failed rust inspections.
"It's a major disruption for both schools and parents," said Bill Whelan, president of the PEI Home and School Federation. "Nine out of 10 students on PEI are eligible to be bused."
Mr. Whelan said there were a lot of extra vehicles on Island roads as parents sought other ways to transport students.
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"Parents, grandparents, caregivers and neighbours car pooling to bring kids to school ... it was great to see," he said.
However, attendance was down by as much as 15 per cent in some Island high schools, and down by 5 to 7 per cent in other schools.
Sandy MacDonald, superintendent of the Eastern School Board, said he was pleased that more of the province's 21,000 students weren't stranded at home.
School staff and police officers directed traffic as large numbers of parents drove their children to school.
"Things went actually quite smoothly," Mr. MacDonald said.
Of the 320 school buses in PEI, 104 were made in 1994 or earlier.
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