On  the morning of Thursday June 27, 24-the last day of school year-all of Hamilton Bus Lines bus drivers were notified by email from STSCO  that going forward they would no longer be driving their bus routes and were out of work come September 2024. They informed them that Hamilton Bus Lines had been underbid by a company from Concord Ontario called Wheelchair Accessible Transit- “W.A.T”.  We as a small community are outraged at this “undercutting” made at our children’s expense. Shame on STSCO for taking away all 100 of these local jobs from people who are our friends and our family. A bus driver is one of the most important but undervalued jobs. These lovely people take our children and treat them as they were their own, they make connections with our children, they take care of them when we aren’t there and they make sure they arrive every single day safe and sound to their schools. This is no easy feat. They are one of the first faces our children  see each and everyday. These drivers play a quiet but bright part of our children’s lives. I don’t know what we would do without them. Our goal is to have as many people made aware of this terrible situation and for them to act now by signing this petition and by letting STSCO, Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board and its trustees, along with our local forms of government know that we will not just stand by while they ruin this local company and its employees.