!n the mid-1970s, Trepassey saw a sudden spike in its school population, which quickly created a major school bus transportation issue. Because the Ferryland District School Board hadn’t secured enough funding for extra buses, they decided on a quick fix: any children living less than a mile from the school were no longer entitled to ride the bus.The board claimed they had meticulously measured the distance from every single house. I am sure some of those school board officials thought, “What odds! Let them walk. When we were kids, we walked five miles to school in our bare feet!” What really rubbed salt in the wound for us was that the bus stop was right at the end of our lane, but our house itself was the issue. Maybe someone on the board got a raise over that brilliant calculation.Now, you don’t want to upset a bunch of dock women with Irish heritage. Most of our parents did not own cars, and there was no public transit in Trepassey. So, the Briens, Ryans, Molloys, Pennys, and Corcorans decided to picket the bus and block it from passing. Unfortunately, that blockade only worked once. Eventually, our parents had to give in, and we were forced to walk to school. At least the fresh air did us some good!A couple of years later, the late John Bennett—who was married to my late cousin Bernice—won the school bus contract. I was long gone from school by then, but my siblings told me that John added extra buses. From then on, no kid had to walk, and the exact distance from the school didn’t matter anymore.I still often wonder where the school board got their information about “overcrowded” buses. In reality, it was never an issue; when we were forced to walk, the bus would frequently drive right past us half-empty. Maybe there were high sick calls or something, but the math never added up.Today, with only about 40 kids left in the school, the number of buses is no longer an issue. It is truly amazing how things change.