Winter is on the way and that means soon there will be bus cancellations due to inclement weather.
But if you’re a elementary or secondary student in the Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB), which covers the City of Kawartha Lakes, Muskoka and Haliburton, you won’t be able to go to school on days when buses are cancelled.
“One of the things we’re preparing for is how to proceed with inclement weather,” director of education Wes Hahn told the TLDSB committee of the whole meeting on Nov. 10.
“In the past, if we had bad weather, snow and icy weather, and the transportation in our system wasn’t running, we kept the schools open and of course, whoever could make it to the schools safely, teachers and students, would arrive in our buildings.”
But due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the board has opted to keep the schools closed those days.
Hahn said the “normal procedure” in elementary schools with a “varying number of kids” due to inclement weather is to combine classes if a teacher couldn’t make it to school, “and obviously they would do their best for the day to keep the learning moving.”
“That would involve mixing cohorts of kids and that is something that public health is not supporting.”
Hahn told the meeting that the board felt it was the right thing to do given the current situation.
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“On the days when schools are closed, transportation isn’t running, students will be receiving online learning from the teachers from the brick and mortar school. Learn-at-home schools will continue on and we’ll do our best to offer as much online learning from our bricks and mortar for the students at home.”
The TLDSB declined an interview request by Global News Peterborough to discuss the matter on Thursday.
A spokesperson said operational details were being worked out and that the board would be able to discuss it next week.
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Meanwhile the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board (PVNCCDSB) has no plans to close schools on ‘snow days’ this winter.
“I would have to say we’re not considering that,” said PVNCCDSB director of education Michael Nasello.
“We operate in a very large region and the weather conditions can be quite different in other parts of the region. It’s a complex decision. We have the ability to cancel by region, but usually it’s a whole board thing.”
Nasello said staff can decide what they need to do to maintain safety and that they can reconsider that decision mid-morning as weather conditions evolve.
“Our primary responsibility is safety and if kids can get to school, and miraculously they do, we want to have schools open to welcome them and receive them,” Nasello said.
PVNCCDSB has cohorts of 50 students in elementary schools or roughly two classes.
“That we would still do. If we were short-staffed, we could do those combinations we’re ready to do and the kids are already combined,” Nasello said. “We’d work with the principal on what the staffing needs are and who we can reach for supply teachers and whether we’d need to redeploy central staff.”
The Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board (KPRDSB) is still deciding what it will do for ‘snow days’.
“We haven’t made a decision yet. We’re looking ahead and planning for the winter right now,” said KPRDSB chair Diane Lloyd.
“Normally on a snow day we’d move a couple of small classes together and teachers would look after one class. With COVID, all the students are in one cohort and they’re in one cohort as long as we have this problem. So it becomes impossible to do that so we’ll have to talk about how to do that. It’s more complicated than a simple yes or no answer.”
Lloyd said there will be an answer soon.
“I would think within a week. We can’t leave it much longer,” she said.
“We’re hoping we can do this regionally. It’s rare we’d have a snow day in all three (Clarington, Northumberland and Peterborough) at exactly the same time. We’re going to have to look at how we will deal with that. It gets difficult too with our teachers who may have to cross those borders. We’ll have to figure that out.”
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