Parents and grandparents may have fond memories of old-school snow days. It was a chance to play outside in fresh snow or stay in and watch movies.
Those days are gone, thanks to advances in technology.
Even the name has changed. They are now called inclement weather days.
But the biggest change is that learning continues regardless of weather.
Lesleigh Dye, director of education for District School Board Ontario North East (DSB1), explained the individual impact of inclement weather days depends on the educational path being followed by the student.
“At District School Board Ontario North East, we have an elementary and secondary virtual school,” she said. “So, on an inclement weather day, there is absolutely no change for those (students). And it’s about 20 per cent of our students.”
The rest of the students served by DSB1 also have learning opportunities.
“We do keep all of our schools open,” Dye said. “We do want our students to come to school. If they are not able to come to school, we do want them to be doing the path that their teacher posted online for them.
“We haven’t yet moved to a full synchronous day of learning (exact same online as in class). Right now, our expectations are students doing the path that their teachers have posted for them online.”
At the secondary school level, some students have opted to take one course for the entire school day, allowing them to claim a course credit in a relatively short period of time.
“My understanding, in secondary, in the one-period day or the Octomester, where a student can earn a credit in about 22 days, students are, if they are not able to come to school, they are looking online to see what the teacher has posted for the day because they want to keep up with their work to earn their credit,” she said.
The size of the school board’s district plays a role in the number of inclement weather days.
“We go from Temagami to Hearst, and everywhere in between. So, in some regions we have more inclement weather days,” Dye said. “An inclement weather day means transportation is cancelled.
“We’re in a transportation consortium with the French public board and the English Catholic board. Our transportation department, based on the input from the bus companies, they recommend whether or not buses should be running.”
Parents may wonder why buses are cancelled if the roads look clear in their own neighbourhood. But that is not the case for the entire bus route.
“What’s really important to understand is that our bus routes actually start way beyond our school locations in rural areas and then pick up students along the way coming into our towns,” she said. “Sometimes what you’ll see is in Timmins, for example, the roads are clear and one can easily drive on them.
“Our buses are on the road as early as 5:30 in the morning. And in our rural areas, sometimes the roads aren’t passable and it is simply not safe for a bus driver and students to be on them. “
Safety is always the top consideration.
“It is a decision that’s taken very seriously,” she said. “We just had a meeting about our transportation and inclement weather days. All of us involved understand how significant it is when transportation is cancelled, because we appreciate for many of our students that is the way they get to school. When we cancel that, we understand the disruption.”
Most students in DSB1 have the opportunity to continue at least part of their studies from home.
“Because of the extensive use of technology in our schools, our students in Grades 4-12 all have their own iPads in order to do the learning that is posted,” Dye said. “They are provided with the technology to get it done, and we’re very proud of that.”
