Northlands Funk? Principal's musical school closure announcements rack up Facebook likes

A southern Manitoba school principal's singing school closure announcements are winning fans on Facebook.

Tammy MacDonald — or T-Mac, as her students have nicknamed her — spoofed a couple of pop songs to announce Northlands Parkway Collegiate in Winkler was closed because of Manitoba's deep freeze on Tuesday and Wednesday.

With the temperature plunging down below –35 C and wind chills around –45, classes were cancelled for the 650 students at the high school in the Manitoba city, about 100 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg — and MacDonald decided to take a page from a U.S. school administrator's songbook and sing a new version of Mark Ronson's and Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk.

"It's here, that ice cold, that winter storm, that white snow," she sang in a video that had more than 12,000 views by 2 p.m. CT Wednesday, almost a day after it was posted.

Watch MacDonald spoof Uptown Funk:

"Another snow day gonna give it to you," she sang, replacing the words "'Cause uptown funk gonna give it to you," which start the Ronson/Mars version.

"Tuesday morning just stay inside, maybe play some Fortnite."

The Uptown Funk spoof was written by Missouri Valley, Iowa, school superintendent Brent Hoesing, MacDonald admitted — but on Wednesday she created her own song to announce a second closure.

"No songs to sing, no lunch to bring, in fact it's just another –50 day," she sang to the tune of Stevie Wonder's I Just Called to Say I Love You, altering the chorus to "I just called to say there's no school."

Watch MacDonald's version of I Just Called to Say I Love You:

MacDonald, unlike her students, was at school on Wednesday, and said she'd seen Hoesing's video a while ago and someone dared her to do the same.

"We never get snow days down here," in Winkler, she said, so she thought she might get away with it.

However, when another closure happened Wednesday, she stayed up late to create what is apparently going to become a new tradition.

"I think we should have another one ready to go for next year," she said.

She has a lot of fun at work and the songs are part of it, she said, and she encourages other schools to take up her challenge to create their own videos.

"I like to get school spirit going," she said. "It just shows you in a different light for the kids."

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