Parent questions why schools kept open after EMSB bus slides off icy street

The English Montreal School Board is downplaying concerns about its decision to keep its schools open Tuesday despite reports of at least two traffic accidents involving its students on icy roads.

In one incident, a school bus carrying 35 students slid off a street in a residential neighbourhood near Cedarcrest Elementary School in Montreal's Saint-Laurent borough. The bus went over a sidewalk and came to rest against a tree.

No students were injured in the incident.

Helen Hefter's 10-year-old daughter was on the bus and said the driver expressed concerns about the conditions while picking her up.

"When she first got on the bus yesterday, the bus driver was actually debating whether to turn around because the roads were so bad," Hefter said.

She said the students had to wait on the bus for close to an hour for a tow truck to arrive and get the bus back on the street.

Freezing rain warning came too late

The EMSB's decision to keep its schools open yesterday despite the treacherous roads met with heavy criticism on social media and elsewhere.

The EMSB said yesterday that advice from its school bus contractor, Transco, is a key factor when deciding if it should keep its schools open.

The board's chairwoman, Angela Mancini, said Environment Canada only issued a freezing rain warning after the decision had been made with the bus company and other school boards on the island of Montreal to keep schools open.

Environment Canada hadn't predicted freezing rain for Tuesday and only updated its forecast with a warning at 6:20 a.m.

"Buses were on the road, and the rain hadn't started," she said.

She said it's difficult to cancel classes once buses have started picking up students. 

"Many parents go to work once their children are on the bus, so it's difficult for us to say we're going to bring them back home or close the school," she said.

EMSB spokesman Michael Cohen confirmed the incident involving the school bus, but he said it was minor and noted that the board's 85 other buses and their passengers arrived safely at their destinations yesterday.

'A risky ride'

Hefter, however, said it was lucky no one on her daughter's bus or outside on the street was hurt when it lost control.

"It was a little bit dangerous yesterday and would have been better to stay at home."

That feeling was echoed by Ernie Pompa, whose two children were involved in a minor car accident yesterday while being driven to their EMSB schools by their aunt.

The school board's assertion that all students got to school safely may be true, he said, but it would have been safer just to close for the day.

He said it was great that all the children ultimately arrived safely, "but it was a risky ride."

"I think the EMSB needs to look at their procedures on snow days when the weather is severe."

The EMSB's Mancini said a review is standard in such cases.

"When things like this occur, we always have a moment of review and could we have done things differently," she said.

"The security of our students is paramount."