Halifax education centre defends keeping schools open, criticizes bus service

The Halifax Regional Centre for Education said it understands the frustrations of parents whose children were stranded in stormy weather Friday waiting for late buses, but stands by its decision to keep school open during the first major snowfall of the season.

Wet, heavy snow that blanketed city streets in the early morning hours snarled rush-hour traffic and left a trail of fender benders. At least one serious crash was reported.

Multiple school buses were significantly delayed in the morning due to the weather, Stock Transportation said in a statement posted to Twitter late morning.

Doug Hadley, a spokesperson for the Halifax Regional Centre for Education, said centre staff would look into why parents weren't given more timely information.  

"There are supposed to be push notifications going out to parents if buses are going to be delayed for, I believe, it's 15 minutes or more," he said.

"That obviously didn't happen. So we need to find out why because we can't have that happen again."

Bus driver refused to pick up student

Parent Erin Hartlin said she didn't receive any notifications from Stock. But when her son went to catch the bus in the morning, the driver refused to pick him up because it was too dangerous on the road.

"Why was there no communication publicly about this?" said Hartlin. Staff at the centre should have cancelled school, she added.

"They knew the first snowfall of the year — every year in Halifax — is a traffic nightmare," she said. "They should have known."

Hadley said staff at the centre for education make decisions on school closures based on whether Stock is running buses. 

Keeping schools open Friday was the right move, he said. 

"We would make the exact same decision with the exact same information."

Stock apologizes for delays

Stock Transportation did not respond to a request for comment. But in its online statement, the company said conditions weren't stormy when it decided to put its buses on the road and apologized for any inconvenience.

"Early this morning, Stock received notification that the roads were fit for safe transportation during a routine advisory call," the statement read. 

"However, this was prior to the snowfall. Putting safety at the forefront, we are working diligently to navigate the sudden declining weather and complete all possible routes."

Hadley said something would need to change to avoid similar problems during the next snowfall.

"We can't have people always wondering what's going to happen on a day when we have some snow," he said.

"Obviously we're going to have to have some conversations about Stock because we can't have this continually happen."

Union blames minister

But the president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union said Stock Transportation was not to blame for issues with getting students to school on time. He pointed the finger at Education Minister Zach Churchill​ instead.

Wozney said now that there are no longer elected school board trustees, the minister should be responsible for closing schools along with input from teachers and principals. The provincial government dissolved all elected school boards in favour of an appointed advisory council in April.

"If parents are upset whether something does or doesn't happen, they can and they should be speaking directly to the minister. Because the minister has put himself ultimately in the place of elected trustees," said Wozney.

He said the Halifax Regional Centre for Education "got it wrong" Friday when they decided to keep schools open.

"It was not safe today to put kids on sidewalks," he said. "It was not safe today to put kids in buses or to ask people to drive their kids to school in cars. It was a really, really ugly day."