How the Public Schools Branch determines a snow day

The Public Schools Branch says it was fielding a lot of questions on Wednesday after its decision to close all the Island schools — particularly from parents in the Charlottetown area wondering why the closure was necessary.

This is the second day in a row that P.E.I. schools were closed after approximately 23 centimetres of snow fell during a storm on Tuesday.

The decision on Wednesday was based on the secondary and tertiary road conditions in all three counties, said Dave Gillis, leader of corporate services with the Public Schools Branch.

"Some had only one path through them," he said. "None had been salted and sanded, nor was there any expectation that they would be or could be in time for us to proceed with school today, even in a delayed capacity."

'Really surprised'

"I was really surprised," said parent Alida Love. "My husband and I kind of said 'I can't believe it.'"  

She has two kids who live within walking distance of their Charlottetown-area schools.

"I always ask myself, why can't they keep schools open in the Colonel Gray family of schools where students can walk. And there are those who might choose to drive their student to school, or choose 'no, I'm not going out on the roads today.'"

Love said that she has reached out to the Public Schools Branch to find out what the alternatives are to closing all the schools.

Opening some of the schools can be challenging, Gillis said, as that could have teachers who live in rural areas driving in unsafe conditions or unable to make it in — leaving those open schools understaffed.

"That would be our primary concern, is our ability to ensure we have adequate supervision and support for the students that did show up on such a day," he said.

"Furthermore, I wouldn't want the fact school being opened to be a factor that would influence parents to take unadvised risks."

He also said "significant percentages" of students at schools in the Charlottetown area come from outside the city.

"These are students living on these secondary and tertiary roads that were advised by T.I.E. [The Department of Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy] that were not in great shape, nor would they be."

Yearly reviews

Gillis said the branch gathers information from different sources to make an informed decision about potential closures.

They look at factors like current and predicted weather conditions, mechanical and power issues at the schools and Island road conditions.

"We've got intricate details with regards to the forecast. We're in touch with meteorologists directly, voice to voice," said Gillis. 

"We're in radio and telephone communication with road shift-supervisors and the plow operators. So the quality and quantity of information we're receiving now is the biggest difference I've seen over the past 15 years."

Gillis said the branch does review its policies on a yearly basis.

After receiving several calls from parents on Wednesday, Gillis said, the Public Schools branch will take a closer look at how it handles closures — but said safety will always come first. 

"Safety basically trumps everything in our world," Gillis said. 

"We can deal with the 25 phone calls of the unhappy people that think we made the wrong call. But we can't deal with the one phone call that deals with some tragedy happening as a result of a call we made."

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