One week after in-class learning resumed, Niagara school boards elected to shut down on Tuesday, but for a different reason.
As students in Niagara went to bed Monday night, administrators for District School Board of Niagara and Niagara Catholic District School Board, in conjunction with Niagara Student Transportation Services, were monitoring the weather and road conditions to see if schools would be able to safely open — they were not.
About 6 a.m. Tuesday, both boards boards posted to their social media websites they had decided to close all schools, even online classes.
“When schools close because of inclement weather, this affects both our in-person and virtual schools,” said Carolyn LoConte, DSBN communications officer.
“We do have asynchronous materials for elementary students posted on our website’s Learn from Home page that students may access if they’re eager to do some additional learning today,” said LoConte. “And for our secondary students, they’re still able to access online materials for their courses.”
Niagara Catholic communications officer Jennifer Pellegrini said schools were closed for “the safety and well-being of all staff and students.”
“It looks like the worst of the storm is over, and we look forward to resuming classes on Wednesday.”
Often, the decision to cancel transportation will coincide with the decision to close schools for the day, but that is not always the case.
When a school board decides to close schools, it is a separate decision to cancel transportation services.
The decision to close schools and cancel transportation is made by 6 a.m. That information is immediately conveyed to the public via social media and local media outlets.
For more information on how the public and catholic boards decide to close schools, you can visit each of their websites at http://www.dsbn.org/inclementweather and https://niagaracatholic.ca/inclement-weather
Sean Vanderklis is a Niagara-based reporter for the Niagara Falls Review. His reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. Reach him via email: [email protected]