The School District of Mystery Lake (SDML) board of trustees reiterated Feb. 12 why their schools remain open when temperatures and windchill reach -40° or even -50° Celsius in Thompson.
Co-superintendent Angele Bartlett said shutting down schools at these temperatures means that their students would miss large chunks of instructional time, since Thompson has experienced 14 days with temperatures or windchill below -40° in the last six weeks by her calculations.
“If we closed a school every time we said that -40 was a cutoff we might as well shut the doors in January and open back up in March,” she said.
Bartlett said this cold weather policy has been the norm for the district from as far back as she could remember. The co-superintendent and former Burntwood Elementary principal said the only time that Thompson schools have closed due to severe winter weather was during the blizzard in March 2017, when drifting snow blocked school entrances.
“From somebody who was born and raised here, the whole ‘cold weather shutting down schools’ is a very foreign concept to myself,” said Bartlett. “I don’t know what you’d do if you specify a temperature. Is it more dangerous to go to school at -55 than it is at -50?”
This approach differs from that of Division scolaire franco-manitobaine (DSFM), which considers cancelling buses and classes when the temperature drops below -45°C.
The DSFM recently put this policy into action throughout Jan. 29-30, when the division cancelled classes for all of its schools outside of Winnipeg, including La Voie du Nord in Thompson. SDML schools, however, were open during this time.
Bartlett said it is up to parents whether or not they want to send their children to schools during these periods of extreme cold.
“Use your best judgment as a parent,” she said. “You ensure that your children have the appropriate gear to come to school if they’re walking and if that’s not an option then you have the right to keep them at home.”
Trustee Lindsay Anderson said this extreme cold weather policy isn’t out of step with other Northern Manitoba school districts, including the Flin Flon and Frontier school divisions.
“This school board is pretty much doing the same as everyone else,” said Anderson. “It’s still up to the parents’ discretion here and the schools still have to stay open, because if one kid does not get the message that the school is closed that kid could get hurt.”
SDML does cancel outdoor activities, including recess, when the temperature or windchill dips below -30°C.
During the question and answer period of Tuesday’s meeting, resident James Crawley said the school board needs to do a better job of spelling this out to the public, since their cold weather policy isn’t easy to find online.
Anderson said the public relations committee is already developing a Facebook page and broader social media strategy to try to communicate more effectively in the future.
The next SDML board meeting is scheduled for Feb. 26. Two days later the school board is hosting a 2019-20 public budget meeting at the school district office at 408 Thompson Drive North beginning at 7 p.m.
