When power went out in the Moosomin, Whitewood, Rocanville, Wapella, and Fleming areas Friday morning, schools had to send students home, since there was no heat or power in schools and there was not estimated time or restoration of power.
McNaughton High School principal Jeff St. Onge explained that the decision came down after there was no clear timeframe as to when power would be restored to the community.
The decision was made after students had arrived for classes. St. Onge explained that once a student is in their care, they will take care of them until an adult can pick them up.
“Once we have them in the building here, we look after their health and safety. When we couldn’t get a firm commitment or even a timeline as to when the power would be turned back on, it was at that point that the determination had been made,” said St. Onge.
After the decision was made, the parents of the students were contacted and the students returned home.
“It is very tightly coordinated. If we have a student whose house we can see from here, we still have to have a parent on the other end knowing they are coming home. Sometimes they’re safer here with us than being home with no power. “If I had three or four or five or 10 of them in the school here or even one of them, I’d be here until the end of the day because that parent has a full-on expectation that is where they would be,” St. Onge concluded.
Director of Education Lynn Little said the school division had no choice but to send students home.
“When we didn’t have any power there was no heat in the building, and in that case, what we didn’t know is when power would be returned to the building,” Little said.
She added that he said that there have been fewer lost school days due to bus cancellations this school year.
“We would have had fewer this year than we would have had in the past,” she said. “It’s been a relatively good year for that. We certainly have had some occasions where we have had icy road conditions and visibility issues, and then of course the extreme cold.”
Buses are cancelled sometimes because of impassable roads and sometimes because of extreme cold.
“With the extreme cold, the policy is -45 degrees ambient or windchill at 630 in the morning as per the weather network in the area, then we’ll make a call on that at that time.
“In the event that it’s unsafe road conditions with whiteouts and that sort of thing, that’s done by area and by the driver and they’re in the best position to determine if it’s best to go forward. Then they’ll make that call and we’ll communicate with them and advise the families accordingly.”
