School Buses

[oceanwave]

This may sound like a silly question, but it is that has been puzzling me. Just keep in mind that I did not grow up in Canada, I grew up in the tropics, and also where I grew up we didn't have a school bus system. You got dropped to school. So today in our area all school buses, both morning and afternoon are cancelled due to the impending freezing rain but school remain open. (it's absolutely bone dry here at the moment). Why do they cancel school buses but still make parents take their kids to school? If the weather is so bad and buses can't run, why do they make parents drive their kids to school? Is it a liability issue? Also if a parent can't drop their kid off or doesn't want to drive in bad weather does this mean a kid gets an unexcused absence?

 

[hardis5]

Where we are (central Ontario) school busses are cancelled today but schools are open. A "snow day" means no bussing so no school for most. One can drop their kids at school but the parents are responsible for picking them up on-time when school finishes. Only once can I remember the schools closed and the school board took a PR beating in doing so (Peel District back then) because it was preemptive and the storm did not happen so the schools being closed was totally unnecessary.

Since the majority of our youngest DS school (probably in excess of 75%) is bussed when a snow day occurs normal classes do not happen and those kids that do show up essentially have a fun day (watch movies and are cared for in the safe school environment by the teachers but no lessons happen). Our school board records it as an absence in a category reflecting cancelled transportation. From a bussing perspective it is purely a liability issue when they cancel for be it freezing rain or a lot of snow, anything that elevates risk around bussing has busses cancelled in the name of caution.

When we lived in the GTA, our middle child in high school on the border of one city had about the same 75% of her school bussed so she loved snow days and we'd hear from the round of txt's she received from all her friends almost to the second the bussing company posted busses cancelled

 

[xlxo]

I'll add.... when they announce service cancellations the day before due to weather... it gives you time to plan. The last thing they want to do is cancel service the morning of.... leaving you scrambling to find transportation option.

Depending on where you are in Canada.... weather may be harder to reliably predict.

 

[star72232]

If your kids are normally bused and the buses are cancelled, you don't need to take them to school. They will not be considered absent on those days. Kids who are not bused are still required to go to school (or be counted as absent if they don't). So, you are not required to drive your child to school.

Our buses weren't cancelled today (Waterloo Region), but Guelph, Wellington, Peel, etc all were. I think they are worried about travel conditions when buses are supposed to be going home tonight more than the morning commute.

That being said - the last two bus cancellation days we have had, I've driven my kids to school. I wouldn't if the road were really that bad, but they weren't. If they were, chances are they would have closed the school instead. If it's safe, I take them to school.

 

[Donald - my hero]

When our kids were in grade 3 our school board made the decision to go to full bus cancellations from what used to be delays or mid-day cancellations and as a parent i was ecstatic! Those delays were a headache for parents who work but not as much as getting a phone call (or worse hearing thru the grapevine) that buses were being sent home early --- how are you supposed to drop work and get your kids or arrange childcare with no warning? I grew up in rural Ontario and remember vividly getting billeted with kids who lived close to the school (once even getting put up in the gym) because by the time the powers that be decided to send the buses home the roads were already closed -- not fun.

This is from our school board's website to answer the question of parents needing to drive kids to school. Just use your own judgement, on days i didn't take or send our kids to school my note the next day would simply state that they were absent due to the weather.

If a bus cancellation happens during exam period they will move the schedule forward a day (there are always a few day's added at the end of exams to allow for this possibility)

As an interesting aside -- buses and schools can be affected by extreme cold as well! If the forecast is for temps to be -35 or lower with the wind chill you can expect to keep your kids home as well. Doesn't happen often, maybe twice in the entire time our kids were in school.

 

[22Tink]

I'm in central BC, and here if the buses aren't running schools do remain open, but we aren't 'made' to take our kids in. Some parents work and are out anyway so they drop their kids off but some parents choose not to and teachers are fine with either. There isn't really much regular curriculum happening on 'no bus days' anyway with the attendance so low.

 

[Aladora]

I'm in central BC, and here if the buses aren't running schools do remain open, but we aren't 'made' to take our kids in. Some parents work and are out anyway so they drop their kids off but some parents choose not to and teachers are fine with either. There isn't really much regular curriculum happening on 'no bus days' anyway with the attendance so low.

We're dealing with this right now in Victoria, BC. Two of the three school districts in our area are closed, ours is open but the school buses are not running. I drive our son to school so I tried to this morning...5 blocks later I turned around and came home! I could *probably* have made it to school but I'm calling today a personal snow day!

 

[mab2012]

This may sound like a silly question, but it is that has been puzzling me. Just keep in mind that I did not grow up in Canada, I grew up in the tropics, and also where I grew up we didn't have a school bus system. You got dropped to school. So today in our area all school buses, both morning and afternoon are cancelled due to the impending freezing rain but school remain open. (it's absolutely bone dry here at the moment). Why do they cancel school buses but still make parents take their kids to school? If the weather is so bad and buses can't run, why do they make parents drive their kids to school? Is it a liability issue? Also if a parent can't drop their kid off or doesn't want to drive in bad weather does this mean a kid gets an unexcused absence?

IMO, the answer to this is parental pressure. Parents still have to work when it's snowing, and last-minute childcare can be difficult to arrange. Basically, it's a babysitting service. I understand how difficult this can be for some parents, but I still think the "cancel buses but leave the schools open" policy is nonsensical.

My understanding from friends and acquaintances who have kids in the public system is that nothing much gets done on days when the buses are cancelled. Many, many students do not show up at school, so it's impossible for the teachers to teach effectively.

This is very region-dependent, by the way. Where I grew up in Nova Scotia, if the buses are cancelled, school is cancelled. And if they get it wrong in the morning and the weather turns nasty mid-day, occasionally they will even send kids home at lunch time. This is because roads in Nova Scotia can literally become impassable during a heavy snowfall, particularly when the wind is blowing and snow is drifting. I live in Ottawa now, and it is very rare that the roads here become bad enough that you run the risk of getting stranded, even on the outskirts of town. Generally if you can get off your residential street, you'll be fine to get wherever you're going, albeit more slowly than usual. Snowfall here is more frequent but usually not as heavy, it's not so windy, population density is much higher, and the plows and salt-trucks are generally out promptly and in force when bad weather begins. So it's a pretty different situation.

 

[bankr63]

Yeah, when I was a kid, schools here in Ottawa would close for snow days. DW is a teacher here in Ottawa now and has NEVER had a snow day; hasn't been one in probably decades. Busses are cancelled here on a fairly regular basis, but schools always remain open, and teachers are expected to arrive at work, on time, and ready to teach. I actually don't disagree, I don't take snow days either, but there is a bit more latitude around arriving late when the weather is bad.

In her case she teaches core classes in a central city school, so most of her regular students do arrive when busses are cancelled because parents have no other option. Although her school does not actually have bussing and all students make their own way, most of the French immersion and gifted class kids stay home. Go figure.

 

[JenluvsDisney]

School boards are very reluctant to completely close schools because they only receive government funding for the days that they are open. If they close schools, they lose their funding for the day but still have to pay teachers and other staff. Boards are so cash strapped that closing schools completely would only happen in extreme weather emergencies. By canceling buses only, school boards still get their funding, they don't have to deal with irate parents who want/need to send their kids to school, and if a child who's being brought to school is in an accident, the blame will be placed on the parent/guardian who chose to send the child to school and not the school board.

I'm in Waterloo and we've already had several bus cancellations this year. It's definitely annoying and very inconvenient for parents of young children who rely on the school bus, but I can see why the boards make this kind of decision. Spring can't come soon enough!

 

[starvenger]

I'll add.... when they announce service cancellations the day before due to weather... it gives you time to plan. The last thing they want to do is cancel service the morning of.... leaving you scrambling to find transportation option.

This is true. Although in the case of my child's school board they send a tweet the day before that there may be bus cancellations due to weather, and then they confirm in the morning. It's not quite as good as cancelling the day before, but still, you get that extra bit of prep time to, say, bring your laptop home "just in case".

 

[22Tink]

We're dealing with this right now in Victoria, BC. Two of the three school districts in our area are closed, ours is open but the school buses are not running. I drive our son to school so I tried to this morning...5 blocks later I turned around and came home! I could *probably* have made it to school but I'm calling today a personal snow day!

I see you guys are really getting slammed!! We have -20 but hardly any snow. We did have lots of rain when the weather was warmer which has resulted in some lovely skating rink conditions on driveways and side roads. Our bus closures this year have all been due to the icy conditions rather than snow. I hope the weather smartens up for you guys!!

 

[oceanwave]

Thanks for all the replies, this is all very interesting. I have a 1 year old at the moment, so we have a little while to go before the school years begin. But it basically sounds like once school buses have been cancelled and depending on how many kids are bused, school becomes more like a baby sitting service. This must be irritating for the teachers, making lesson plans and then not being able to teach that day. Growing up school was only cancelled due to hurricanes and severe flooding, we never had snow days. To kids love snow days or hate them because lessons are disrupted. Also with snow days do you have to make them up?

 

[star72232]

Thanks for all the replies, this is all very interesting. I have a 1 year old at the moment, so we have a little while to go before the school years begin. But it basically sounds like once school buses have been cancelled and depending on how many kids are bused, school becomes more like a baby sitting service. This must be irritating for the teachers, making lesson plans and then not being able to teach that day. Growing up school was only cancelled due to hurricanes and severe flooding, we never had snow days. To kids love snow days or hate them because lessons are disrupted. Also with snow days do you have to make them up?

We've never had to make up days - the Ontario school calendar is designed for some snow days I assume.

My kids like going to school on bus cancellation days. The older 2 (Gr 5 and 6) tend to have a lot of projects in their class, and those days they get to work on them a lot with less competition for the class computers.

 

[BLAZEY]

We're dealing with this right now in Victoria, BC. Two of the three school districts in our area are closed, ours is open but the school buses are not running. I drive our son to school so I tried to this morning...5 blocks later I turned around and came home! I could *probably* have made it to school but I'm calling today a personal snow day!

I'm in one of the the closed school districts in Victoria. SD 63 has there on fleet of buses and drivers where as SD61 buses are contracts held by private companies (Garden City & Third Wave). O buses go down into the valley on the east side of the Pat Bay Hwy. Very hilly area and secondary roads without much traffic don't have priority when i comes to plowing. Also the city transit doesn't go there either. so if the buses don't run they closed our school. Population density is quite low compared to in town so much easier to close the school. DD7 had Monday and Tuesday off as well as last Friday (Feb 3) as she had been at DH's parent's place and he couldn't get off the highway up the hill to where the school was even though school was open. I told him not to worry just take her home and be safe. On Wednesday i went a got her at 1pm when my boss closed our office which is 5 mins from the school. I didn't want to try and get her at 3 when everyone else was and I am so glad I did. By 3pm it was really nasty. we get more snow than in Victoria proper and the base from Friday Feb 3 still hasn't melted.

 

[Starwind]

Thanks for all the replies, this is all very interesting. I have a 1 year old at the moment, so we have a little while to go before the school years begin. But it basically sounds like once school buses have been cancelled and depending on how many kids are bused, school becomes more like a baby sitting service. This must be irritating for the teachers, making lesson plans and then not being able to teach that day. Growing up school was only cancelled due to hurricanes and severe flooding, we never had snow days. To kids love snow days or hate them because lessons are disrupted. Also with snow days do you have to make them up?

The school calendar is built with a certain number of snow days built into it. The # will vary depending on the region and its normal weather conditions. There are a required number of school days/hours that must occur in the school year, and the # is provincially set.

Very rarely there will be a situation where the schools actually had to close more days than are allotted for "snow days" - they use up more than that buffer. In that case the school year would actually have to add some days to make up the difference, usually at the end of the school year where there is actually some flex space built in by having professional development days for the teachers before the actual official end of the school year. I have seen this happen once, and it was truly exceptional. Normally the buffer is more than enough.

SW

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

it basically sounds like once school buses have been cancelled and depending on how many kids are bused, school becomes more like a baby sitting service. This must be irritating for the teachers, making lesson plans and then not being able to teach that day.

I am sure snow days are expected, to a certain degree, by teachers in Canada. It's just a fact of life for most provinces. No more irritating than other unplanned (yet not totally "unexpected") inconveniences suffered by anyone in any other profession.

Good teachers can use snow days quite efficiently......for themselves and for students. It's a great opportunity for them to catch up on marking, lesson preparation, etc. For teachers of the older grades, its a good chance to do review or help the few students who do come to school on a one-on-one basis (not always possible on normal days when class numbers are high). For younger grades, they can host fun activities that are not possible to do with a classroom full of bodies, or indulge in more play-based tasks (just because its fun and different, doesn't mean learning doesn't occur).

My son was a walker for most of his elementary years, so he rarely missed a day regardless of the weather. He grew to really enjoy a snow day now and again, especially as he moved upward toward high school.....a strong student by nature, having the chance for some personal attention from the teacher was something he didn't usually experience on a day to day basis [EVERY kid can use help with something now and then]. When he was bused he transferred to a different school board in secondary school, I was just as happy to have him home and safe when the weather was foul. Better to be safe than sorry when kids are involved. Stories like this just drive that point home:

http://globalnews.ca/news/3235153/s...n-slides-off-road-into-ditch-in-rural-quebec/