Department of Education explains how decisions are made to close schools

Friday, 19 January 2024 12:00

By Tonya Organ

Schools were open and during the afternoon, a notice was sent out to parents saying it was unsafe to send students home by bus and parents could pick them up, or they could stay at school until conditions improved.

Corner Brook, Pasadena, and Deer Lake schools are closed for the day but that wasn’t the case yesterday. Schools were open and during the afternoon, a notice was sent out to parents saying it was unsafe to send students home by bus and parents could pick them up, or they could stay at school until conditions improved. This raised concerns for parents without transportation and the city Transit pulled buses off routes at 1pm. The Department of Education issued the following statement this morning:

“The Department of Education takes the safety of students and staff in all schools very seriously. Decisions regarding Corner Brook area school closures due to weather are made by a team from NLSchools Corner Brook regional office. This process has been in place for some time and has not changed since the integration of the former English School District into government. Decision makers monitor prospective and current weather forecasts on a constant basis. As you can appreciate, weather patterns can change unexpectedly, however schools are prepared for these unexpected situations. Students and staff were safe and secure at their respective schools until the weather passed or until picked up by parents/guardians. Buses were able to run just before 3pm and all remaining students were already home or enroute.”