Parent, teachers' society say school divisions in Winnipeg waited too long to cancel classes amid snowstorm

A Winnipeg mother whose kids attend Winnipeg School Division schools says officials waited too long to let parents know classes would be cancelled on Thursday amid a winter blizzard that created dangerous road conditions across the city. 

The Alberta clipper storm brought strong gusts of wind blowing up to 90 km/h, dwindling visibility on southern Manitoba roads as snow piled up. The blizzard was expected to bring about 10-20 centimetres of snow across the region, before ending later on Thursday. 

All school divisions across Winnipeg closed for the day on Thursday — a rare occurrence that hasn't been seen in three years, when a 2022 storm cancelled all in-person classes and forced the Pembina Trails School Division to move classes online.

Allison Chemerika, whose children attend high school and elementary school within the Winnipeg School Division, said the division sent out email notices too late. 

Had she not gotten a call from work telling her to stay home, she said her eldest son would have already left for his school's breakfast program by the time she received the email notification around 7:50 a.m. 

Chemerika said she received an email notification from her six-year-old son's elementary school around 8:15 a.m. — after she would have already left for work on a typical day. 

"For the school to not notify anybody until after many kids were already supposed to be leaving their house, I don't like that at all," Chemerika said.

"They should have even sent notices home yesterday, even possibly the day before," she said.

Shelley Amos, superintendent of the Pembina Trails School Division and chair of the Winnipeg Metro Superintendents, acknowledged in an interview with Radio Noon Manitoba host Marjorie Dowhos that schools divisions across the city made a "later call than anyone would have liked this morning."

"We had to make the decision, the best decision we could at the time with the information on hand. When new information came our way, we were able to revisit that decision. That may have been a little bit later than many people would have liked, including ourselves," Amos said.

She said they decided to close all public schools in Winnipeg after city police issued a traffic advisory warning all motorists to avoid driving and shelter in place until conditions improve. 

The superintendent said school division officials will take today as a "learning experience" and will be reviewing processes for future weather-related school closures. However, she said schools don't typically close preemptively based on weather forecasts.

Manitoba Teachers’ Society Lillian Klausen said in a statement to CBC News that teachers are "understandably frustrated" about the late notice of closures on Thursday, given that the "severity of the blizzard was forecast well in advance."

"Making closure announcements earlier would have prevented a lot of anxiety and unnecessary travel during hazardous conditions," she said.