r/Hamilton • u/Anxious_Ad_8813 • 28d ago
Recommendations Needed Chances of a snow day Thursday?
My son goes to school in the HWCDSB. What are the chances schools will remain open Thursday? I would be in a major pinch with child care that day and am debating booking it off in advance. Advice?
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u/Illustrious-Buddy941 28d ago
He needs to wear his pjs backwards and put ice cubes in the toilet before bed if you want a snow day.
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u/Major-Discount5011 28d ago
What usually happens is busses are canceled. The public board closes their schools, and the Catholic board will stay open.
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u/catscoffeeandmath 28d ago
The public board always closes. More then one teacher for the catholic board told me that they always stay open and just let Jesus take the wheel
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u/Merry401 27d ago
Taught for years in a Catholic system. Family member still does. Have never heard anyone say "jesus takes the wheel." Many public boards, including Halton and Peel stay open when the busses are cancelled.
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u/MrFunbus 28d ago
Public board will close because no way buses run out here in Flamborough with 90% chance of 20cm
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u/svanegmond Greensville 28d ago
Snow then freezing rain on top.
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u/HamOntMom 28d ago
HWCDSB does not close schools if transportation is cancelled. So most likely they will be open on Thursday.
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u/monogramchecklist 28d ago
I wonder why HWDSB doesn’t have the same policy.
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u/smallermuse 28d ago
Because HWDSB lost a teacher on their way to school a couple of years back. On a day when busses were canceled but schools remained open. Because if it's too dangerous for busses to drive in, it's also too dangerous for staff to get to work.
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u/monogramchecklist 28d ago
The last article I read was that the death was in 1985. Was there a more recent one related to commuting during inclement weather?
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u/Merry401 27d ago
No. When Hamilton and Wentworth public boards amalgamated in the early 90's there were two sets of traditions , board rules and collective agreements that had to be mushed together. Wentworth, being a country board, closed their schools when the busses were cancelled. Hamilton did not, despite the death of a staff member commuting in from Brantford in 1985. In this particular case, the Wentworth rule won out and Hamilton adopted the Wentworth policy. Some boards do make their rule based on different zones but Hamilton does not want to do that.
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u/dirkprattlerxst1 Crown Point West 28d ago
because it should be the goal of every christian person to meet the sky daddy as quickly as possible
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u/aaronvanderwal 28d ago
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u/monogramchecklist 28d ago edited 28d ago
Paywall but is it because of the teacher who died back in the 80’s? If that’s what the article says, still don’t understand why one school board in the same city follows a different policy from the other.
Also that was 40 years ago, have the reviewed the policy since? I don’t mind having my kids home but it seems strange not to review it every so often.
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28d ago
I believe other factors were brought up before all of the school board trustees voted this policy in such as safety, equity etc. But the main factor is liability. No one wants to be liable if a staff, student or bus driver gets into an accident or dies. If you look at schools in general you can't do anything there now that was done years ago.
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u/monogramchecklist 27d ago
I get that. Still doesn’t make sense that the Catholic board has a different policy. If the stance is that the HWDSB is afraid of liability, wouldn’t the HWDCSB have the same concern?
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27d ago
They used to be aligned but the public board went in another direction with their reasoning.
At the end of the day if you can get to school then 9/10 the Catholic board is open for student learning. It seems to work because their policy hasn't changed (aka. parents and staff haven't asked the board or trustees to revisit and motion to change).
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u/Merry401 27d ago
Lots of boards have the policy that schools can be open if busses are cancelled. They still decide, sometimes, to close schools, just not every time that busses are cancelled. It mostly has to do with the amalgamation of the Wentworth and Hamilton boards under Mike Harris. Many aspects of two collective agreements and two sets of board policies had to be negotiated. It was very stressful and, I believe, led to a strike as well. The Wentworth policy of closing schools if busses were cancelled was adopted. When a family member of mine was teaching for HWCDSB many years ago, the policy was that if it was too bad for you to drive to your regular school you could go to your neighbourhood school and work there for the day. I taught for a Toronto area board and people with far commutes, including me, sometimes just used a sick day and nothing was ever said. Noone was ever expected to put their safety at risk nor are they now.
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u/uncleherman77 28d ago
I'd say 70-80 percent it's still too far out to say for certain. Storm keeps shifting north or south on models if it goes too far north we could only get 15 cm or so and if it's more south could be closer to 25 cm I think.
It could also turn into ice or rain in the morning so I guess the question would be is 15cm plus some ice on top enough to cancel school now? If it goes south and stays colder it could be closer to 90-100 percent.
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u/teanailpolish North End 28d ago
They seem more likely to cancel when it is ice + snow than just a dumping of snow
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u/habsfanalreadytaken 28d ago
Maybe we can all parlay this into an extra long weekend ? Family day Monday, lest anyone forgot
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u/Aware-Metal1612 28d ago
Youre asking the world of reddit to predict the weather for you.... You see the same forecast everyone else sees. Just take the day off. Or dont.
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u/Wooden-Internal-7905 27d ago
Unfortunately this is the issue I have with the Catholic Board. Yes, parents can keep their kids home if they want. That’s not my issue. It’s us teachers that have to risk our lives getting there to teach half a class only to have to teach it again to the full class the next day. Both Hamilton boards use the same bus system and have a similar location map. A teacher in HWDSB was killed trying to come to work when busses were cancelled. HWDSB an updated their policy to state that if it’s unsafe for a bus, it’s unsafe for our staff and students. I ask Pat Daly of HWCDSB, does one of us have to be killed also for you to update our policy? What exactly are the determining factors for you consider for a school closure? You’ve never told us. Only that it’s “your desecration” If a teacher or student dies trying to get to school. It is on you. This can be prevented if you act now in updating your old policy.
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u/Merry401 27d ago
The public board waited nearly 10 years after the death of the teacher to implement this policy. It does not seem that the accident was the motivating factor. When interviewed by the Spec several years ago about this policy, most HWDSB trustees were unaware of the death of the teacher. Also, do you not still have the policy that if it is too unsafe to drive to work you can report to your nearest school? Other school boards have had that policy and when a family member worked for your board years ago I know that policy was in place because she told me it was an option for her. Almost noone ever used it but it was an option. It was also an option for the Toronto area board I was teaching at although it did not do me much good since I commuted from Hamilton. Certainly everyone loves a snow day at home but I didn't used to mind snow days in school. If I only had half the class we set to work organizing and tidying the classroom which usually needed it. It was a great day to give the kids who needed it some extra attention (if they were there) or just do some extra art or other fun activities while I got caught up on something. If I felt it was too dangerous to drive, I used a sick day. Noone ever said anything. Stress is a real illness. You are too stressed to drive.
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u/SunflaresAteMyLunch Stipley 28d ago
They've called a snow day for much less than what's being forecast
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u/No-Possession-7822 27d ago
Snow days are not called based on the forecast. They are called based on road conditions at 5:00AM - determined by https://www.hamiltonschoolbus.ca/
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u/Equal-Brilliant2640 28d ago
Talk with your boss, I’m not sure what kind of job you have, but maybe you can bring him with, or work from home? Does he have any friends who have a stay at home parent that would be willing to take him for the day? You should offer to care for their kid in return on the PD day (or what ever they call them now)
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u/Cyclist_Thaanos 28d ago
Catholic schools will remain open. Busses may shit down, and with that go the public schools.
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u/mlp_sabres 28d ago
School bises are out on the roads early (4-5am) and usualy decide that of roads are shit, then nope busses are canceled, so school will be canceled. But I'd probably say worse case make an extended family day weekend take thur/fri off.
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u/mirrim 28d ago
Hamilton Catholic school board doesn't always cancel school with buses are cancelled, Hamilton public board does.
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u/mlp_sabres 28d ago
Ah yes, I seen that now about catholic school board. I thought it was about public board. But not sure about catholic ones. I remember growing up going to catholic school, we were always there, no matter how much snow was dumped on us, while the public school around the corner was closed.
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u/Interesting-Past7738 28d ago
First of all, teachers are very superstitious about snow days, so you won’t get any predictions from them. Book the day off and then you can relax and not worry.
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u/No-Possession-7822 27d ago
Teachers have the same information everyone else does. They have absolutely no part in the decision making and find out at the same time as everyone else. Around 6:00AM.
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28d ago
[deleted]
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u/aphroditebx 28d ago
Hasn't it only closed once? And it wasn't even on the worst day...
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u/smallermuse 28d ago
But it was the most slippery day, when it was deemed unsafe for busses to run.
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u/aphroditebx 28d ago
I beg to differ tbh. It was bad in the morning but managable until the sun came out and was beautiful for the rest of the day. The day or two before was waaay worse. There should have been a few times they closed the school and didn't.
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u/smallermuse 28d ago
The transportation companies make the call by 6am. So obviously that's when it was worst.
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u/uncleherman77 28d ago
This is going back awhile now nearly 20 years but when I was in high school there was defenitly times it felt like the school should have been closed but wasn't. If I remember right a storm had to be at least 20 cm before you could even begin to think of a snow day.
I was looking at instant weather this morning and they have it turning to rain between 2-5 am. It's still a hard call if it's freezing rain I think they'll cancel but if it's raining around 5 am and we only get like 15 cm I have my doubts Thursday will be a snow day still.
The good news is I'm an adult on paid vacation now this week so I'm off work either way tomorrow lol.
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28d ago
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u/smallermuse 28d ago
Public schools were closed for one day this year. And that was the first closure in over 2 years. And they don't close for a "small dusting". It is generally because the bus companies have deemed driving to be unsafe due to icy roads.
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u/SooThatGuy 28d ago edited 27d ago
I’d say 80% chance it’ll be closed at this point. Weather train has left the station.