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School’s Out, Again:
Why “throw away” school days hurt students
Paul W. Bennett
Director, Schoolhouse Consulting
School days lost are gone forever. Missing a major chunk of the school year because of storm day closures can
wreak havoc on students, eroding valuable class time, breaking continuity, disrupting tests and examinations,
and sewing seeds of division between unionized teachers excused from duty and support staff left behind in
empty schools. That is why the vast majority of Canadian school boards seek to preserve teaching time and
resist the temptation to cancel school and give kids “the day off” at the first sign of inclement weather.
Yet in Atlantic Canada it is different. Storm day closures are a regular occurrence and the rather unique
phenomenon of “throw-away” school days is now a deeply ingrained tradition. Student safety on the roads, we
are told, always trumps other factors in the Atlantic region. Closing schools is treated as a local matter best left
to the school boards and rarely raised a serious matter warranting provincial intervention. In spite of record
numbers of school day cancellations in 2008-09, a Nova Scotia report on School Storm Days gave the local
boards “good grades.”
Repeatedly cancelling school has a disruptive effect upon students, families, and teachers. A careful analysis of
the impact of “Throw-away Days” in Nova Scotia and neighbouring Atlantic provinces demonstrates that the
high incidence of such disruptions can exact “collateral damage” on students as well as the public school
system. The number and frequency of school closures in Nova Scotia, particularly during the 2008-09 school
year, had an impact on student learning, especially in high schools already beset by chronic student attendance
problems.
School days lost for “storm day closures” are part of a much larger problem – the ready acceptance of lost
school days without considering their true impact on the core function of the system, student learning.
Addressing the problem in Nova Scotia and the other Atlantic provinces calls for provincial action to establish a
minimum number of teaching days, to provide improved roadway snow clearing in school transportation zones,
and to ensure that schools remain open in all but the severest of weather.
AIMS Commentary – School’s out, again April 2010
Page 2 of 12
School Storm Days – The Public Controversy
The long winter of 2008-09 was one of the worst in the Maritimes, but it may have been what was needed to
break the relative silence over the increasing incidence of “storm days” in public education. By April 2009,
Nova Scotia’s regional school boards had cancelled classes for 11 to 14 days, and even the Halifax Regional
Board had lost 7.5 school days. Growing concerns about the rash of cancellations in Nova Scotia raised “the
level of frustration” among families, school officials, and the general public. The Halifax Chronicle Herald
responded on April 1, 2009 with a front page expose raising the issue of recouping lost time.1 The public furor
eventually prompted the Nova Scotia Department of Education to commission retired superintendent Dr. James
Gunn to produce a report on “School Storm Days” intended strictly as a Discussion Paper for the local boards.2
Dr. Gunn’s report, released in December 2009, put the issue of Storm Day Closures on the public policy agenda
in the Maritimes. It provided a reasonably reliable base line study and a few useful operational suggestions, but
stopped well short of tackling the bigger questions. His study provided no assessment of the impact of repeated
school day cancellations on the most important element of education –- student learning and performance. He
conducted a rather limited, selective analysis of school days lost in school boards in Atlantic Canada, Quebec,
and Ontario. His report only touched lightly on the politically sensitive matter of constraints imposed by
teacher contracts and mostly skirted the identified inadequacies of provincial and municipal snow clearance
and plowing operations.
Given this year’s unseasonably warm winter it is difficult to assess the impact of Gunn’s report. If the most
recent “snow day” is any indication, however, Nova Scotia school boards still show a marked tendency to
cancel school at the first sign of snow. The Contrarian, Parker Donham, responded to a March 3, 2010 school
day cancellation by calling the school officials responsible “fraidy cats” and charged that they cow-towed to the
unions by seeking to fill an alleged quota. It sparked a minor furor and prompted school authorities to, once
again, close ranks. 3
Storm Days Lost – Assessing the Damage
The winter of 2008-09 produced a record number of school cancellations across Atlantic Canada. Yet it was
part of a larger and longer term pattern of a gradual and marked increase in the number of school days lost to
storm closures in Nova Scotia and, to some extent, the other Atlantic provinces. This trend is not to be found in
other parts of Canada. Provincial and local education authorities in the West, Ontario, and Quebec are far more
vigilant in preserving valuable school days.
Nowhere else in Canada are provincial education departments so inclined to be laissez faire when it comes to
school-board wide school cancellations. Unlike Central Canada, the West and other provinces, decisions to
close schools in Nova Scotia are left entirely to the school boards. After closely examining “school storm days”
over past decade, it is clear that such decisions are based solely on road safety conditions without any reference
whatsoever to the potential collateral damage on student performance.
1 Ian Fairclough, “No Catching up on Storm Days,” The Chronicle Herald, April 1, 2009, pp. A1 and A2.
2 James Gunn, “Storm Days in Nova Scotia: A Discussion Paper,” Halifax: School Boards of Nova Scotia and the Department of
Education, December 2009.
3 See Parker Donham, “Fraidy Cats,” The Contrarian (Web Blog), March 3 and March 8, 2010. (www.thecontrarian.com)
AIMS Commentary – School’s out, again April 2010
Page 3 of 12
Table I: Storm Days Lost, 2008-09 and 2009-10*, Nova Scotia
School Board
Days Lost
2008-09
Days Lost
2009-10*
Annapolis Valley Regional School Board (AVRSB) 13 6
Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board (CBVRSB) 9.5 NR
Chignecto-Central Regional School Board (CCRSB) 14 2
Conseil scolaire acadien provincial (CSAP) 4.5 - 12.5 1 - 6
Halifax Regional School Board (HRSB) 8 0
South Shore Regional School Board (SSRSB) 9 5
Strait Regional School Board (SRSB) 10.5 NR
Tri-County Regional School Board (TCRSB) 3 5
*School Year 2009-10 (up to March 15, 2010)
Source: Nova Scotia, Department of Education, The Chronicle Herald, April 1, 2009; James Gunn, School Storm Days in
Nova Scotia (December, 2009), Conseil Scholaire Acadien Provincial Board; and News Reports, November 2009 to January
31, 2010).
In Nova Scotia, the most common explanation is that cancelling school on storm days is just part of the “public
school culture.” In making that case, Gunn put it this way: “(1) Schools are closed to students when the buses
are cancelled because of the weather and (2) Teachers do not have to report to work on storm days when
schools are closed to students.”4 That prevailing attitude is even enshrined in Nova Scotia’s provincial
education policy. Back in 1971, the NS Education Department increased the number of in the school calendar
from 190 to 195, to recognize and accommodate an average of five days lost per year. When the first Collective
Agreement was signed in 1974 between the Education Department and the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union,
teachers secured the legal right to be excused on storm days. It is so iron clad, that the provision withstood a
formal challenge in recent years in a landmark arbitration decision.
The record numbers of school storm days in 2008-09 brought the festering public issue back to life. When
pressed in April 2009 by Halifax Chronicle Herald reporter Ian Fairclough, Jim Burton, Nova Scotia’s Director
of Regional Education Services, came clean. Even after Nova Scotia boards had suffered up to 12 to 14 lost
days, he conceded that no provisions existed for making up lost time with extra days at the end of the year.
Under the Education Act, there is a regulation permitting the Minister to designate part of the March break and
up to three Saturdays for the purpose of reclaiming lost teaching days. School closures caused by storm days,
leaky roofs, or furnace problems, Burton claimed, did not fall under those regulations. In short, the situation
would now require a change in Nova Scotia’s Education Act and regulations.5
Comparing “Days Lost” – Nova Scotia and the Rest of Canada
A more detailed review of “School Storm Days” in Nova Scotia compared with school districts from across
Canada reveals radical differences in local education policy. The Nova Scotia Discussion Paper presented by
Gunn provided a starting point, supplemented here with additional data for the Nova Scotia Acadian School
Board. Building upon Gunn’s initial comparative analysis of school boards outside Nova Scotia, a broader
4 Gunn, “School Storm Days,” p. 6. Reaffirmed in a Personal Interview, Dr. James Gunn, Halifax, January 18, 2010.
5 Fairclough, “No Catching Up,” The Chronicle Herald, pp. 1-2.
AIMS Commentary – School’s out, again April 2010
Page 4 of 12
cross-section of boards has been included in this research study. (See Table 1 – Storm Days Lost, Nova
Scotia, 2008-10)
Broadening the scope of the research data only further demonstrates how out of sync Nova Scotia boards are
compared to their counterparts, urban, suburban, and rural, in other Canadian provinces. Nova Scotia leads all
provinces in school days lost, in stark contrast to those in Ontario, Quebec, and Western Canada.
Table 2: Storm Days Lost, Comparative Canadian Boards, 2008-10
School Board Days Lost
2008-09 Days Lost
2009-10*
Calgary Public School Board
(Alberta/Large Urban/200 schools/100,000 students)
0 0
Durham Region District Board
(Ontario, Suburban & Rural / 136 schools/ 69,086 students ) 0 0
Eastern School District, NL (4 regions)
(Newfoundland/Urban and Regional / 122 schools / 44,000 students)
4.5 – 12 NR
Eastern Townships School Board
(Quebec/Rural / 26 schools / 6,500 students) 0 NR
English Montreal School Board
(Quebec/ Medium Urban / 68 schools / 38,000 students)
1 0
Fredericton/ NB District 18
(New Brunswick/ Urban & Regional /34 schools / 12,000 students)
6 1.5
Moncton/NB District 2
(New Brunswick/Urban & Regional/ 38 schools / 16,000 students)
9 2
Western School Board, PEI
(Prince Edward Island/Rural / 23 schools / 6,244 students)
13 3
Winnipeg Public School Board
(Manitoba/Urban & Regional/ 77 schools / 33,000 students) 0 0
York Region District School Board
(Ontario/ Large Suburban/ 168 schools / 108,000 students) 0 0
*School Year 2009-10 (up to January 31, 2010)
Source: AIMS Research Survey, February 8-March 15, 2010; and James Gunn, School Storm Days
in Nova Scotia (December, 2009)
The December 2009 Nova Scotia Discussion paper tread very lightly, pointing out that Nova Scotia school
boards, faced with a terrible winter, were simply doing their best.6 A more thorough, comparative analysis of
Nova Scotia in relation to comparable education districts elsewhere in Canada raises serious questions about the
validity of conclusions reached in that Discussion Paper. Few school boards reviewed in the present study
come even close to those in Nova Scotia when it comes to cancelling school for storms, freezing rain, or
anticipated adverse weather conditions. No one outside of Nova Scotia and P.E.I interviewed was willing to
give Nova Scotia “good grades” for its 2008-09 record on storm closures.
The radical variations among school boards across Canada are startling. In Winnipeg, Manitoba, the largest
public board reports that, in spite of incredibly frigid winter weather, no classes have been cancelled for weather
6 See Pat Lee, “Good Grade for Storm Closures,” The Chronicle Herald, January 7, 2010.
AIMS Commentary – School’s out, again April 2010
Page 5 of 12
since April 1957, fifty three years ago. Two of Ontario’s fastest growing regional/suburban boards, York
Region and Durham Region, maintain extensive student transportation systems, busing thousands of students
each day. Yet both York Region and Durham Region only cancel school on extremely rare occasions, keep
regional schools open often in severe weather, and expect teachers to report for duty whenever the schools are
open. The highly ranked Calgary Public Board, with more than 200 schools and 100,000 students, “never
closes,” according to school officials.
Two Atlantic provinces with school day cancellation records comparable to Nova Scotia are
Newfoundland/Labrador and Prince Edward Island. Newfoundland and Labrador have much snowier winters
and, according to Environment Canada, average 12.7 heavy snowfall days a year.7 Prince Edward Island has
only 70 schools and 20,000 students, and many are scattered along mainly rural roads. Two of New
Brunswick’s 18 provincial school districts, the Moncton Area and the Fredericton Area, remain open far more
often than comparable boards in Nova Scotia.8
Storm Weather, Road Plowing, and Bussing – The Great Disconnect
Thousands of Canadian families depend upon daily bussing to get their children safely to school. In the
Maritimes, outside of Halifax, St. John’s, Saint John, Fredericton, Sydney, and Charlottetown, it is the principal
mode of daily student transportation. During winter storms or in anticipation of severe weather, it all hinges on
road driving conditions and the effectiveness of snow clearance operations. In spite of this, Nova Scotia stands
out as a province where the Department of Transportation gives no real priority in its clearing operations to
identified school transportation zones. In a few of Nova Scotia’s school board districts, Jim Gunn reported that
formal arrangements do exist, but in other districts the storm day procedures remain very loosely coordinated.9
While a coordinating body exists, known as the Nova Scotia Pupil Transportation Advisory Committee, it meets
only irregularly and rarely, if ever, with provincial officials from the NS Department of Transportation and
Infrastructure Renewal (DOTIR).10
When it comes to student bussing, Nova Scotia is neatly divided up into school board districts, each with its
own protocols and procedures. The only Nova Scotia School Board operating province-wide is the one serving
first language French children, called the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial (CSAP). For most children and
families of the Acadian Board, CSAP Board Secretary Mariette Dugas says “when there are no buses, there is
no school.” Snow clearance is a huge issue for everyone associated with CSAP as it is for other boards with
extensive rural bus routes. Few are willing to speak openly, given the close interdependence of the various
players and offices. When asked about the state of snow clearing on Nova Scotia’s secondary roads, it is
common to hear the bus operators complain: “It’s ridiculous in rural areas. There’s no priority in Nova Scotia
for snow clearing. The DOT waits for the snow to fall then sends out the crews.”11
Clearing the roads of snow and ice is a serious matter determining whether students can even get to school
during severe winter weather.
How do other provinces compare? In Ontario, the Prairie West, and most of Quebec, highway systems are more
extensive and snow clearance operations and equipment are often far superior than in the Maritimes. In rural
PEI, the provincial department only manages the main highway, leaving the back roads to small contractors.
7 Environment Canada, “Weather Winners” Website, March 16, 2010 (www.on.ec.gc.ca/weather/winners)
8 Telephone Interviews and Electronic Messages: Linda Wilson, Winnipeg Public School Board, February 10, 2010; Erin Bain, York
Region District School Board, February 10, 2010; Ted Flitton, Calgary Board of Education, February 10, 2010; Jean Doherty, PEI
Department of Education, February 11, 2010; Aubrey Kirkpatrick, NB Education District 2, February 10, 2010; and Alex Dingwall, NB
Education District 18, February 12, 2012. Supplemented by Michael Cohen, English Montreal School Board, February 10, 2010
9 Gunn, “School Storm Days,” p. 6; and Interview, James Gunn, January 18, 2010
10 Interviews: Shane Buchan, Perry Rand Transportation Group, February 11, 2010; and Mariette Dugas, Conseil scolaire acadien
provincial, February 11, 2010.
11 Interviews, Gunn, January 18, 2010; Dugas, February 11, 2010; and Buchan, February 11, 2010.
AIMS Commentary – School’s out, again April 2010
Page 6 of 12
School boards in other regions are simply much more proactive in keeping schools open through patches of
severe weather. Communications Officer Ted Flitton of the Calgary Board of Education was crystal clear about
that board’s commitment. “The CBE does not call snow days,” he says, “nor do we close schools due to
inclement weather. We have not done so for many years, The key reason is safety... Not having the schools
open can put children in danger, driving in the family car or being left unattended at home.” All families in
Calgary are advised “not to take risks in getting to school”, but the schools stay open through even extreme
weather conditions.12 That kind of clarity helps to ensure that provincial and municipal transportation
departments commit the resources necessary to keep the schools open.
Since the early 1970s in Atlantic Canada, local school boards have grown accustomed to five or six snow days a
year. It has been long recognized as an operating principle under provisions of the Nova Scotia teachers’
collective agreement. Veteran business managers like Harvey MacEwen of the PEI Western Board have come
to accept the inevitable lost school days each year. “We always err on the side of safety,” he says, and that
usually means closing the schools. In the case of Nova Scotia, school board officials and bus operators tend to
shift the responsibility back and forth for closure decisions. Speaking off the record, bus operators agree that the
Nova Scotia DOTIR needs to reassess its current road clearance policies and procedures. Currently DOTIR
crews give high priority to the larger Series 100 highways, then turn to the secondary roads, sometimes never
getting to the remote dirt roads.13
The Big Bite – Chewing into Teaching Time
School cancellations eat into valuable learning and teaching time. During the severe winter of 2008-09, the
sheer number of school storm days in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and parts of New Brunswick, cut
deeply into the annual school calendar. Over the winter months, prime teaching time, Nova Scotia boards,
except for Tri-County District, lost from 8 to 14 school days because of storms, heavy snowfalls, or freezing
rain conditions. Over a school year of 185 actual teaching days, the losses were significant. In the Chignecto-
Central School Regional Board based in Truro, most students missed 14 days or approximately 7.6 per cent of
their teaching time. For students attending schools in Annapolis Valley (AVRSB), Strait Regional (SRSB),
Cape Breton (CBVRSB), or the South Shore ((SSRSB), the loss rates ranged from 9 (4.8 per cent) to 13 (7.0 per
cent). Even in the provincial capital, home to the Halifax Regional school Board ( HRSB), students lost 8 full
days or 4.3 per cent of teaching time. In Nova Scotia high schools, where courses are rated and organized by
credit hours, many classes across Nova Scotia reportedly fell short of the minimum requirement of 110 hours of
instruction. That lost teaching time was never recovered, and simply written off by school officials.
School day cancellations have far greater impact upon secondary school students. High school students face
heavier regular coursework and the pressures that come with studying for, and writing formal examinations. In
the case of Nova Scotia during the long winter of 2008-09, school storm days completely disrupted the regular
academic schedule in many public high schools. Fourteen high schools were offering the academically
challenging International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma program, and students at 12 different schools were facing
the final set of international exams for the first time. Repeatedly missing school days can cause the work to pile-
up and raise anxiety levels, or the reverse, lead to tuning-out and disengagement.
A recent Nova Scotia report on Student Absenteeism and School Climate, conducted during 2008-09, identified
a serious and growing problem of school attendance. Based upon a sample of ten high schools, the Committee’s
report estimated that 7.4 per cent of students missed over 20 per cent of their classes, while about 45 per cent
“skipped” 10 per cent or more.14 In 2008-09, school storm days accounted for even more days lost. In extreme
12 Electronic Message, Ted Flitton, Calgary Board of Education, February 10, 2010.
13 Gunn Interview, January 18, 2010; Buchan Interview, February 11, 2010. See also Gunn, “School Snow Days,” p.6.
14 See Promoting Student Engagement, Report of the Minister’s Working Committee on Absenteeism and Classroom Climate ( Halifax:
Nova Scotia Department of Education, 2009), p. 17.
AIMS Commentary – School’s out, again April 2010
Page 7 of 12
cases, about 1 out of 10 high school students likely missed 25 % of their originally scheduled classes and an
astounding 45 per cent were away for 15 per cent of the classes. For such students, most likely struggling at
school, repeated school cancellations only compound the chronic problem, further contributing to
underperformance.
Impact on Student Learning and Performance
Previous studies, including Jim Gunn’s 2009 School Snow Days report, make no attempt to connect school
cancellations and lost days with either the quality of classroom learning or levels of student performance. While
it remains difficult to make those linkages, the issue is so fundamental to current “student learning” initiatives
that it is worth the effort if only to stimulate further, more authoritative research. In the case of Nova Scotia, the
verified data for system-wide school snow days per board in the 2008-09 year can be compared with student
performance test results on a board- by-board basis. When the two sets of figures are compared, it is abundantly
clear that primarily rural Nova Scotia school boards, such as CCRSB, AVRSB, SSRSB, TCRSB, and SRSB,
suffer more lost school days and also perform less well on annual Grade 12 examinations, particularly in regular
Mathematics. (See Table 3). In June 2009, for example, the NS boards with the lowest average examination
pass rates in Advanced Mathematics and regular Mathematics were, on the Regular exam: TCRSB (29%),
SSRSB (34%) and AVRSB (35%); and on the Advanced exam: TCRSB (34%), SSRSB (49%), and AVRSB
(60%).
Table 3 – NSE Mathematics 12, Percentage Pass by Board, 2007-2009
26 22 25 26 24
28 32
21
45
35 39
48 49
34
57
29
0
25
50
75
100
Province AVRSB CBVRSB CCRSB HRSB SSRSB SRSB TCRSB
Percentage of students
2007
2008
2009
Source: Nova Scotia Department of Education, Evaluation Services
Nova Scotia and its neighbouring provinces have not only the highest number of storm days, but also, as often
observed, the most mediocre results on recent international assessments of student performance. On the 2006
OECD PISA study, the NS Education Department took some pride in the science results of the province’s 15-
year olds, who scored “above average” and finished 18th out of 67 jurisdictions in the world.15 Those same
students also finished, as usual, in bottom half among Canada’s provinces. The first Pan Canadian Assessment
Program (PCAP) results, released in April 2008, assessed 13-year old students and provided a more sobering
15 Media Release, Nova Scotia Department of Education, December 4, 2007; and “Measuring Up: Canadian Results of the OECD PISA
Study,” Paris: CMEC and OECD, 2007. (Retrieved: 9/02/10)
AIMS Commentary – School’s out, again April 2010
Page 8 of 12
message. On Mathematics and Science, PCAP reported that “Nova Scotia and the other Atlantic provinces
results are below the national average.”16 The results for reading were no better. Nova Scotia students lagged
behind in Reading Levels, only 12 percent were reading at Level 3 compared to 22 percent for the Canadian
average, and more students in Nova Scotia were reading at Level 1, the lowest level, than the Canadian average
(16 percent versus 12 percent). With such results, it’s not surprising the mean scores for Nova Scotia students
were also significantly lower: Females - 484, compared to 513 for Canada; and Males - 463, compared to 490
Canada-wide. (PCAP Report, pp. 7-8) Given those scores, losing days and missing classes certainly does not
help.
Table 4: Reading Results – PCAP, Comparison of Reading Levels
12
16
66
72
22
12
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
CAN
NS
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Source: Pan Canadian Assessment Program (PCAP)
Losing school days falls heaviest on Grade 12 graduating year students. Surveying the student assessment data,
red flags go up concerning the real impact on the 2008-09 class of that highly disrupted school year. Provincial
English results are more of a summative assessment and tend to reflect writing skills developed over time, so
they are less reliable as an indicator, in this instance. Judging from the published results from the HRSB,
however, the June 2009 Mathematics exam results were a set-back. In the HRSB, after a record year of lost
days, the exam pass rates plummeted, in Advanced Mathematics from 77% (2008) to 62% (2009); and in
Regular Mathematics from 58% (2008) to 45% (2009).17 The “official” results, posted February 12, 2010,
confirm that the Grade 12 Mathematics exam pass rates dropped 6% province-wide.18 Such dismal Mathematics
results not only raise serious questions about the direct impact of the lost days, but warrant a fuller,
comprehensive, province-wide review.
16 NS Department of Education, Evaluation Services Division, Pan Canadian Assessment Program, Results for Nova Scotia 13-Year Old
Students (2007b Administration), April 28,2008.
17 Halifax Regional School Board, Annual Report to the Community, September 2008-June 2009, Charles P. Allen High (Halifax:
October, 2009), p. 2; and NS Department of Education, PLANS, NSE Mathematics, July 17, 2009.
18 Nova Scotia Education, Evaluation Services, NS Examinations: Mathematics 12, Percentage Pass, by Board, 2007-2009, posted
February 12, 2010. www.PLANS.EDnet.ns.ca (16/03/2010)
AIMS Commentary – School’s out, again April 2010
Page 9 of 12
Lost School Days – Gone Forever
Storm seasons come and go in Atlantic Canada, leaving behind a chronic problem eating away at the quality of
public education. The current winter season is the warmest on record and quite an exception. Over the longer
term, Jim Gunn’s report demonstrates that the average numbers of storm day closures are on the rise in Nova
Scotia. From 1996-97 until 2008-09, a 12 year period, storm day losses mounted and averaged 8.3 days in the
AVRSB, 7.3 days in TCRSB, and 7.0 days in CCRSB. School day cancellations were even up in the Halifax
Board, standing at an average of 2.9 days a year.19 Allowing an excessive number of school days to be lost
runs counter to the main thrust of Nova Scotia education policy. The province committed millions of tax
dollars to Nova Scotia Education’s Learning for Life program, established a whole Program of Learning
Assessment (PLANS), and now offers internationally-assessed IB examinations at over a dozen high schools.
In Nova Scotia, when the snow hits the roads and or turns to freeing rain, the busses do not run and whole
school systems shut down.
Curbing the numbers of school snow days , without compromising student safety, would have a positive effect
on the entire school system. It would clearly reaffirm the importance of regular attendance and the value of
classroom time. Keeping the schools open will definitely require more political will and firmness of purpose,
especially with today’s generation of parents. “The biggest challenge,” according to one seasoned Nova Scotia
bus company owner, “is the mindset of parents. We need to get the message across that on a snowy day
travelling on slippery, treacherous roads, the family’s safer in the school bus than in any other vehicle.”20
Provincial departments of education cannot afford to see the recent gains in student engagement and improved
performance slip away every winter season. Faced with a spate of school cancellations, a Minister of Education
does have some recourse. After Prince Edward Island suffered the loss of at least 9 full school days in late
January 2004, the then Minister of Education, Mildred Dover, took swift action reclaiming an upcoming
professional development day. It may have been largely symbolic, but it demonstrated where the government’s
priorities lay – first and foremost, in providing an education for students. In doing so, Minister Dover made use
of a provision under the PEI Education Act permitting her to revise the provincial school calendar.21 In the case
of Nova Scotia, the Act permits the Minister to reclaim lost school days. Under the Act’s regulation, time can be
recouped, during March break or on three Saturdays per year. Since reclaiming time lost through storm days,
leaky roofs, or furnace problems is excluded a change in the regulations is now urgently required. Yet much of
the current controversy stirred up by Gunn’s report centres on its possible impact upon the NSTU, and
specifically on the teachers rather than the kids.22 Letting snow days pile up is really the problem, not insisting
that everyone report for duty in empty schools.
Cancelling school days with such frequency does not make common sense and is not in the long-term interest of
students. When pressed to rectify the single biggest cause of lost school days, it is simply not good enough to
shrug and mumble that that’s always the way it has been in Atlantic Canada. That is not even the case, judging
from the distilled wisdom found in the diaries of those who guided the “Little White Schoolhouse.” When one
hard-working Inverness County schoolteacher Mary Ann Ellison was asked about giving the pupils a “day-off”
in the 1920s, she declared: “School was never cancelled on account of the weather.” 23 School consolidation,
busing, and cancelling school at the first sight of freezing rain are all creatures of the late 20th century. Perhaps
we still have something to learn in this new century.
19 Gunn, “School Storm Days,” p. 2.
20 Buchan Interview, February 10, 2010. See also Raissa Tetanish, “School Board Already Working on Gunn’s Recommendations,” The
Amherst Daily News, January 12, 2010.
21 News Release, PEI Department of Education, “School Calendar Revised to Help Make Up for School Cancellations,” January 29,
2004.
22 Beverley Ware, “Consultant: End Teachers’ Storm Days,” The Chronicle Herald, February 9, 2010, A3.
23 Mary Ann Ellison, Schoolteacher, Inverness County, interviewed in Leslie Christine McDaniel, The Little White Schoolhouse ( Hons.
BA Thesis, St. Francis Xavier University, 1984), p. 39.
AIMS Commentary – School’s out, again April 2010
Page 10 of 12
Recommendations
This Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) research report, responds directly to the Discussion Paper,
prepared by consultant Dr. James Gunn for the Nova Scotia School Boards Association and the Nova Scotia
Department of Education. The Consultant’s report provided a reliable summary of the background data and
ventured a few, mainly operational suggestions. Since Gunn assumed that school closures were strictly the
preserve of the local boards, little if anything was entrusted to the province. His paper made no reference
whatsoever to the “collateral damage” inflicted by repeated school cancellations impacting directly upon
students, classroom learning, or student academic performance. Building upon Gunn’s findings, the present
study takes a different approach to the chronic problem of “throw-away school days” mostly caused by
repeated “school snow days” and calls for immediate action to curb the number of school day cancellations in
Nova Scotia and elsewhere in the Atlantic region.
Recommendation 1: Reaffirm the Department of Education’s primary responsibility for the maintaining
the integrity of the provincial school schedule, including the provision of a minimum number of teaching
days and that schools actually be open for all of them;
Recommendation 2: To facilitate recommendation one, amend the Education Act and regulations so as to
reaffirm the authority of the Minister of Education to reclaim school days lost because of access problems
or other adverse facilities conditions, including storm closings, leaking roofs, or furnace problems;
Recommendation 3: Amend the Collective Agreement with the teacher’s union so as to guarantee a
minimum number of teaching days and stipulate that when the schools remain open teachers (as well as
support staff) are expected to report for duty;
Recommendation 4: Mandate the Department of Transportation (DOTIR in NS) to develop (in
collaboration with the provincial Pupil Transportation Advisory Committee) a coordinated province-
wide strategy for snow clearance and highway plowing assigning higher priority to heavy daily student
transportation zones, particularly along secondary roadways and working more closely with
municipalities to improve services on dirt roads;
Recommendation 5: Mandate every School Board/District to produce a contingency plan to reclaim days
that are lost, including using holiday periods and giving absolute priority to restoring lost teaching time;
Recommendation 6: Initiate an independent Provincial Review of the Impact of Lost Class Time on
student engagement, classroom learning, and student performance, particularly on provincial, national
and international assessments:
Recommendation 7: Assess the impact of reducing the numbers of school storm days on student learning
and performance once every five years, commencing in 2014-15.
AIMS Commentary – School’s out, again April 2010
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REFERENCES
Birnbaum, Michael. 2010. “As Snow Days Pile Up, Educators Consider Options.” The Washington Post.
February 10, 2010. www.washingtonpost.com
Canadian Education Association. 2009. The 2008-2009 School Calendar. Toronto: Canadian Education
Association. www.cea-ace.ca
Donham, Parker. 2010 “Fraidy Cats,” The Contrarian Web Blog, March 3 and March 8, 2010
www.thecontrarian.com (18/03/2010)
Environment Canada. 2010. Weather Winners Website, Top Province-Territory Weather Honours.
www.on.ec.gc.ca/weather/winners (16/03/2010)
Fairclough, Ian. 2009. “No Catching up on Storm Days.” The Chronicle Herald, April 1, 2009, pp. A1 and A2.
Government of Canada. 2007. Measuring up: Canadian Results of the OECD PISA Study: 2006 First Results
for Canadians Aged 15. Ottawa: PISA. www.pisa.gc.ca/81-590-xie2004001.pdf
Gunn, James. 2009. Storm Days in Nova Scotia: A Discussion Paper. Halifax: School Boards of Nova Scotia
and the Department of Education, December 2009.
Henwood, Dawn. 2009. We Don’t Need Another Hero! Why Hollywood Should Not be Another Inspiration for
Education Reform in Atlantic Canada. AIMS Commentary. Halifax: AIMS .
Johnson, David. 2009. Collateral Damage: The Impact of Work Stoppages on Student Performance in Ontario.
C.D. Howe Institute E-Brief. March 12, 2009. Toronto: C.D. Howe Institute.
Lee, Pat. 2010. “Good Grades for Storm Closures.” The Chronicle Herald, January 7, 2010.
Nova Scotia Department of Education. 2007. News Release: Nova Scotia and the 2006 PISA Results.
December 4, 2007.
Nova Scotia Department of Education. 2008. Pan Canadian Assessment Program (PCAP): Results for Nova
Scotia 13-Year-Old Students (2007 Administration). Halifax: Evaluation Services Division. April 28, 2008.
Nova Scotia Department of Education. 2009. NSE Mathematics 12 Results: Percentage Pass by Board, 2007
and 2008. Released July 17, 2009. Halifax: Program of Learning Assessment for Nova Scotia.
Nova Scotia Department of Education. 2009. Promoting Student Engagement: Report of the Minister’s
Working Committee on Absenteeism and Classroom Climate. September 2009. Released January 27, 2010.
Halifax: NSDOE.
Tetanish, Raissa. 2010. “School Board Already Working on Gunn’s Recommendations.” The Amherst Daily
News. January 12, 2010.
Ware, Beverley. 2010. “Consultant: End Teachers’ Storm Days.” The Chronicle Herald, February 9, 2010, A3.
AIMS Commentary – School’s out, again April 2010
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Paul W. Bennett is Director of Schoolhouse Consulting, Halifax, and the author of The Grammar
School: Striving for Excellence in a Public School World (2009). He completed his Ed.D. at the University
of Toronto and served for 20 years in school leadership roles in Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. In
January 2010, he established EduBlog and Eduwatch at www.schoolhouseconsulting.ca
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E-Mail: aims@aims.ca http://www.aims.ca