January has seen a high number of extreme cold days, leading to a number of area busses cancelling their routes.
Director of education for Prince Albert Catholic Schools, Lorel Trumier, said it’s a problem they’ve been contending with.
When cancelling the routes, she said they follow some basic protocols.
“Bus cancellations can happen for a few reasons, one of course is extreme cold,” Trumier said. “We do have a threshold of approximately -45 C with the wind chill. When that happens we have an automatic cancellation of transportation, currently, for only the out of city routes.”
She added the reason that city routes remain running during cold snaps is their ability to get to the kids in a timely manner if a breaks down takes place. In the city a bus can be reached in about seven minutes, it could take much longer to reach busses in the country.
Trumier said the cold weather has affected attendance of students.
“I don’t think that’s unique (to P.A), anywhere in Saskatchewan during this extreme cold snap, parents may choose to have their children remain at home,” she said.
Although its’ been a tough time, Trumier said technology has definitely made things more efficient.
“What used to take hours to notify parents now can take minutes. Again, we’re trying to be proactive, support our families as much as possible,” she said.
Trumier encouraged families to make sure students are dressing warm for the weather. She also noted that families in need of winter clothing can sometimes ask staff at schools for clothing like toque and mitts.
