Snow day changes rebuked by Hamilton’s public school board trustees

Trustees at the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) have suggested rejecting a plan to have students work remotely during snow days, citing inequities and additional stress" for staff and students.

At a policy committee meeting Thursday evening, trustees were asked to evaluate proposals to the board's inclement weather policy that suggested students attend school from home using remote-learning technology on days when the weather prevents them from safely commuting to school.

The proposals followed similar moves in boards around the province to establish work-from-home policies on snow days.

The majority of trustees on the board's policy committee cited concerns with the suggestions, ultimately declining to approve any of the recommended changes.

I wonder if we'd be creating more work for staff or additional stress on families - in a time that's already filled with so much stress - by going ahead with this," said Becky Buck, trustee for Ward 8 and 14.

Buck, along with Maria Felix-Miller, trustee of Ward 3, raised several concerns, including issues related to students' access to technology, logistics for students in special education and the strain on staff conduct synchronous learning.

I don't think that, outside this year, we'd be considering this level of policy change, so I'm not sure that we should be making the change now," said Felix-Miller.

The committee approved a motion suggesting that the board as a whole reject any changes to snow days. The motion was approved on a 2-1 vote, with Felix-Miller and Buck voting in favour of keeping status quo on snow days and Cam Galindo, trustee for Ward 9 and 10, voting to accept the proposed changes.

The school board initially told families that remote learning on snow days would be happening where possible."

In a winter weather watch" statement last week, the HWDSB said that, in the event of school cancellations, secondary will move to remote and elementary staff will continue to work with our families on our remote readiness efforts."

The announcement was quickly criticized by teachers' unions who said that teachers had not been made aware of this misguided" policy.

This decision by the HWDSB reeks of privilege and inequity," said Daryl Jerome, president of the local bargaining unit for the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation.

He questioned how multiple-student households were expected to share Wi-Fi, how households that couldn't afford multiple pieces of technology would manage and how older students caring for younger siblings would fare.

Peter Sovran, associate director of learning services with the HWDSB, defended the policy as simply meaning that, where possible," remote learning should continue. That could come in the form of assignments rather than online learning, he said.

It would make sense that we maintain the policy we had to begin with," said HWDSB chair-elect Dawn Danko on Thursday, echoing calls to reject the changes.

The debate is not over yet. The proposals will go in front of the board as a whole on Monday, where trustees will decide whether or not to accept the policy committee's suggestion that the proposed changes to snow days be rejected.

Jacob Lorinc's reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows him to report on stories about education.