Occasional school closures in remote areas may be the bane of a working parent’s existence, but they come with the rural lifestyle, country-living boosters say.
“It can make it difficult, but Mother Nature doesn’t care, so we need to have a plan in place for these things,” Conmee Mayor Sheila Maxwell said on Tuesday, as another winter storm made rural routes near Thunder Bay too dangerous for school buses.
As it did one day last week, Lakehead Public Schools announced early on Tuesday it had temporarily closed eight elementary schools outside Thunder Bay, “due to poor road conditions and current and forecasted weather.”
The affected schools were Crestview, Five Mile, Gorham and Ware, Kakabeka Falls, McKenzie, Nor’wester View, Valley Central, and Whitefish Valley, the board said in a bulletin.
Environment Canada’s website said the latest storm was expected to dump about 15 centimetres of snow on Thunder Bay by Tuesday afternoon. A mixture of sun and snow flurries is forecast for the city today.
Maxwell, who has personally been affected by school closures, said parents just have to try and take it in stride.
“This is just normal country living for us around here,” she said. “Unfortunately parents who depend on school while they work are scurrying around finding child care.”
