By Angelica Ingram

Published March 7 2017

It may seem like the winter of 2016/2017 has brought on a record number of snow days for students in the Trillium Lakelands District School Board.

And in reality it has.

Communications manager for the board Catherine Shedden said to date this year there have been nine snow days for Haliburton schools.
“This is the most that Haliburton has had” said Shedden.

Buses were cancelled for a tenth day on Tuesday March 7 after rains caused some secondary roads i the county to become icy.

Other areas of the TLDSB district have also had a high number of inclement weather days with Muskoka schools also having nine this past winter and City of Kawartha Lakes schools having six.
“In some cases they have been different days” said Shedden.

Students at Haliburton Highlands Secondary School were surprised to hear they have had nine snow days so far during this school year saying it doesn’t feel like that many.
Grade 11 students Brenden Black and Jake Hudson said it has felt like more than other years however neither student is complaining.
“There can never be too many snow days” said Jake.
They admit there have been occasions when they have been secretly or not so secretly hoping for a snow day. Whether it’s because of a test scheduled for the following day or a large project is due.
When asked if they’ve ever been disappointed a snow day has been called both are quick to say no but then give it a bit more thought.
“Well it did mess up our exam schedule this year” said Jake.

A few of the inclement weather days occurred during the first few weeks back to school following the Christmas break.
This disruption affected the high school’s performance of Grease which Brenden was in. The student said that might have been the only time he was disappointed in a snow day.
Otherwise both Brenden and Jake think the board makes the right decision most of the time when determining if the buses should be cancelled or not.

When asked if the board has a plan in place for making up lost time due to inclement weather days Shedden said the teachers adapt their lesson plans to account for the days away.
According to Shedden the TLDSB transportation supervisor has been tracking snow days since the 2010/2011 school year.