I know there are mixed reactions when the first snow hits the ground each winter. The skiers love it and start the countdown to when then can hit the slopes. New Canadians are curiously excited about the prospect (and usually don’t mind the snow as much as the cold) and others just want it to be spring again. Having grown up in a snowbelt area, I prefer the snow to come in late November, to stay until mid-February and be all melted by March Break. I don’t like it when the snow comes, then melts, then comes back…I am not a fan of slush!

Here at our schools, our routine changes slightly. On snowy mornings, the parking lots and sidewalks get plowed, shovelled and salted. The teachers on yard duty pack some extra layers before they leave for work and we encourage everyone to leave earlier to account for the slower traffic. And as longtime Mentor/TEAM families will attest, we very rarely declare a “snow day” for the school.

I know the Weather Network and CP24 love snow days and they are even more eager than the students to hand out bus cancellation and school closure information. This eagerness means that they will report without checking the source and a few years back, an enterprising high school student called CP24 to tell them our buses were cancelled. The station reported it and it of course caused a lot of confusion at the school (sidenote: the student made the mistake of taking a photo of the TV screen and putting it on Facebook so most of the HS knew who it was!). Since then, we remind families several times a year that we only report bus cancellations and/or school closures through our own media. If you are receiving this email, you will be the first to hear bus cancellation or school closure information. The “Snow Day” page on our websites will have the information and we will also post this on our Facebook page. So as the holiday song says: “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow”.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School