Tri-County Regional Centre for Education office (Y95 News Photo)

Who makes the decision to close schools because of bad weather?

The final call rests with Jared Purdy, the Director of Education for the Tri-County Regional Centre for Education.

He says the decision is made after consultations with several key people.

“Our transportation folks are travelling second-hand roads for evaluation. That’s a lot of data collected in a short amount of time, and then a recommendation is made,” said Purdy.

Purdy then joins a conference call at 5 a.m. with meteorologists and the Department of Transportation, and several other sources are researched.

He says they are committed to being more transparent about weather-related closures.

There are 322 bus routes and over 5,000 students on the road daily.

“Those decisions are made with a ton of information. The folks making those decisions have the biggest hearts, and they care about the safety and well-being of our students.”

Purdy points out that 80 percent of the bus routes are on rural roads.

He says they welcome feedback, but it’s unfortunate when some take it too far.

“Weather can be unpredictable, and we’re not always going to get it right. I stand by some of the more controversial decisions we’ve made, it was based on the information that we had at the time. We request that any feedback is respectful and non-threatening, and working towards the greater-good.”