A former Listowel man is asking Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB) to change administrative procedure 219 which controls whether or not students go outside for recess during extreme cold.
Justin Erb, who was also a former student of Central Public School, advocated for his three children who are students at Bedford Public School in Stratford, at the AMDSB board of trustees meeting on Jan. 28.
In his delegation to the board, he explained that it’s the responsibility of the principal to decide if indoor recess will be held, or if there will be outdoor activities during a school day.
“There is nowhere in the policy or procedure to automatically have indoor recess or not have kids outside. It is fully up to the discretion of the principal,” Erb said.
The father of three went on to say that the procedure document uses passive language like “should consider,” “may consult,” “should seek,” or “should review.” He also took issue with the procedure’s lack of guidance or requirement to offer students an alternative to outdoor recess during extreme weather, for example reading in a classroom or supervised play in the gymnasium.
Erb’s concerns stem from an earlier occurrence at his children’s school.
“All three of our kids didn’t want to go to school that day because of how cold it was going to be, and they didn’t want to be outside for recess, that’s why they didn’t want to go to school that day,” he shared.
He went on to explain that both he and his wife emailed the principal and were assured that the principal would follow school board procedure, but if the children wanted to come inside because they were cold, they should just ask a teacher.
“And we had told our kids that, too,” Erb said.
He went on to recall that the school had indoor recess in the morning, and outdoor recess in the afternoon that day.
“So during second recess, my daughter, went up to a teacher and asked to go inside because she was cold,” Erb said. “The teacher said no, because recess was over soon, and then she was out there until the end of recess.”
After following up with the principal, he not only apologized to Erb, but also to his daughter. The principal confirmed with the teacher what had happened and the teacher had made that decision because there was two minutes left in the recess period.
“For a six year old, when they’re told ‘no’ when they’re cold to the point of wanting to cry … Two minutes is a really long time, and it’s just not comfortable for them,” Erb said.
He said not all students come to school prepared for the cold, whether that be because of mistake or because of financial strain. He added that certain students react differently to extreme cold than other students.
“I know certain medications can make it so people feel cold more than if they weren’t on that medication,” Erb said. “One class of medication for that is the type of medication is stimulants you take for ADHD … there’s a lot of kids that have those diagnoses and take those medications.”
He added that other, nearby, school boards have procedures which trigger automatic indoor recess.
Waterloo Regional District School Board automatically has indoor recess when the temperature reaches -27C, however it did not clarify if that included wind chill. Their procedure advises the principals to discuss the plans with neighboring schools as part of the decision making process, and requires that principals take local circumstances into account. For example, a rural school that has an open playground is going to have more wind and feel colder than an urban school that has a more enclosed playground, sheltered from the wind.
According to Erb, York Region District School Board’s procedure is similar but their temperature threshold is -20C or wind chill of -18C.
At AMDSB schools, Erb says there is no guidance from the board, “it is all placed on the back of the principal.”
He added that the current procedure doesn’t address all types of extreme weather, only extreme heat and cold, and it only states principals should consider Environment Canada weather alerts.
“I’m just proposing that the procedure gets updated … update the procedure to automatically have indoor recess under certain weather alerts, such as extreme cold, tornado, heat,” Erb said.
“When outdoor recesses occur, but doesn’t warrant having a school-wide indoor recess, to provide accommodation for students who maybe can’t go outside, such as reading a classroom or playing in the gym. And consider student needs and family situations when deciding about extreme weather events.”
He added that he would like to see an updated policy take into account the school yard layout; wind chill; use prescriptive language for action; ask principals to communicate with other local schools, and; accommodate parent requests to have students stay indoors.
“There should be a procedure … even at my work, there’s people that work outside on days like that, and we have policies about working outside,” Erb said. “It’s ten minutes of work and then ten minutes in a warm work truck. Students are outside for 20 minutes straight. That’s different from what our health and safety policy allows for at my company.”
Chair Michael Bannerman asked if the policy is being reviewed right now, and asked where they are at with the review.
Director of Education, Graham Shantz confirmed that this procedure is up for review this year, and plans to use Erb's presentation as a resource while reviewing the procedure.
Stratfor Trustee Bruce Whitaker asked what happens tomorrow, or when there is another bout of extreme cold.
“I think two things would happen, we’d continue to use our existing procedures guidance until any updates occur, and secondly, I know the delegate has been in contact with the principal and the superintendent have also been involved, and I think there is some indication of revamping to the school-based decision making,” Shantz answered.
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