Grand Erie Prepares for Winter with Inclement Weather Reminders

With the first glimpse of snow this year, Grand Erie District School Board is reminding students and families of how the Board deals with inclement weather.

“While we typically average just one or two snow days a year, last winter Grand Erie had seven of them,” said Brenda Blancher, Director of Education. “While we hope last year was an anomaly, we feel it’s important for our community to understand how the Board responds when Mother Nature throws snow, ice or freezing rain at us.”

Grand Erie’s Inclement Weather Policy (FT7), found on the board’s website here, was updated in May 2019. The policy outlines the procedures for the cancellation of transportation services, which typically triggers school closures – either by zone or across the whole district.

Student Transportation Services Brant Haldimand Norfolk (STSBHN) provides transportation services for Grand Erie students as well as those from the local Catholic and French Catholic school boards. During the winter months, STSBHN gathers information on road and weather conditions from various sources, including City and County road crews as well as weather specialists. These road and weather conditions are then discussed with the Superintendents of Business at each of the three area school boards.

“Our focus is always on the safety and well-being of our students,” said Rafal Wyszynski, Grand Erie’s Superintendent of Business. “The decision to cancel student transportation is made when we believe the forecasted road conditions will not allow for the safe delivery of services during the morning or afternoon travel times when we have thousands of our students on buses all across Grand Erie. Transportation is also cancelled when visibility is expected to be significantly impacted.”

When student transportation services are cancelled due to inclement weather, there are two options: closure of all Grand Erie schools or closure by zone. Grand Erie has four zones: Norfolk County (Zone 1), Haldimand County (Zone 2), Brant County (Zone 3) and City of Brantford (Zone 4). Zone 2 includes Grand Erie students from Six Nations of the Grand River and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.

When student transportation services are cancelled due to inclement weather, Grand Erie schools are closed to all students and staff.

The decision to cancel student transportation services due to inclement weather is made by 6:30 a.m. If Grand Erie schools are closed, the decision will be posted on the board’s website (www.granderie.ca), Twitter account (@GEDSB) and shared with local media. STSBHN will also communicate the decision to riders, post on Twitter (@STSBHN) and share on their phone line (519-751-7532, ext. 7).

“We understand the decision to close schools puts enormous pressure on parents who have to scramble for last-minute child care,” said Blancher. “However, the safety and well-being of our more than 25,000 students must remain our focus. We don’t want to see any of our students injured or put in harm’s way.”

New to Grand Erie’s Inclement Weather Policy in 2019-20 is the option to cancel transportation services when there is extreme cold weather. In this case, student transportation services would be cancelled, however, all Grand Erie schools would remain open to students and staff.

Extreme cold weather negatively impacts the operation of buses. Extreme cold weather in Grand Erie’s Inclement Weather policy is defined as -30 degrees Celsius (without wind-chill) at 5 a.m. or a high risk of frostbite (10 minutes or less) as of 5:45 a.m.

Grand Erie District School Board represents more than 25,000 students in 58 elementary and 14 secondary schools within the City of Brantford and the Counties of Brant, Haldimand, and Norfolk.

Get Out / Get Active - Colour House Event at Mohawk Park

The whole school participated in our Get Out/Get Active day on Monday, April 24th at Mohawk Park. Students played together in multi-grade Colour House groups as they rotated through 6 stations (scavenger hunt, parachute games, obstacle course, mural painting, play structure and snack). The weather was perfect for some exercise, team building, and co-operative learning.

Pink Shirt Day - February 22, 2017

The students of Echo Place School participated in several activities last month to educate and inspire our students to stand up against bullying and create a welcome, inclusive and safe school environment. Classes worked together to create posters that are now proudly displayed in our hallways.

They also worked in Colour House groups to create a welcome tree at our front entrance. Each student traced their handprint on coloured paper and wrote how they make this school a safe and kind place for everyone. On February 22, our school participated in Pink Shirt Day and classes presented stories and pledges at our school assembly, to share their understanding of the impact that bullying has, and why we will stand up against it.

The Amazing Math Race

On Tuesday, November 29th several families gathered in the gym to participate in our first Amazing Math Race.

Each family was given a passport and travelled from room to room solving fun math challenges. Each page of the passport was given a stamp when the challenge in that room was completed. When the passports were filled, the families returned to the gym for their prizes.

Everyone enjoyed cake, juice and coffee and all families received valuable resources to support their child's math learning at home. It was a great event.

Echo Place News for October 28, 2016

By Mr. Roberts Grade 6/7 class

Click to View the Echo Place News Report

Missing – Sound system

The sound system we use at assemblies for our microphone and to amplify our slide shows has gone missing from the stage area in our gym. The last time it was used was at our last assembly, on Sept. 30th. We have looked high and low, but have be unable to locate our system. It consists of a large amplifier, with multiple knobs and two large speakers. It is a Fender Passport 150 Pro. We are hopeful that if this system has been take out of the school, someone will spot it and let us know. The staff and students are all very sad that our only system has gone missing.

If you have any information about our sound system, please call 905-753-2931

Let's Chalk!

Echo Place Students participate in Let's Chalk Event

Friendship Bench

Our Friendship Bench is created in memory of Mrs. Linington and Mrs. Kauk, who were friends to everyone at Echo Place. This bench will be placed outside in our school yard, and will be used as a place for children to go when they need a friend. Several students from each classroom helped decorate the bench by supplying their painted handprints.

Golden Dustpan Award

At the end of each month, Ms. Reading (Custodian) will award the cleanest classroom with the Golden Dustpan Award. This month, Ms. Mancini and Mrs. Grandpre's JK/SK class was the winner. They will proudly display their trophy in the classroom for the following month.

At the end of the school year, the classroom that won the Golden Dustpan the most times will win a special surprise.

"We Believe In Clean"

September 2016 Golden Dustpan Award Winner: Mrs. Wainwright's Grade 4/5 Class (below)

February 2016 Golden Dustpan Award Winners: Ms Mancini (in for Mrs. Springett) and Mrs. Grandpre's JK/SK Class (below)

January 2016 Golden Dustpan Award Winners: Mrs. Mussi's Grade 1 class (below)

December 2015 Golden Dustpan Award Winners: Mrs. Woodley's Grade 2 class (below)

November 2015 Golden Dustpan Award Winners: Mrs. Springett and Mrs. Grandpre's JK/SK class (below)

October 2015 Golden Dustpan Award Winners: Ms. Barrett's JK/SK class (below)

September 2015 Golden Dustpan Award Winners: Mrs. Mussi's Grade 1 class (below)