Six Toronto schools closed for third straight day after contractor failed to remove snow

Six Toronto secondary schools are closed for in-person learning for a third consecutive day after a contractor hired to remove snow from the properties did not complete the job, the Toronto District School Board says.

Students were expected to return to the classroom across the city today following two weeks of remote learning and an additional two days of school closures related to Monday’s winter storm.

But shortly before 8 a.m. the TDSB announced that some secondary schools would revert to online learning for the day due to the fact that snow removal was not completed.

The TDSB then only confirmed the list of shuttered schools publicly at around 8:50 a.m., though it is possible that specific school communities were notified prior to that.

The impacted schools include Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute, Emery Collegiate Institute, John Polanyi Collegiate Institute, Newtonbrook Secondary School, Weston Collegiate Institute and Yorkdale Secondary School.

In a message posted to Twitter, the TDSB said that the delay in alerting parents was due to the fact that it only learned of the issue as staff arrived at schools on Wednesday morning.

“We apologize and are working with the contractors to get this resolved immediately,” they wrote.

The TDSB says that there were also a handful of elementary schools that were only partially plowed ahead of classes resuming today, though those schools remain open.

Most students in Toronto haven’t attended classes in person since Dec. 21.