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MAGGIE MACINTOSH\/FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Churchill High School families were informed the Riverview building was shuttered while maintenance crews dealt with \u201cflooding and major water damage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s call it \u2018a rain day,\u2019\u201d said Tony Kreml, superintendent of north Winnipeg\u2019s Seven Oaks School Division. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing this for over 30 years \u2014 I can never recall a rain day.\u201d<\/p>\n
City divisions closed seven public schools, combined, including four elementary sites (Windsor, R.F. Morrison, Forest Park and Buchanan), two senior years buildings (Churchill and John Taylor) and one middle school (Hedges).<\/p>\n
The decision to close Garden City-based R.F. Morrison and Forest Park schools for the day was made out of concern for \u201coperational safety,\u201d Kreml said, noting washrooms, gymnasiums and other areas were in darkness when he visited them in the morning.<\/p>\n
The superintendent said their respective back-up generators, which had been running overnight, ran out of fuel.<\/p>\n
Aside from reports of leaky roofs, displaced fascias and an ongoing power outage at the maintenance office, Kreml said Seven Oaks facilities are in relatively good shape.<\/p>\n
Strong winds, hail and flash floods caused significant destruction elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Churchill High School families were informed the Riverview building was shuttered while maintenance crews dealt with \u201cflooding and major water damage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy kids were scared\u2026 My son said he didn\u2019t sleep well because of the thunderstorm sounds,\u201d said Jessica Ku, who had planned to register her eldest for Grade 7 and scope out Churchill, his future high school, on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MAGGIE MACINTOSH\/FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Flooding inside Churchill High School prompted the cancellation of all Grade 9 to 12 classes on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Ku was greeted with a closure sign taped to the locked front entrance of the school whose grounds were littered with broken tree branches.<\/p>\n The mother of two said she was shocked because her seven-year-old and 12-year-old were attending a feeder school nearby.<\/p>\n The Winnipeg School Division only closed Churchill for the day. Four elementary sites \u2014 Brock Corydon, Greenway, Norquay and King Edward \u2014 welcomed students and staff despite downed phone and internet networks.<\/p>\n Spokesperson Jillian Recksiedler said division leaders, principals and facilities staff were \u201cvery busy\u201d assessing damage and cleaning up across the division Wednesday.<\/p>\n The Free Press learned Sisler High School\u2019s basement, which houses its band room, was flooded and instruments of all kinds had to be removed for repairs.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a sad end to their musical year,\u201d said Brent Johnson, a father at the school who oversees the Manitoba Band Association.<\/p>\n \u201cThat band room is a safe space for a lot of students and I\u2019ve seen first-hand, as a parent and as a music educator, the really amazing culture in (Sisler\u2019s) band program.\u201d<\/p>\n The River East Transcona School Division announced it was postponing a Grade 4 soccer tournament because of flooded fields.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t SUPPLIED<\/p>\n Even Oak Hammock Marsh wasn\u2019t exempt from what spokesperson Jacques Bourgeois described as \u201ca pretty vicious storm.\u201d<\/p>\n In the Louis Riel School Division, 10 field trips were either cancelled or postponed.<\/p>\n Wetlands are natural water regulators, but even Oak Hammock Marsh wasn\u2019t exempt from what spokesperson Jacques Bourgeois described as \u201ca pretty vicious storm.\u201d<\/p>\n Floating boardwalks were submerged, canoes were filled up to their gunnels and water seeped into the newly renovated Wetland Discovery Centre, Bourgeois said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got about 240 mm of rain in five hours,\u201d he said, adding the maintenance team was on site in early in the morning to monitor the situation.<\/p>\n Bourgeois said the popular field trip destination, which is in the midst of its busiest season, will do everything possible to reschedule visits.<\/p>\n Grade 12 students who couldn\u2019t write the provincial essential mathematics exam because of the storm won\u2019t have to take it another time.<\/p>\n The education department confirmed it\u2019s working with schools that had power outages or flooding and students who couldn\u2019t write the exam will receive a final mark based entirely on their classroom assessments.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Everything except for the provincial exam was cancelled at John Taylor Collegiate on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t SUPPLIED<\/p>\n At Oak Hammock Marsh, floating boardwalks were submerged.<\/p>\n Jordana Buckwold, an assistant superintendent in the St. James-Assiniboia School Division, said test-takers were accommodated in a space \u201cwith abundant natural light\u201d and supplementary lighting.<\/p>\n River East Transcona, Louis Riel and the francophone school division all operated at least one building that had lost power. The Pembina Trails School Division was spared from outages, but a spokesperson said \u201cwater cleanup\u201d was required in some buildings.<\/p>\n Sunrise and Interlake were among the rural divisions that announced closures on Wednesday.<\/p>\n maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Maggie Macintosh Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie<\/a>.<\/p>\n Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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