Ottawa's largest school board to follow suit, closing schools for April 8 eclipse (2024)

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board will close schools on April 8, the day of a rare solar eclipse.

In a brief note to trustees and senior administrators Thursday, director of education Pino Buffone said the decision had been made “after considerable deliberation.”

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School staff will be expected to report to work as usual. Transportation has been cancelled and OCDSB-operated extended day programs will not operate. OCDSB toddler preschool programs and EarlyOn Child and Family Centres will operate as usual.

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Ottawa’s largest school board was the last in the area to decide to close schools on the day of the eclipse, which will last from 2:11 p.m. to 4:35 p.m. on April 8, a time frame coinciding with the end of classes and the return home for students.

During an eclipse, the moon moves between the sun and the Earth, obscuring the sun. Viewing an eclipse without proper eye protection can cause eye damage and has sparked warnings about the dangers of permanent vision loss.

The Ottawa Catholic School Board and the two French-language school boards had already announced that they would be closed on the day of the eclipse. Those three boards moved up professional development days scheduled for later in April to the day of the eclipse.

The OCDSB had no professional development days later in the school year that it could shuffle to April 8 and had already reserved venues and speakers for a professional development day this Friday.

OCDSB Trustee Lyra Evans expressed concern about the decision to close schools on April 8. The decision was made by senior staff and not trustees.

“I think we have become too cavalier about how often students are out of school. This is a whole instructional day away from schools,” Evans said.

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She is also concerned about low-income families who must now scramble to find and pay for child care for that day. If students were in school, at least they could be warned about the risks of looking at the eclipse in that immediate time period.

Numerous other Ontario school boards had already decided to close schools to students on the day of the eclipse, including the Toronto District School Board and those in the Peel, Durham and Halton regions.

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