Schools could remain dark when the white stuff falls this fall and winter, School District 43 has decided.

Anxious not to replicate last year’s post-Christmas havoc — when students trudged through snow drifts or along icy roads to get to school — SD43 officials have decided to relax a long-standing practice of keeping schools open in favour of shutting them down. The goal is to keep students and staff safe, and allow time for roads and sidewalks to be cleared.

“We’re trying to say when there’s a storm, we want to have as much information on our plate as we can,” said assistant superintendent Dan Derpak, who presented the revised plan to parents at a District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) meeting last week.

More often than not, the district has kept schools open but last year’s experience proved that closing schools may be the safest and most practical option, he said.

Efforts to make a sound decision in the wee hours of the morning are hampered by the district’s varied topography and SD43 heard from many parents who were upset schools were open when routes to get there — for them, their kids and their kids’ teachers — were unsafe, Derpak said.

The new practice will see schools closed in the event of a heavy snow fall, with partial openings as roads and streets are cleared. For example, on the second or third day of a snow fall, schools at lower elevations may open while schools at higher altitudes might remain closed.

Parents will be able to find out if their schools are closed on the district’s website (www.sd43.bc.ca) and by listening to radio station CKNW, Derpak said, noting that there are strict protocols around informing the media and schools won’t be closed every time there’s a snowfall — only if it is particularly heavy.

“What I don’t want to leave the impression is if we have 18 snowfalls over the course of the winter that students are going to see 18 snow days, because that won’t happen.”

The district has also made some headway in convincing local cities to make school routes a higher priority for clearing and has told schools to start planning now for this winter’s potential snow storms.

DPAC chair Heidi Hass-Gable welcomed the change in practice, noting that parents were concerned last year that students were being placed in precarious situations.

“I think that puts the safety of our kids and our students first, and I think that’s important,” said Hass-Gable, who is encouraging school communities to start planning now for snow.

dstrandberg@tricitynews.com