P.E.I. school evacuation: Lack of buses caused confusion for Cornwall primary school

The suddenevacuationof every school on P.E.I. demonstrated the province's reliance on school buses however, at least one school had no buses to take students home.

As schools across the Island were placed under evacuation order, officials realizedno buses were available to take students home from WestwoodPrimary School in Cornwall, P.E.I.

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A school board officialcontacted CBC sayingstudents would need to be picked up by parents at their safe zone, at the nearbyAPM Centre, that children wouldn't be bused home. Buses did take the children from the school to the APM centre, according to the province.

A steady stream of parents arrived at APM to pick up children.

"It was a little confusing," said Lori MacPhail, a parent who also looks after other children in her home. "I was expecting kids to follow the storm procedure and get on buses but we didn't realize we had to pick them up.I got a call from the teacher and now I have tons of parents calling and panicking."

The province issued regular informationthroughout the day.

Initially, a statement said children werebeing moved to pre-designated safe zones ashort distance away from schools.

Later, the province issued an update, to say "students will be bused home at approximately 11:30 am as per the early closure plan."

Mid-afternoon the province issued a written statement saying, "Students are either on buses heading home or will be boarding buses shortly."

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