Our largest high school, Hadley Junior and Philemon Wright, is located in the area most damaged by Friday’s tornado. While our building and lawn only sustained minor damage, there have been catastrophic damage to many buildings around it, many of which have been or will be demolished.
Here is all current information:
School Closure: Hadley Jr./Philemon Wright were closed to students and staff from Monday 24 to Friday 28 September. This was to ensure their safety.
Staff members came back to work on Monday October 1. As this was a PD Day, students were only expected the following day, Tuesday October 2.
Four floating PD days have been cancelled throughout the year to ensure students receive the prescribed number of school days. A revised school calendar is now available.
Support is available to anyone, staff and students, that might have been particularly impacted by the tornado.
Transportation: Some of our bus routes in the Gatineau and Pontiac areas might still be impacted this week. Our buses only travel where safe.
Relocated Students: Families that have had to relocate due to extensive damage to their homes should contact the school board as soon as possible so we can continue to offer transportation.
How You Can Help: The PETES and H/PWHS school communities launched GoFundMe campaigns to help collect funds that will exclusively go towards helping those students that have lost their homes and/or were most impacted by the tornado. Students from these three schools have lost their homes and everything in them.
- Pierre Elliott Trudeau Elementary School GoFundMe Campaign >
- Hadley Jr. & Philemon Wright High Schools GoFundMe Campaign >
School Board Statement – 25 September 2018
Our business is education. As you can imagine, we have very little experience with tornadoes. We appreciate your patience and understanding in this regard.
We would like to thank the staff of the city of Gatineau, the municipality of Pontiac, the Gatineau Police & Fire Brigade, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the Mont-Bleu community for their exceptional assistance and coordination in these difficult times.
We are in contact with our friends over at Commission scolaire des Portages-de-l’Outaouais, most impacted by the tornado, to see how we can help.
Elections Québec (Directeur général des élections du Québec) had designated Philemon Wright High School as a local polling station for the provincial elections on Monday 1 October. This has changed. The new polling place is at Village Place Cartier (425 boul. Saint-Joseph – 4th floor).