School board officials were keeping a close eye on the weather Wednesday, and kept student in school for 60 to 90 minutes longer than normal for their own safety, they say.

John Cummings, director of corporate services with the new English Language School Board, said the timing and severity of the freezing rain came as a surprise.

"The freezing rain seemed to last a little longer and cause more icing than anticipated. We didn't foresee that in the forecast," said Cummings.

"In the forecast that we were looking on it looked like that was going to pass by and by the time we would be heading home that we would be in the warmer conditions."

Cummings said the board got calls from parents with questions about how the decision was made.

The board contacted radio stations and put the information on its website once the decision was made, but the board hopes to improve communications in the future.

With its new website, it hopes to have access to Twitter or other social media to get messages out more quickly to the public.

While he could not name a specific instance, he believes this is not the first time students have been kept in school longer because of weather conditions.