Alberta Education says it is working to help any students whose diploma exams were interrupted by a large water-main break in downtown Edmonton on Wednesday.
Ministry spokesperson Gregory Jack says about 275 students at four separate locations were writing exams at around 11:30 a.m. when the online QuestA+ exam writing system “experienced difficulties.”
“In cases where a student was unable to complete their exam, exemptions may be granted in accordance with Alberta Education’s standard procedures,” Jack said in an email.
“Affected students should also contact Alberta Education directly if they have questions or issues about their individual situation.”
Due to power outages in downtown <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/yeg?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#yeg</a> there may be intermittent access to the Alberta Education website and services. Please be patient as we work to resolve this issue. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/abed?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#abed</a>
—@AlbertaEd
This was not the case at my son’s exam centre. He lost his entire first draft of Eng 30-1 Part A writing when laptops went down. Had to rewrite by hand and ran out of time to edit. Exam centre was chaos. Rewrites should be authorized for affected students.
—@olana_thomson
The water-main break shut down power to about 500 buildings Wednesday morning near Jasper Avenue and 109th Street. Epcor was able to restore power to most of the customers by 3 p.m.
LRT service through the Corona station was also cancelled Wednesday because tracks near the break were flooded.