DENVER — No, Jefferson County School District has not done away with traditional snow days.
After the Denver metro area experienced the fourth worst snowstorm in history, by accumulation, Colorado's second-largest school district had students participate in remote learning Monday.
At least those who didn't go to the Beech -- Beech Park, that is.
"Days like this, they should have snow days instead of doing school," said Skylla Wilson.
She and her brother, Carsyn, got the day off from Hutchinson Elementary School in Lakewood, not because the district gave the OK to go sledding, but because dad did.
"When we get an epic dump of two-to-three feet, I went ahead and made the call, as a parent, to make it a snow day for them," said Dustin Wilson. "I grew up in the Jefferson County School District, I was always bummed out through my whole life, it seemed like they would have the least amount of snow closures."
"Some of my friends are probably in school, some are not," said Carsyn Wilson.
Cherry Creek and Douglas County School Districts both called a snow day on Monday, and they're on spring break.
A Cherry Creek spokeswoman said it was to let parents know daycares that operate during the break would be closed.
A Douglas County spokesman said it was because of before and after school programs and athletics that might be scheduled.
Why didn't Jefferson County?
"To keep the learning going for our students and not lose another day of learning hours," said spokeswoman Cameron Bell in an email. "We have not done away with traditional snow days. Traditional snow days are still one of our three options."
Those three options include:
- Snow day
- District-wide remote day
- Two-hour delay
"It's like a holiday. It doesn't happen that much that we get three-something feet of snow," said fourth-grader A.J. Brown.
Brown was also at Beech Park sledding, but didn't ditch school.
"I had, like, a half-day today," said Brown. "I was in school until like 10:15-ish."
"Snow days are the best part of wintertime," said dad Brian Morgan.
His kids go to a charter school that didn't have remote learning today.
"Luckily our kids got the snow day, we got the snow day from work, so it's a good day," said Morgan.
"We checked in on-time this morning and we rushed our schoolwork and we got out the door as fast as we could," said mom Denise Crawford.
She was at the park with her daughter, Skye.
"I was waiting to come out here," said Skye. "I've been hanging out in that igloo and I've been building this snow lady."
At least with remote learning, they could get out of the house faster than if it was a normal school day.
"She'd be in school until three o'clock, four o'clock almost," said Crawford.
If Jefferson County didn't call a snow day after the fourth-largest accumulation in metro area history, when would the district?
"If we chose a snow day for today, we would have had to make up on one of the scheduled non-student-contact days in late April or late May as a student contact day - to make up the required hours. We decided that since we had given all of our staff, especially our schools and teachers, the advance notice last Thursday to prepare for a remote day, that we could do a remote day today and not risk converting one of those later days," said Bell.
She added that the remote scheduling gives flexibility for school and sledding.
"Additionally, Pk-5 is an asynchronous day when we call a remote day and this is intentional – to provide families with young children the flexibility to go outside and enjoy the snow while also doing their school work when it works for them. For 6-12, students have a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning time for the same reason. They can flex their schedules somewhat and still enjoy time outside. We think it’s a win-win," said Bell.
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