How School Districts Decide Whether To Cancel Classes
DENVER (CBS4)- Major school districts in the Denver metro area cancelled school for a second day in a row on Thursday after a blizzard crippled the city on Wednesday.
Denver Public Schools takes two factors into account before they deploy buses to pick up students. The first is safety, officials don't want buses filled with children traveling on slick roads and the second factor is hunger.
Tens of thousands of students in DPS qualify for a free lunch and if they don't go to school, many go hungry.
DPS spokesman Will Jones said school administrators discussed their options on conference calls after midnight when the snow had stopped falling but many roads remained impassable.
While most people slept, the Department of Public Safety inspected the schools for signs of ice.
"That the kids don't slip and staff and faculty members don't slip when they get to school. There were too many ice conditions on top of the fact that the roads were challenging," said Jones.
"It becomes dangerous when a lot of people want to try to get to the same place at the same time," said parent and teacher Luz Hernandez.
Aurora Public Schools crews spend much of Thursday digging out the buses from under 20 inches of snow that fell on the bus corral at Airport and 2nd.
