COLORADO SPRINGS— For all 17 public school districts, safety is the biggest factor. Teachers and students must get to and from school in one piece. D20 bus drivers test out routes as early as 3:30 in the morning.
"I would say nothing makes our community may be more divided in opinions than snow days," said D20's chief communication officer Allison Cortez.
Lewis-Palmer School District 38 informs parents of a snow day the night before as possible, said director of communication Mark Belcher.
"[It] feels better going to sleep and not having to, at 4 a.m. to figure out what we're doing so I appreciate that," said one D38 mom, Brooke Distefano.
D20 leaders usually call snow days the morning of to have the most accurate information.
"Sometimes it feels like 'gosh they're waiting so long to call it,' but we want to make those real-time decisions," said Cortez.
But no matter the district, parents have the final say.
"If they don't call a snow day, I figure if it doesn't look like I want to go out, maybe my husband takes them or maybe they don't go [to school]," said another D38 mom Pam Cooley.
Cooley said she's excited to spend time with her three kids during snow days.
"I love snow days, it's fun to have the family time, and sometimes it's fun to bake and play games," said Cooley.
D38 had a total of four traditional snow days this school year. D20 has two traditional snow days then goes to remote learning any day after that. D20 used one snow day already.
____Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
