Snow day in Southern Colorado calls for day of sledding

Following the first snow day of the year, schools across Southern Colorado are expected to re-open Tuesday, but we wanted to see what determines when a school closes versus a delay.

On a day where snow still covers the ground, kids are replacing their backpacks and the school playground with a big hill at Bear Creek Park and their sleds.

“I am sledding down these hills,” said fifth-grader Devin Gravett.

“Have some time without my brother and have some family time with my mom and we came down here to sled and have a lot of fun,” said fourth-grader Liam Turner.

And parents are all for the snow day.

“I haven’t been sledding myself in probably decades and even took a trip down the hill myself,” said Tuner’s mom Ann.

“It’s what snow days are for,” said mother of three, Erica Craig.

The extra day off came after several schools in Southern Colorado decided to call a snow day.

“Last night started as a delay. This morning they canceled school for everybody so we got the kids ready and head out this way,” Craig said.

So that got us thinking, how do school districts decide whether they’ll have a delayed start or have a closure?

Although no one was able to get back to us for an interview. Academy School District 20 tells us they track storms for at least 12-24 hours. And also have a designated team to check the roads for the amount snow, slickness, drifting and visibility.

Depending on how bad the roads are, they may decide to change the 2-hour delay to a closure.

For parents like Cecil Sherwood, the closure came as good news.

“Especially last year it was such a dry winter and really warm so this year is actually a good Colorado winter. This is what your school have in November is snow so it’s great we got plenty of snow on a day off,” Sherwood said.

Although kids are hoping for another snow day, it will most likely be back to school for them.

Many parents already had the day off because of Veterans Day, but say it could be a little more difficult for other parents who weren’t as lucky.