How school districts decide to close in Colorado Springs

Several school districts in El Paso and Teller counties preemptively canceled school Tuesday due to snow.

These closures have ignited the debate: when should schools announce the change from a 2-hour delay to a closure?

It seems school leaders can't please everyone, but they say it's about more than just snow. They aim to make their decisions to keep students safe, especially in their commute to and from school.

KRDO spoke with Allison Cortez, the Director for Communication at Academy District 20 who explains how the decision is made.

"There is a couple things we're having to balance on our end, and number one is safety, number two is student contact hours, we want to make sure we're not keeping kids home when the sun comes out and three is we're always thinking about those parents. Not necessarily in that order," she said.

She says the trickiest part about snow days in Colorado is the sun could always come out later in the day.

"It is an unfortunate sometimes burden on the parents but we know we'd like to get them into school and get them out on time so it's not an under burden in the summer," Cortez said.

Keep track of further closures on the KRDO's closure page.