“A snow day would be nice, who wouldn’t want a random day off school in the middle of the week, but in the end it’s not about the day off school, it’s about the safety of the students,” Junior Izzy Dones said in a moment of frustration.

Every other day, Dones gets a ride to school from a friend which is nice for her, but on the days she do not, she gets to take the school bus. That might not sound too bad to a lot of students, but it turns out Dones lives nowhere near the school. Her mom has to drive her to a bus stop, in which at the point the school bus gets her.

On days her mom can’t drive her to the bus stop, Dones then has to rely on the city bus. She has to wake up at four in the morning in order to get to the bus stop in time because it’s a mile long walk until she gets to the bus stop. She then has to take both the 133 and the 153 bus  in order to get to school.

The bus then drops her off nearly a mile from the school. “I believe school should have been cancelled today because the roads were very icy, and people could fall, which doesn’t sound too bad but can be very dangerous, and although it might sound corny, standing outside waiting for a bus to come for 30 minutes, frost bite isn’t far behind.” Dones said.

Assistant principal, Matt Gonzales, gave some insight as to why school wasn’t cancelled. “One of the big reasons I know school wasn’t cancelled was because for those who get free and reduced lunch, that’s one of the only meals they get during the day, or a big portion of the food they eat. If students don’t come to school, they don’t get that free and reduced lunch.” Gonzales said.

Normally the school website says “All schools open” at the top of the screen but last night, the website read, “All schools will be open and operating on normal schedules today, Feb. 26, 2015. We understand that some families may make a different decision. If you choose to keep your child(ren) home, the absence will be excused. If you choose to bring your child(ren) to school late, they will not be counted as tardy.”

Later on the notice on the school website changed slightly. It said the same thing except an addition at the end read, “Parents must call to let the school know that children will be absent or late for students to be excused.”

Gonzales explains the change in the notice, “Safety is the biggest thing for us at Smoky. The notice was just a clarification because students tend to take advantage of the fact that we excuse tardys. When the parents think their child is going to school, and we think their child is at home, and they’re in neither place, it’s the schools responsibility.” The change in the notice was just the schools way of ensuring safety.

The big question everyone has been dying to have answered. Who decides if there should be a snow day or not? That would be the superintendent and his administration. Harry C. Bull, the Superintendent of the Cherry Creek School District was able to answer that question. “Snow days are built in to the schedule, specifically, that depends on sizes of classes and passing periods, but that’s not an issue. The reason we didn’t have school was because the conditions just weren’t bad enough.”

In the middle of the night, Bull and some members of his administration actually went driving to see how bad the conditions really are. “When I went out last night, the roads were slightly slick but the sky was full of stars, and the snow had stopped.”

Bull was aware that both Denver and Jeffco School Districts did not have school. “The weather conditions in those districts happened to be much worse than they were here, that’s why they cancelled and we did not.”