This semester alone, the Colorado snow has caused schools to weigh their options of snow days or late starts, and while this isn’t new for Coloradans, it seems this year it has been more impactful. All LPS schools completely closed the first time it snowed this semester and more recently enacted a late start to mitigate the snow’s effect on student attendance, on Tuesday December 10th.
Addy D. ’25 says, “The roads were so bad and icy even after the late start that I chose not to go to my EPIC class for safety.”
Many students hope every time snow starts to fall that it brings a snow day even though it is very unlikely. Late starts are the second-best thing but not sought after like snow days. Late starts provide a nice break from the normal school day without stopping productivity. Late starts are often used as a way for schools to keep students safe and not give up their allotted snow days for any future worse blizzards or snow stroms.
Crow P. ’25 mentions, “I really like the late start, I was able to sleep in and then get my work done better because of the extra sleep.”
Addy, similarly, says “I got to sleep in which was nice and made the rest of the day more enjoyable.”
It is most common for students to want a snow day instead of a late start because of the full day off of school. There aren’t any fun tricks to get a late start like there are for snowdays. No ones wears their pajamas inside out or flushes ice cubes down the toilet to solidify a late start because snow days are more sought after.
Addy reinforces this common sentiment, “Even if the snow is in the middle of the week like a Tuesday or something I would prefer a snow day because the late start schedules always confuse me.”
Dissimilarly Crow says, “I prefer late starts during the week because there is not much to catch up on since we still come to school, so if I had to choose between a snow day or late start on like a Tuesday I would prefer a late start.”
In the end snow days and late starts are sought by many students because of the break from school; and if the weather keeps up with the pattern it has thus far it might not only be a false hope.