Everyone loves a good snow day when you can stay warm and relaxed at home all day long, but the question is, do we get enough of these days? Snow is very common for those living in Colorado and not always the biggest problem, but there can be so much snow to where it does cause a problem, from roads to temperatures and ice. Getting to school with these conditions can be very troublesome and even dangerous. Jefferson County isn’t very lenient when calling snow days, and it takes a lot of snow in order for a snow day to be called. So, what is a lot to Jefferson County? According to Jeffco Public Schools website, there is no set amount of snow, but there are many variables they look at when making a decision. Jefferson County is very large, harboring over 86,000 students, so calling a snow day has a very large impact and affects many people.

Of course, many students wouldn’t have a hard time deciding when to call a snow day. A lot of students at Ralston Valley love snow days. A day off of school to sleep in and relax, who doesn’t love that? Sophomore Ruby Baca, especially enjoys the day off, saying, ”The day off helps take a lot of stress off of me. I also love relaxing and playing in the snow.”

On occasion, that a snow day isn’t called when it seems as if one should be called, like recently on January 28th. Many students and staff at Ralston Valley were greatly impacted by the decision to now have a snow day. Getting to school was a disaster for all. Roads were absolutely atrocious, and brought many inconveniences and even danger to anyone trying to get to Ralston Valley on time.

Sophomore Sophia Hudson, was one of those victims. On her way to school, her car got stuck on a hill making her very late, causing her to completely miss an AP test. Sophia described her drive and how she felt,  “I was very terrified, especially being a new driver, the roads were terrible and made it very hard to drive.”

Many students at Ralston Valley are relatively new drivers, and more students are getting their license every day. Students and new drivers were not the only ones affected by this, many Ralston Valley staff members were also affected by the road conditions.

Ralston Valley teacher Brian Chamberlain’s commute to school was greatly affected by the weather. His usually 25 minutes drive, took him 75 minutes. These two events are just the tip of the iceberg of all the problems faced with the snow.

Obviously Jeffco schools have a very tough decision to make regarding snow days and no matter the outcome of that decision, thousands of people are directly impacted. When a snow day isn’t called chaos can break loose and the safety of many can potentially be jeopardized. Missing an entire day of school can also be impactful and not convenient. Jeffco always has a large and very important decision to make with snow days, and it is not an easy decision to make. Does Jeffco receive enough snow days? It’s not easy for anyone to make a decision either way but should Jeffco be more lenient? When conditions are bad and people still have to go to school or work problems arise. Having to deal with that much snow can compromise the safety of Jeffco students and staff and that is the number one priority, and who doesn’t love a good ole’ snow day.

Recent update: Jeffco has now instituted a late start policy.