With winter approaching and already a big snowstorm cutting our school day short, is a delay really necessary? Our classes are short as it is, them being cut in half doesn’t seem to make coming to school worthwhile. A-West only has a certain number of snow days in one school year. A few kids apart from the student body think delays are a waste of our time. 

“I walk to school… in the snow, and let me tell you. Walking to school at 10 in the morning for 4 hours worth of class is not on the top of my bucket list,” explains freshman Morgan Crawford. 

“A snow day would’ve been nice, I got to sleep in but for a few hours of school a delay seems kinda pointless to me,” Crawford continues.

There’s a reason that Jeffco doesn’t just give out snow days, it’s because in a school year there are only 3 snow days.

“The minimum instructional hours may be reduced, by up to 24 hours, for the following reasons: (1) parent/teacher conferences; (2) staff in-service programs, and (3) closings deemed by the board to be necessary for the health, safety, or welfare of pupils,” explains the school district guide. 

Our school can only miss a total of 24 hours during the school year.

If A-West exceeds the limit, the the school will basically go into overtime and have to cut into Summer to spend those exceeded days at school. 

“If it meant cutting into my summer and my plans then delays aren’t that bad but I also think there’s a factor of safety not being put into consideration,” says Crawford.

Imagine there is bad weather outside, but school calls for a delay, so of course at that time one heads to school and gets in a car crash.

“Since I walk it’s not much of a safety concern but I worry for my friends that drive ” Concludes Crawford.

A perspective of driving in the snow would show us how unsafe it is to be on the roads.

“I drive my sister and I to and from school every day, I don’t mind it. I like driving, snow is just a bigger concern when it comes to our safety,” explains Junior Mason Keefe.

Not only putting the lives of the person behind the wheel at risk but any other passenger in the car.

“I don’t mind delays only because I know that using all our snow days cut into our summer, they don’t really bother me but I would still rather be sleeping in. The few hours we get at school on delays are jam packed anyways, it’s just not really worth the time in my opinion,” concludes Keefe.

Putting A-West’s students at risk doesn’t seem in our best interest due to safety factors and the opinions of our student body, even if using our snow days means going into summer, I say cut out delays all together and give us a snow day.