DENVER (KDVR) — A Denver teacher is gaining traction online with a petition titled “DPS, bring back snow days!”
Teaching first grade in Denver public schools for a decade now, petition creator Lauren Epps believes it’s important to lead by example. Last week when she saw how her district handled a dumping of snow over the metro area, she felt the need to take action and create this petition.
“We tell our kids to stand up for what they believe in, we tell them if you see something say something,” Epps said.
Shortly after 9 p.m. on Wednesday, FOX31 received the following notification from DPS:
“Due to winter weather and poor travel conditions, DPS will have a 100% remote live instruction (synchronous) learning day on a two-hour delay for all staff and students on Thursday, February 25.
“All DPS school buildings and offices will be closed. Also, all Early Childhood Education classes are canceled. There will also be no curbside meal pickup and no bus meal delivery tomorrow.
“We understand that this shift to remote learning on short notice does present challenges. Our students have already lost so much learning time, and we feel it’s important to do whatever we can to maximize academic instruction and support this school year by shifting to remote learning.”
“Even though the communication from the district was that there was a two-hour delay, there was a miscommunication among schools, and I think parents were really confused with that and I think teachers were confused as well,” Epps said.
Epps says schools conducted class differently — some with delays, others, like her school, without.
“Also, the communication came pretty late in the evening,” she said. “As a teacher, it’s kind of hard to pivot from thinking you are going to teach in person and having all those lessons prepared then to be expected at 9:30 at night to flip and be remote.”
Epps said she personally had internet connection issues and so did students. She says the district told families if they didn’t have internet or the correct devices absences would be excused. However, that doesn’t sit too well with her.
“They are missing out on content and to me that’s a huge problem,” she said. “It is hugely inequitable thinking about Denver schools being one of the largest districts in the state and the diversity. I think they are doing a disservice to our communities of color.”
FOX31 asked DPS for a statement in response to Epps petition. A communications representative sent the following message:
“We understand that a shift to remote learning on short notice does present challenges. Our students have already lost so much learning time, and we feel it’s important to do whatever we can to maximize academic instruction and support this school year by shifting in-person students to remote learning.”
“The issue is not we need to necessarily bring back snow days, I think the communication for families needs to be crystal clear,” Epps said. “If snow days are a thing of the past, just come out and say that.”
FOX31 followed up and asked the district if snow days will indeed be a thing of the past, or if it will be a case-by-case situation. We are waiting for that answer and will post an update when a response is provided.