School districts in both Missouri and Kansas use many of the same factors when determining when to call a snow day.
However many schools in Kansas stayed open while the majority of schools in Missouri closed for the day on Thursday.
“No we are not surprised that the kids in school today," said Kendon McClaine. "It’s unfortunate but that is part of the process."
McClaine has three children who attend school in the Kansas City, Kansas School District, which stayed open Thursday.
McClaine refused to let his son ride the bus Thursday morning.
“Knowing what he has to go through with a block walk to the bus stop and seeing how the cars were kind of just trailing each other kind of back to back you know from down our street, I just made the decision and say hey you know I’ll just have to take you to school today cause I didn’t want him standing out there,” said McClaine.
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“This is one of those days, you are not going to please everybody,” said David Smith, spokesman for the KCK School District.
Smith said they look at snow amounts, temperatures, and wind speeds when determining to call a snow day.
Despite the bitter cold, Smith said buses starting and road conditions Thursday morning allowed them to open doors to their schools.
"We’ve made a commitment to parents in terms of us caring for and educating their kids, and we should be open but only if we can get them to school safely and home safely,” said Smith.
The Kansas City Public School District also reaches out to other local schools. They decided to close Thursday.
“The decision was based on road conditions, preparations of roads and ability to have buses get down side streets and also the temperature and wind chill,” said Larry Englebrick, the Zone Director for Kansas City Public Schools.
McClaine hopes schools put safety first.
“I don’t know how many snow days are actually planned for the year, but if they have to stay out for one more day just to add a day on to the end of the year, especially for days like this, and it’s going to be even colder tomorrow then I don’t think anybody would complain about having the kids in school a few days more,” said McClaine.
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Ali Hoxie can be reached at ali.hoxie@kshb.com
