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How school districts decide to cancel school

Posted at 2:28 PM, Feb 21, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-21 19:33:26-05

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — School districts throughout the metro were split when it came to using an inclement weather day today.

The Kansas City Public School District called off school for its more than 10,000 students, blaming ice-covered side streets and roads.

As the chief finance and operations officer for Kansas City Public Schools, Linda Quinley helps decide if KCPS students get a snow day.

"Today, we're dealing with refreezing as our greatest factor, when we decided last night to make today another snow day," said Quinley.

Quinley says four departments weigh in on whether or not the district takes a snow day. The safety and security department actually drives Kansas City neighborhoods to check road conditions.

In North Kansas City, superintendent Dan Clemens said he too drives North Kansas City neighborhoods to determine if the roads are safe. On Tuesday morning he drove around and deemed them acceptable for travel.

"We felt very comfortable that we were going to be able to have school," said Clemens.

Several metro school districts are monitoring conditions on Wednesday night to determine if school will be in session on Thursday.