Texas Schools Districts Got it Wrong on Winter Weather Delay (Opinion)

Photo by Its Me B on Monday morningPhoto byX (Twitter)

I woke up today and looked out the window. After looking at nearby homes, there was no snow. Last night several El Paso school districts made the call for a 2 hour weather delay.

El Paso doesn’t get a lot of snow. After living here for 10 years, I’ve only seen one day when we had a lot of snow and that was in 2015. El Paso had 8 inches of snow according to weather.gov. For this city, that’s a lot.

In other years, you’ll get snow and then it’s gone within hours if not by the next day.

This city is also called Sun City. After Sunday evening with a mix of clouds and the wind blowing sand, Monday morning was partly sunny skies and temperatures rising to 45 F. Later in the week, it’s expected to be 60 F.

El Paso and Fabens School District called for a two-hour delay on Sunday evening.

El Paso Independent School District winter weather delayPhoto byX (Twitter)

Fabens Independent School District winter weather delayPhoto byX (Twitter)

Socorro and Ysleta School District waited until Monday morning around 5 am to make the call and they announced on X, formerly Twitter, that there was no change to start the school day.

Socorro and Ysleta Independent School District winter weather announcementPhoto byX (Twitter)

After growing up in Philadelphia, this city is known for severe snow storms. As far as I can remember, you watched television the morning of to see if your school district had a late start. El Paso should do the same.

Philadelphia is a much larger city and a bigger population. They have more school districts and schools than the few that are here in El Paso.

If El Paso education leaders would learn, they may make the right call next time and delay making the call hours before any snow even hit the ground. This was not the first time since I know kids have had a delayed school start and there was little to no snow on the ground the next morning.

Do you think El Paso school districts made a bad call?