North Texas school districts defend decision to cancel Tuesday classes

Many school districts that closed the beginning of the week are planning to reopen Wednesday.

Dallas ISD and Arlington ISD are on normal schedules.

Fort Worth ISD will reopen all campuses except for Polytechnic High School, which has no heat.

Smith Elementary in Mesquite will also be closed Wednesday because of mechanical issues. 

While most school districts have announced they will reopen for school Wednesday, it is the closure of many large districts on Tuesday that left some people wondering what was behind the decision when the roads were, for the most part, in the clear.              

While many of the large districts like Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington ISD decided to remain closed on Tuesday, other districts like Frisco, Allen and Lewisville ISD decided to open their doors. 

Having schools closed when the streets were clear and most employers operating with business as usual created a challenge for working parents.

School district leaders explained what was behind their decision.

With no detailed explanation from districts about their decisions on Monday, many had no idea why schools remained closed.

"It's fun to be with the kids," said mom Dagan Segal. "But I am missing out on work, and that can be hard." 

And this hard is on top of being among 40 homes that were without power from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sunday as the arctic air was in full force.

Oncor said it was the result of an equipment failure likely due to the extreme cold. 

"I expected this to happen. I went in on Sunday to prepare for it," Segal said.

Segal is a scientist at UT Southwestern and explained why her work can't be put off for long.

"I grow cancer cells in culture. They require maintenance every two to three days," she said.

Segal's lab does research that could help find a cure for a type of pediatric cancer. 

"It would be helpful if they are more aware of working parents and the strain it has on our own work," she said.

Dallas ISD and Richardson ISD both announced their decision to close Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. Monday, a time when there were still icy conditions on some streets but no widespread major issues.

Both districts explained their decisions were based on many factors, including extreme cold for kids at bus stops and for those who walk to school.

The districts also said they wanted to ensure campus heaters were still working and there were no pipe breaks. 

David Bates, chief of operations at Dallas ISD, said another factor is how much class time the district has to spare, even with a lot of winter ahead of us. 

"We don't want them waiting at the bus stop freezing and then getting to school and being cold again because we weren't able to get the heat on or power outage," he said. "In our calendar, we build in inclement weather days. We have a couple we have not used. That was taken into consideration today."

Open for School Tuesday

Frisco ISD was one of the few school districts in North Texas to hold classes on Tuesday. 

For the most part, parents were good with the decision. 

"We’re just glad it wasn’t worse," said parent Trish Gibbs. "Last year was worse than this year, so I’m just excited to be back in school." 

It was a different story for the kids. 

"I was fine either way," said parent Fredericksen. "He’s a good kid so he would have been fine, but, yes, he was very upset about it." 

Dozens of school districts around North Texas, including Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington and others canceled school because of the freezing conditions. 

One parent had concerns about the cold and disagreed with Frisco ISD’s decision.   

"I feel like the rest of DFW did it. We should have done it," said parent Karishma Mehdi. "We’re not immune to the weather, and we had the same conditions." 

Students in Allen and Lewisville also went back to school Tuesday. While the cold temperatures lingered, the roads were clear. 

"Everything was okay. It was clear out," said parent Kesha Mujuru. "The snow melted yesterday, and it seemed like everything was fine by this morning." 

Frisco ISD canceled outdoor activities, but Mujuru made sure her middle schooler was bundled up.   

"It’s cold out but just made sure he was layered up, and he was prepared for any situation that he needed to go outside. So that’s all we could do," she said.

"I feel like we should have gotten school off, and everybody thought we were gonna have school off," said student Mithra Selbam. 

School districts that did have school off will reopen on Wednesday. Districts urge students to dress warmly as the freezing temperatures will still be here. 

Students in Frisco actually started a petition to have a snow day, but obviously, it didn’t work. 

Wednesday's temperatures at the bus stop and for those walking to school will feel a lot like Tuesday.

Even so, both Dallas ISD and Richardson ISD have announced that they will reopen on schedule and urge students to dress warmly.