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Eagle County Schools cancel Tuesday classes due to weather

Scott Weaver floats on top of some downed timber that got stacked deep with snow after the latest weather system rolled through town, leaving a significant amount of new snow Monday in Vail.
Justin Q. McCarty | Special to the Daily |

EAGLE COUNTY — All Eagle County schools are closed Tuesday, as a storm continues to pound the area with snow.

Eagle County’s schools were about the only ones in the region open Monday. Schools in most surrounding school district closed Monday, as the storm dropped up to a foot of snow in some areas, compounded by ice in others.

Eagle County school district officials made the announcement about 6:30 p.m. Monday.



Vail Mountain School is also closed Tuesday, as is Vail Christian High School, Vail Christian Academy, Stone Creek Charter School and St. Clare of Assisi Catholic School.

Ironically, Vail Christian Academy’s learn-to-ski days are Monday and Tuesday.

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“Eagle County Schools will be closed Tuesday, Feb. 2 due to weather. After-school and evening activities are also canceled,” the school district’s announcement said.

Staff members were all told to stay home Tuesday, or wherever they planned to spend their day off.

Jason Glass, superintendent of Eagle County schools, makes the call whether to call off schools, after conferring with the Colorado Department of Transportation, schools leaders and administrators and the district’s transportation departments and bus drivers, checking the weather, “and driving the roads myself in the family van!” Glass said.

The Western Eagle County Metropolitan Recreation District canceled all youth programs Monday. The facilities operated Monday under regular hours for those adults who wanted to brave the storm.

Vail is under a winter storm warning until noon Tuesday.

Lake County in school

Lake County, home to the highest school district in North America, has been holding classes since mining began in 1860. It has had one snow day in all that time, in 2012.

Lake County students were in school Monday, and will be Tuesday.

Snow days rare in our region

A quick search found that the last snow day Eagle County students enjoyed was Jan. 30, 2014. Before that it was Feb. 8, 2008.

To find the next previous you have to jump in the Wayback Machine and go back to 1982. Students went to school that day, but it snowed more than a foot between the opening bell and 11 a.m. Students were loaded on the buses and taken home before it got any worse.

Before 1982, you could count school closings on one hand. Battle Mountain High School, back when it was in Eagle-Vail, closed once because of frozen pipes, but no one can quite remember when. Memories of longtime residents seem to recall one other snow day in the 1970s.

A decade or so ago, schools closed when an avalanche closed a highway, probably U.S. Highway 24, and the school district couldn’t bus students around. There was some talk about sending kids from the western end of the valley to school, but in the end, the district closed school for everyone.

Surrounding schools closed

We were surrounded by closures Monday. Aspen, Rifle, and all the Roaring Fork schools were closed. Several Front Range schools were also closed Monday.

Littleton Public Schools, Jefferson County Schools and Englewood Schools are among the schools closed Tuesday due to the heavy snow.

Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 or rwyrick@vaildaily.com.


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