Salt Lake City School District taking heat for canceling school at the last minute

SALT LAKE CITY – The Salt Lake City School District is taking heat from irate parents and teachers for canceling classes just after 8:00 AM Thursday. 

One teacher, who wanted to remain anonymous, told KSL NewsRadio that her colleagues were ready to teach when they got the email. 

She says teachers were frustrated because the district did not give a full explanation as to why they had canceled classes so late, which also put parents in a bind. 

“None of the faculty have any idea what changed their mind at 8:00 this morning. Even if they would have made a decision at 6:00 this morning, then you wouldn’t have had people carting their kids all over town, getting ready and going to the school buildings so they could run their classes. But they had waited until everyone had already made the accommodations,” the teacher explained. 

Although the Salt Lake City School District is starting the year online, a few classes are being held on campus. 

Another parent, who also does not want to be identified, called the district’s actions “very disrespectful” to families and claimed they had enough knowledge about power outages to let parents know about the plans to cancel classes earlier. 

Other parents said they had dropped their children off at friends’ houses and even drove several miles to other cities so their children would have internet access on the first day of school. 

However, not everyone was completely upset with the Salt Lake City School District. 

Parent Kristen Peko sympathizes with the situation the district’s been put in; though she felt sorry for one of her daughter’s teachers, who didn’t realize school had been canceled until his first class was over. 

“I was frustrated that the message came in late, but I wasn’t angry. I think that our district has done great. I really applaud all of their efforts. I think my frustration was partially with the timing and then partially with the power company,” Peko said.