For reasons I don’t understand — and no, seven hours of (a distracted) education is not a good enough answer — the Denver area school districts decided to go on with school on Tuesday, during the Denver Broncos’ Super Bowl parade. And over a quarter of enrolled students decided not to go to school anyway.
According to The Denver Post, 24,152 enrolled students — or roughly 26% — in Denver Public Schools were absent from one or more class periods on Tuesday:
Denver Public Schools released numbers Wednesday showing 24,152 students had an excused or unexcused absence from one class period or more on Tuesday. That is about 26 percent of the 90,234 students enrolled in Denver schools.
It was 9,268 more than were gone Monday.
Late Tuesday, Jeffco schools reported 21,902 students, or a quarter of the district’s enrollment, missed one class period or more Tuesday. That was 6,701 more than were gone Wednesday last week and 5,481 more than were gone Monday.
Douglas County School District reported a 2,000-student absence increase from Monday to Tuesday, and most of the schools in that district are over a 30-minute drive away from downtown Denver.
Overall, an estimated one million people attended the Broncos’ victory parade, and I doubt very few of them regret their decision to skip school or work, given the memories they will always have from the Super Bowl victory celebration.