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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- There were a number of weather-related problems at District 11 schools Wednesday.

A number of pipes burst at Russell Middle School because of the extreme temperatures. Classrooms were flooded and school had to be canceled.

At other schools, there were heating problems, leaving some kids in their coats all day.

FOX21 News spoke to three different D-11 officials today who didn’t want to be identified in criticizing the district leadership.

But they all told us the same thing: It was too cold to learn in some schools today and classes should have been canceled.

Heating problems lead to busted pipes at at Russell Middle School.

“We also had pretty extensive flooding, enough that we couldn’t take care of it before the students were supposed to arrive at school," said District 11 spokesperson Elaine Naleski.

So the two-hour delay turned into another day off for students at Russell.

Elsewhere, heating systems left schools uncomfortably cold.

"We have some very old schools but we also have some very old systems, and the systems don’t allow the heat to kick in and do like it would in a small home," Naleski said.

Madison Elementary and Taylor Elementary were two of the schools struggling to warm up. At noon the temperature in some classrooms was barely 50 degrees.

But students were told to tough it out and keep their coats on.

Parents FOX21 News spoke to outside Madison Elementary weren’t happy about the problems.

“I’d have liked to see the school close because a lot of the kids were freezing inside their classrooms today," said one parent.

"As a parent I feel someone should have done something, gotten parents out here to pick them up," said another.

"Is one day of being in that classroom at 50 degrees worth the potential risk to their health or well being?" asked a third parent.

Some parents questioned if the students even learned anything today with the cold conditions in the classroom.

"Kids staying in their coats and gloves probably didn’t do much learning today," one of the parents said.

"How can these kids study and be comfortable at all if they can’t even take off their jackets because they can see their breath inside the classroom?" asked another.

D-11 says district officials, including the superintendent, went out to Madison and decided it was warm enough to keep the kids in school.

"The problem you have there is you have parents that are already at work they have to leave their work, so sometimes it's just better to keep those kids in school where they are safe and we can make them as comfortable as possible," Naleski said.

D-11 says they can’t afford to replace all the older heating systems, so it's something the district will just have to deal with for now.