Why are they so quick to cancel school?

Man, y'all's school officials are wimps!

They have to all but shut down the city in Colorado for them to call a snow day for the schools. About the only times I remember there being snow days is when there is 1 foot or more of snow, and generally only when we adults can't get to work either. Granted, we don't usually have the bitter cold since it's a dry climate here, but even when it's in the single digits when the kiddies head to school, they don't close them just because it's cold. I've never heard of the schools here closing because it's cold!

Funny story, though. When I was a kid in elementary school (so late 70s, early 80s) we got a bad snowstorm. The newscasters were predicting it snowing all night and all day the next day. By 9:00 we already had a good few inches on the ground, and it was supposed to keep snowing hard and be windy. They called school off the night before - and most companies called the day off for their workers too! Never happened before - we couldn't believe it! Usually you don't get to sleep in when it's a snow day because you get up and get ready to huddle around the radio (back then we did) waiting for the list of closures. Well, that was also the last time they called it off the night before. We woke up the next day to about 6-8" of snow, clear skies and warm temperatures. The storm had broken up in the middle of the night, but everything was already closed. There were more families out sledding and building snowmen that day than I had ever seen before! It was a neighborhood snow day where everyone, including adults, just went out and played in the snow!

The high today was -4 degrees F with wind chills of down to -30 and they did not close Chicago schools. Well, some suburban or private schools did but the public schools were open.
My university was open. The only time I remember that they've closed was when there was a huge blizzard, or when it was -17 and they lost power.

When I lived in the Charlotte area of NC, they canceled school over the threat of heavy rain once. It was the most beautiful, breezy, warm day out that day. They'd also cancel at the threat of snow.

Now when I lived in Jersey, we didn't get out of school unless there was over 3" of snow on the ground. Even then, they'd start us off with a 2 hour delay to see if the plow trucks could clear the roads well enough before they'd even cancel school. Many times we'd got all the way to school, spent an hour or two, then they'd send us home.

My experience is actually a little bit different than most of the other posters. I moved to TN back in '81 and the first 6-7 years I lived here we got off at least 10 days a year. One year it was 26!(our school year got extended quite a bit because of that though.) Since about '88 or so we just haven't had much in the line of snow. In the 5 years since I moved back, I think school has only been closed maybe 3-4 times for snow. Of course that's not because the school officials have toughened up or anything, but because we just aren't getting snow like we used to.

But the answer to the OP's question, at least down south, is that we're just not prepared to get out in the snow. The ratio of snow plows to roads is much smaller and it takes them forever to clear even the main roads. And of course nobody here knows how to drive in the snow, which is exacerbated by the 'Bubba' (I have a 4-wheel drive so the snow doesn't affect me) factor. When we have a snow and, for whatever reason, they don't close things down, we have so many wrecks the police can't even respond to them all.

Many schoold districts esp the rural ones build snow days into the calendar. Most schools in my area are closed for the second day. Schools will be closed if the windchills are in the -30F to -40F range which its currently -35F Windchill. The buses many not start in these temps. One of my SIL's is a school bus driver and even if she plugs the bus in with temps this low, well......

As I posted in the daily thread the bus (coach) that I took to Chicago yesterday started but did not operate due to some air intake valve that controls the brakes being frozen. We had a very long delay!!

Many of the larger cities in Wisconsin though like Milwaukee-well the weather has to be pretty dramatic to close the schools!! The larger areas around me some school were on a two hour delay or it might be mentioned that the buses are not running.

Originally Posted by AbbysMom

Why would school be canceled?

Click to expand...

so people can enjoy the time off Why does it matter so much to you? I need to make sense of this

School was only ever cancelled once here in Wellington during my time. It was due to extreme wind and rain

I have no clue either. About 2 years ago, (keep in mind I live in south Texas) school was cancelled because of a threat of a little ice. I saw maybe a few icicles hanging from my roof, and they were melted by 8am. My husband crossed over 2 major bridges that day to go to work with no problems. I rather have gone to work that day instead of making it up at the end of the school year. It snowed here on December 10, and the bridges were almost impassable, but they didn't cancel school the next morning. Nothing makes sense...we, Houstonians, don't know how to drive in snow and ice!!

Originally Posted by valanhb

Man, y'all's school officials are wimps!

They have to all but shut down the city in Colorado for them to call a snow day for the schools. About the only times I remember there being snow days is when there is 1 foot or more of snow, and generally only when we adults can't get to work either. Granted, we don't usually have the bitter cold since it's a dry climate here, but even when it's in the single digits when the kiddies head to school, they don't close them just because it's cold. I've never heard of the schools here closing because it's cold!

Click to expand...

So true - I never remember it being closed down much because of snow. One year we had a flood. But snow rarely. It didn't help that the big storms came at times like Thanksgiving and Christmas break when we were already off.

I remember the first time I was dealing with our purchasing organization in North Carolina. Even the forecast of snow caused businesses to close down early and everyone to raid the grocery stores.

Here, a couple of years before, there was one of the nastiest storms in history on Christmas eve. The state patrol was advising people to not go out, cars were getting stuck all over the place, and there still were people going out to finish their Christmas shopping. Meanwhile, the store workers (including me) were wondering if they were going to get home.

It is all what you are used to.