Vent and a Question

I live in Texas. If it is sticking AT ALL, they cancel school. I grew up in the midwest, so it is kind of amusing to me. But in defense, we have no snow plows here, no snow tires or chains. We aren't equipped and people that haven't lived in snowy places are horrible drivers in bad weather.

I am in Spokane and it varies here. Sometimes it's been 4-5inches others it's just been ice. Really depends on timing and if the plows have had the time to get to the roads in time. We are used to a substantial amount of snow here so we don't get that many snow days.

~Waiting on the bus is one of my pet peeves. I am a worry-wort to the core about my kids. If it was me and it was a black ice kinda day, my kids would have been staying home. Especially this close to Christmas vacation.

Hopefully you wont have to be waiting that long this afternoon!

I'm in Texas, so if we even have a flake fall from the sky, not only do the schools close, but the whole damn town shuts down, lol!

I'm with some of the other mothers though. If you wouldn't want to drive in this, then why are you putting your kids on a bus where there are no seat belts? Why would you trust someone else to drive your children? Just keep them home.

I don't have a good answer to your actual question, but I will say that when our school doesn't close when I think they should, I keep them home. Ultimately, my kids' safety is 100% my responsibility and I refuse to abdicate my right to protect them to a school district official I disagree with. If you think it's too dangerous for yourself to drive, why would you trust someone else to drive them? I don't say these in judgement of you at all -- these were the thoughts that occurred to me years ago when I realized that the decision is ultimately mine to make.

In our area, it was once canceled for the THREAT of snow, if you want to talk about pathetic.

If the area is used to snow, then they are much more likely to send 'em off to school or they'd never go to school from October to April. Here, I'm OK with a delay for a few inches or cancellation for much more above that because drivers here can barely function in rain. What I'm more worried about than snow is getting ice. That's worse.

a foot lol. they don't close the schools for snow unless it is a lot of snow. they are expecting 6 to 12 inches here on thursday and there is no mention at all of closing the schools.

It really depends upon the temperature, how much ice is already on the ground, if it's dry or not...

Why on Earth are you waiting for you kids at the bus stop? Don't they know the way home?

If it is any consolation, my kids went to school outside of Ft Lauderdale FL where it never snows and the busses were never on time either. We didn't wait in the snow, but it rains almost everyday here from May to Oct, and we spent lots of time getting wet waiting on the bus. I am totally impressed that the transportation department called you to say the bus was late!
We have a second home in the mountains of Western North Carolina and their rule for school closing is "if the bus can't get up the worst mountain road in the district" then school is closed...so it is more road condition than snow on the ground

Depends on when the storm hits. We've become weather wusses here so they tend to cancel prematurely, IMO, if the storm is going to hit during rush hour (either morning or evening). We had a nasty storm that hit at around 1 PM a few years ago that was much heavier than expected so many schools tried to dismiss the students early so that the busses could get the kids home safely but the kids who didn't take the bus or went to after school programs were stranded because a lot parents were stuck on the highways trying to get home from work to get their kids early. It took me nearly 3 hours to do my normal 30-minute drive and the state got a lot of flack for not having plows out early enough, etc. Anyway ever since then, they've jumped the gun a bit and sometimes have cancelled school as early as the night before if it looks like a storm will hit at 5 or 6 AM and then the storm turns to rain and the kids are at home wasting a snow day.

But if a storm hits at night, if they can plow the streets by morning, there's school. It's really all about the road conditions. The winter before last we had 1-3 feet of snow on the ground from Christmas to March and after the 3rd storm in a row, they stopped cancelling school and everyone magically learned to deal with it again.

The only time school is closed here is if the roads are completely impassable, which rarely happens in the city. In rural areas school's are closed if road conditions are dangerous which happens fairly often. School busses in the city and rural areas are cancelled if the wind chill is below -45 celcius.

You shouldn't be outside waiting for an hour unless something unusual happens. I would contact the director of Transportation and get to the bottom of it.

I think closings/delays are more about accessibility for the school bus and ice. If the school bus cannot get through to certain streets, then they should delay.

If a child's bus was ever more than 15 minutes late I would call the company.

In the midwest school buses go through tons and tons of inches of snow, but they are almost never late (for us). I think I waited 15 minutes one day when it was freezing rain and there were some issues with our special needs bus and the wipers. That was rare!

I don't know how it works everywhere else, but I drive a school bus, and I can tell you where I live that it is not up to the bus company when school gets cancelled. It's up to the superintendent of schools. And none of really know how he determines anything. But we do speculate. Yesterday we had a 2 hour delay. As drivers we thought that it was ridiculous. We didn't even get 3 inches of snow. In NH no less. And we are very well trained as far as winter driving is concerned. BUT, in our city we also have many many students who walk to school, mostly elementary age because there are more elementary schools than middle or high schools. So the choice to delay is, I assume, made partially so that the kids are not walking to school while plows are out and it's still dark out side, and streets are nasty, and people who think they can drive in the snow but really can't are being stupid.

As far as them calling you to say they would be late. Driver's deal with delays for many reasons that are not whether related. That driver could have been dealing with anything from a mechanical issue to an unruly student, or a medical emergency. Sometimes we get stuck in traffic due to other road issues that are out of our control. So if that drive was stopped for say a road blockage due to a car accident that he/she happened upon while they were on route, they have to wait, therefore you have to wait. Now as far as you saying you wait an hour every day, that is unacceptable, and you should definitely have a conversation with someone in charge of transportation.

I live outside of Chicago, so cancellations are rare, unless we have "feet" of snow fall. Life simply functions around the snow, it does not stop and 2inches is nothing, but it can slow down traffice dramatically. You have people who are simply afraid to drive in the snow period. Waiting for a bus sucks, but I would rather wait for the bus than have a driver speeding and making a possible unsafe situation for the riders on board. However, waiting for an hour is ridiculous. I would contact the bus company on that one. That is different than being 15 minutes late. All I can say is bundle up and gather some patience.

I'm in Wisconsin. We don't close for less than a big snowstorm - as in, the plows can't possibly clear the roads before 5am - or if temps are 30 degrees below 0. Our district in particular is usually one of the last to close in the county. One year we had 7" of snow overnight and ours was the only school to stay open.

In my school district, special needs kids (and prek) are dropped off at homes rather than bus stops. Perhaps they can do this for your SN child.

In PA it would be 6 inches at least. In TN, I think it's 2. It's based on the ability of the area to keep the roads clear and drive safe. Getting snow in Florida would shut the state down, even if it were an inch, because they are not prepared. Michigan would laugh at 6 inches, probably.

Wow...we can have three feet of snow and they don't cancel school unless there's actually a horrible blizzard occuring within the hour that school is to begin. I have seen these children walk past my house looking like eskimos on their way up to school. I remember once, when I was young, my bus got STUCK trying to turn around where he usually did, and we had to have another bus come get us. :)

Here it varies but its highly unlikely anything would be done about 2in. It usually has to be 5in or even more. Just depends on how fast the road crews respond. Here in MI we're used to receiving 10-12in of snow in one storm though.

Is the bus stop so far away you can't just wait for it indoors? If not, then I would just bundle up, where lots of layers.

Depends where you live.
Where we grew up (western NY, south of Buffalo, the snowy side of the snow belt), what was on the ground didn't matter - it was what was on the road.
We had to have something like 2 ft of snow fallen between midnight and 6am in order for school to be closed.
Any other time and the plows had it taken care of - roads and parking lots - and life goes on as usual!

For where we live now - snow is not something they get on a regular basis.
They don't have the equipment to handle it and people don't know how to drive on it.
We joke that they close for a hard frost here, which isn't totally accurate but we're not far off.

An hour or so outside on a snowy day can really keep the cabin fever at bay.
Wear a warm jacket, warm boots, mittens (they keep my hands warmer than gloves), and a hood or a hat/scarf on your head and you're good.
If it's windy, wrap the scarf over your nose/mouth to keep your warm breath next to your face and the wind from chapping your cheeks.

When you get back inside have some hot chocolate or warm cider.

It's 78 degrees here today, so this is not a problem that happens frequently.

If there is a large chance of snow, even a flake of snow, or a sprinkling of ice...the whole dang city shuts down. (Thank goodness, I hate the stuff.) We don't get real snow here, but almost always freezing rain. (When it happens.) If it were my kid, I would have kept them home. If I can't drive, then I don't want anyone driving! If the situation is the same tomorrow, consider keeping them with you.