I'm not sure I understand. Is it Detroit that closes the schools? Where I live, the schools are often delayed 2 hours in the morning for weather issues, including severe cold. They had to close one day last week because the buses wouldn't start.

But I think a lot depends on the kinds of roads the buses have to travel. My rural area has a lot of winding, hilly back roads, some of them unpaved. Better safe than sorry.

Here in Chicago they close the schools due to a heavy snow fall, while the roads are still being cleared for safe driving. They also may close due to extreme cold temps and wind chills. Many of the inner city students walk to school or take public transportation/school buses with outdoor wait times. Those in poor areas may not have the proper clothing to deal with -20F.

The city likes to wait until the last minute to announce a closure, and this can be very hard for parents that have to work.

School districts do have a set number of "snow days" but if they go over, the days need to be made up, either at the end of the school year with full days or by adding extra hours on to regular days.

This school year is a bit more lax, and the schools are not closed as much as last school year. But, we already had two snow days.

As mentioned above, lots of kids just don't have the right clothing to wait for a bus, and often, the roads are to slick for buses to navigate... Thus, school is closed.

Quite often the cafeteria/kitchen personal was already at work, when the decision came in, and now, thank goodness they make the decision a bit earlier. My manager drives quite a stretch to get to work each day, and it's not nice, if she just has to turn around and go back home.

All in all, we are raising wimpy kids, that "don't have to walk to school, uphill, in to the driving wind/rain/snow both ways to and from school". LOL

Moni

Our DIL teaches in the Chicago Public Schools. She had a day off last Thursday due to the cold, but our two grandchildren, who attend parochial schools, did not. Many CPS students walk or are bused to school. Most of the kids attending our grandkids' schools are driven or can be driven.

Yes, it's not 'just' the kids. Teachers, aides, everybody else has to get to and from work. When DIL started teaching in CPS, she commuted an hour to Englewood on the south side of Chicago (impoverished gangland).

Last winter had so many school closure days that our DIL was teaching way into June.

Sometimes it is closed because of the buses that drive rural routes. City streets are drivable, but country roads are not cleared.

The more southern states often have ice instead of snow which makes it harder to drive. They also don't have the equipment to maintain the roads in winter like the more Northern states.

Here in Georgia they close schools if the roads are hazardous for the buses. They don't want a repeat of last year were some of the students, teachers and drivers were stuck at school overnight. they will have to make up those days but a few are built into the school year calendar.

I don't remember schools being closed this much when I was a kid but seems times have changed! Here in Northern Michigan we have had a lot of 20 and 25 below morning temps plus wind chill.but it seems schools are are always getting out early or closed. I know roads can deteriate very fast though, especially in rural areas.

My county is very large with rural areas as well as "urban" areas outside a major city. Not only do closures or two hour delays have to do with bus access to the rural areas and kids having to wait for buses or walk to school in sub freezing temps, but they also help keep traffic to a minimum so the plows can clear the streets faster and easier.

We had a bus turn over this morning after slipping on ice and hitting the curb. Thankfully no one was killed but the three people on the bus are in the hospital tonight. I know that no one enjoys making up snow days in June, but sometimes it's just inevitable.

Susan, it isn't just Detroit but all the counties in the area. When I was a kid, snow days were unheard of, we walked to school no matter the weather, kids weren't driven to school like they are now. Our county school buses seem to run. Maybe we have better snow removal and highway/ street cleaning. Maybe our kids live closer to the schools than the kids in Michigan. Another thing I always wonder about is why they have so many electrical outages during thunderstorms than we do. We get the same storms and lots of neighbourhoods with old trees. I can understand the States that aren't used to getting ice and snow but we do have winter here and everyone should be used to getting around in it, even the kids. I live on a street with no sidewalks and it is fairly busy. The kids manage to get to school, even if they have to trudge through knee deep snow until they get to the corner.

It sounds like such decisions today are made with more common sense than perhaps was the case in the past, or in some areas. Other than endangering the safety of kids and their parents, I'm not sure what gets accomplished by insisting that schools stick to their schedules in all weather.

I've thankfully never had to deal with such extreme weather as snow, but even here when when flooding or heavy rain are experienced or expected, schools and businesses close. Why would anyone think there's a need to fight Mother Nature? Is it a macho thing?

Scoops are funded to be open a certain amount of days. Schools also make money from the lunch programs

I went to school in Cincinnati,Ohio in the city area in the late 40's to the 50's. We walked to school no matter what the weather was. Cold, snow, ice. No school closings in those days. Never had any snow days.

I can understand if it is dangerous to be out especially in some areas of the US with heavy flooding or tornadoes or extreme weather. Where I live, and the Southern Michigan area the weather is rarely extreme except in the summer when there is a possibility of tornadoes or bad lightening storms. Maybe in the counties around Detroit the schools are further apart and not situated in neighbourhoods. In my neighbourhhod I have 2 schools 2 blocks west of my street, another school 2 blocks west, 1 secondary school a mile west and the other secondary school a mile and a half east, all within walking distance and one of the schools some of the kids get bused in from the county. The schools never close but I am sure if the parents found it dangerous they would keep their kids home but I see the same kids walking to school no matter what the weather and walking without their parents or an adult.

You have a point, Cherryfizz. When my kids were in middle and high school, they attended schools many miles apart. One school was in a town northwest of us and the high schools was two towns south.

Schools are not funded when students are absent. Even during non emergency times, schools do not receive the daily rate of student funds for each absent student. Around here, that amounts to over $40 per absent student, no matter what the reason for his or her absence. When schools are closed, they are not funded. School lunch programs are not money makers.

I imagine authorities often ask the schools to close when the roads are dangerous to help keep people off the roads. Others are concerned about student safety when the temperature and winds might easily lead to frostbite. Another concern ought to be unusually cold weather in areas where students would not own the thicker coats and boots to keep safely warm outside for long periods, especially if buses are delayed an hour or two or three because of the weather. And employees also need to be able to get to the schools where they work. It is a headache when school is cancelled, but safety is the concern all around.