It was soooooo cold...

**Lachlan09** · 8th January 10, 12:47 PM

This is the modern world. Here in Oman, every time it rains, the schools close. Those of us belonging outside of the Gulf region shake our heads at the antics of locals at the slightest touch of rain. Filipinos, Indians, Sri Lankans, westerners etc cannot believe the widespread panic at the sight of a few spots of rain. Even the famous Cyclone "Gonu" which immobolised our capital city (Muscat) in 1997 was but a drop in the ocean compared to typhoons I've witnessed in the Philippines etc. Even on the most major highways, there is no rain/storm drainage, even though it rains every winter.

**BEEDEE** · 8th January 10, 05:50 PM

Here in eastern NC they predicted 1-2inches of snow last night. By 8:00pm Thursday the TV had a seemingly never ending list of schools delayed 2 hours, etc.

Woke up this morning to a little sprinkle of (wait for it)
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RAIN!!!

So I posted this excuse in Craig's Corner http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...240/index.html

Brian

**beloitpiper** · 8th January 10, 07:52 PM

Originally Posted by Tobus

Yes, to the point of idiocy.

I saw on the news last night that a woman (in the Dallas area, I believe) is in trouble because she dropped her kids off at school in 30-degree weather and they actually had to stand outside for a couple of hours because school was delayed in opening. They had jackets, but no hats or gloves.

I'm sure it was no fun for the kids, but is this really something the mother should face charges over? That kind of thing was normal when I was a kid.

Another woman on the news is in trouble for leaving her young kids in the car while she went in for a tanning booth appointment. The weather was in the 30s and she was inside the salon for a total of 18 minutes, I believe. Is this really the kind of thing that constitutes child endangerment these days?

Is this really the kind of thing you'd call parenting these days?

**piperdbh** · 8th January 10, 08:21 PM

Alright, here goes...

One of the reasons that school is canceled is because of the "end-of-the-world" weather forecasts that we receive. If snow and ice are prophesied, then school boards want to get the children home safely before the storm hits, which is only right. The trouble is, often the forecasts don't come true. "Better safe than sorry" is the motto for such decisions.
Fear of litigation is another factor involved here. If a school bus were to slide off into a ditch (or something worse), and a litigious parent were to see a little patch of ice on the road nearby, then the school district would be sued, tying up valuable resources in court and settlement charges.
I agree that society is turning children into overprotected hypochondriacs, but when there's a threat to the safety of other people's children, the adults in charge have to make decisions, and the rest of us get to pick those decisions apart.

As far as the story of the woman leaving her children in the car while she went to get a tan, I'm not in favor of leaving children unattended in vehicles. And besides, who gets a tan in the winter?

**auld argonian** · 8th January 10, 09:44 PM

In Chicago, the public schools get a certain dollar amount per student per day of attendance in the form of federal grants. Guess who will never have a snow day even if it snows a bastard and even Sgt. Preston of the Northwest Mounted Police and his brilliant lead dog, Yukon King, couldn't get through?

Best

AA

**Jaggy thistle** · 9th January 10, 09:43 AM

I was at school in1947when we had the most snow ever We had a mile to walk to school a small group of us walked together the boys in shorts and the girls in skirts throwing snowballs at each other we walked between the drifts which were about 10 ft high no transport came down that road for a fortnight and the school was never shut

**Jerry** · 10th January 10, 06:17 AM

Originally Posted by Tobus

Most likely it's school policies that are driven by a fear of liability or lawsuits.

That is it in a nutshell. Just check out all of the lawyer adds on TV. They sometimes seem to be inventing things that they can file lawsuits over. Just imagine some old fart school bus driver skidding into a ditch in the snow and causing "minor" injuries to a bunch of elementary school kids. There would be people lining up to sue the school system for not closing. In my day, school didn't close unless we had around 6" and it was still falling. But then, we didn't have school buses. Many of us walked to school(neighborhood schools). The city bus system did run a few buses in the mornings and afternoons as designated school buses. . There also were not as many lawyers around then. Finally, kids were much safer walking the streets too.

**Pleater** · 10th January 10, 07:31 AM

In one of the earlier incidents of the freeze here in the UK, a coach slid off the road and two passengers died.

There have been many accidents of a trivial nature, but quite a few have caused deaths and injuries.

Now they are finding bodies in the snow.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

**beloitpiper** · 10th January 10, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by Jerry

That is it in a nutshell. Just check out all of the lawyer adds on TV. They sometimes seem to be inventing things that they can file lawsuits over. Just imagine some old fart school bus driver skidding into a ditch in the snow and causing "minor" injuries to a bunch of elementary school kids. There would be people lining up to sue the school system for not closing. In my day, school didn't close unless we had around 6" and it was still falling. But then, we didn't have school buses. Many of us walked to school(neighborhood schools). The city bus system did run a few buses in the mornings and afternoons as designated school buses. . There also were not as many lawyers around then. Finally, kids were much safer walking the streets too.

There weren't as many lawyers? I think there were just as many per capita as there are now. Also, cities are bigger, not everybody can walk to school. And when I went to elementary school there were a lot of farmers. Those kids needed the bus because they lived 5, 10 miles away. Of course when the snow came down they wouldn't be able to clear all the roads that far out in time for school, so snow days were a big safety issue.

**JamieKerr** · 10th January 10, 09:02 PM

I always laugh when I hear people complain of a few inches of snow. Last weekend we had 18 inches of snow over night. By the following morning the snow up on the hill I live on was over the hood of my truck. A friend of mine has a small cabin back of the woods near me. We made a complete living room set in his front lawn out of snow. A recliner, wraparound couch, a table, and a fridge! Far better than snow angels