Contrary to what others might think . . .

I actually do understand why schools may close when the weather is particularly cold (see comment on last Friday's Random Thoughts). However, while the low in some areas of Virginia where schools were closed was just above 0 degrees, I have been in Oregon many times when it was sub-zero temperatures and a seriously arctic wind chill. This is not to mention the several times I have been in Fairbanks where it was colder than I could ever have imagined (not to mention dark). And yet, these schools do not close -- and I am willing to bet, large sums in fact, that there are plenty of children in those areas that walk to school or take the bus. Neither areas in rural Oregon or most of Alaska are particularly affluent.

That said, I understand that Virginia is rarely that cold and there are many places in the state where parents and students don't have resources to take their children to school in extreme weather, nor do they all have appropriate cold weather clothes. And while, of course, I wouldn't want my daughter stuck on a broken down bus in the cold (because, really, who does want that for their child?), she does ride the bus and was riding the bus on the days that it was so cold in Virginia.

So essentially, yes, I seriously do understand why schools close and I'm conscious of class differences in school districts that often play into these decisions, as well they should.

And...I have a wicked grasp of sarcasm which often rears its head in my posts.