I grew up in Iowa...this is still "sweater weather" if you are from Iowa. In Iowa, the snow on the ground in April was there in November. People have "snow tires" and "winter boots" not to mention hats and gloves. Sometimes they even "chain up" their tires. But since we live in the south, we aren't used to that kind of weather. We drive like idiots, we don't replace our tires when they are worn out, we don't scrape our windows, and some of us don't even shovel our walks so our neighbors and mailman can use the sidewalk. We know if we wait a couple days the sun will shine and the roads will be clear.

\My wife works in a school district. You cannot imagine the number of calls they get when the weather is marginally bad but they have school....if the roads are slick or the temperatures frigid the complaining "patrons" don't want to send their kids out in the weather.

I don't think it has a thing to do with the fear of litigation. But when you run bus routes, and you know your buses are having trouble getting around or getting stuck (not to mention tipping over once and while), and that kids might not get picked up on time, you'd be foolish not to take that into account when the wind chill temps are pretty low. Plus, the districts build in "snow days" into the calendar so they take off a couple days and not have to extend the school year.

And, kids love a snow day, and isn't all about the kids?