Why are schools called off or delayed in your area?

No school until tomorrow, still winter break. But the only two times here that they have canceled school was 1) when there was a toxic fume thing and 2) our 2 snow days. And it wasn't all that much snow, but we aren't used to it here.

I think the school systems in your area are just being precautious, ours are as well. On a different note, the schools in my county went back a day later then other counties for a "environmental day" not sure exactly what that was for. In any case, Snow or ice seems to be why school is called off or delayed around here.

Hi Jenin, Happy New Year to you. My son’s school is closed for winter vacation and some other schools finished their winter vacation but again closed due to cold temperature. Here there is not much rain but normally in winter kids get some more vacation. The main reason for calling off school is the cold climate.

Hi Jen, I remembered when the school called off last September in our area as if it was just yesterday. School was off for 2 weeks. It was due to the devastation brought by the worst tropical storm our country ever had. Classes were suspended to give way to some public schools to serve as Evacuation Centers for families affected by flood. It took 2 weeks before the schools were cleaned up from muds and other flood-related disasters. I only wish that would be the last...

That's a new one. Our schools hardly ever close. Usually there has to be about a foot of snow on the ground and still falling before our schools close. That's the Northeast for ya. Now in North Carolina where a relative of mine lives, they close schools as soon as they hear about snow.

calling off school is not practice

Wow, I didn't even know you had children. That's cool. Are you married or have a boyfriend? I recall you saying you're a single parent, but I may be remembering incorrectly. Yes, our schools here have delays, sometimes due to very cold temperatures. They don't want the children to be outside in such cold weather. Also, if it snows too much they will have a delay or cancel school. Snow days are the best because then we didn't have to go to school. I was loving that when I was little in school. Hehehe. During the university they were very strict about snow days, they hardly ever canceled , and I only remember once when they canceled due to extreme amount of snow. Thanks for myLotting. Cheers, peace, and Happy New Year 2010

When we lived in a rural area school got called off for heavy rain, ice, or snow. I remember once school closed early because it was supposed to snow really bad and then it ended up not snowing at all. All the time we have lived in the city my son's school has never closed for any weather.

Schools have been closed here for various reasons - one of which is snow on the ground - or the threat of snow. I know that sounds funny but in the other district, they serve kids in an area where when inclement weather occurs, the buses cannot get to some of the kids. They have cancelled school because of that. I think my kids' high school was closed due to heavy rain/flooding a few times, but here floods can happen quickly, the ground doesn't soak up anything and there are not regular storm drains everywhere because this is a desert. It doesn't rain much here so when it does, all sorts of bad things can happen. School has been closed or kids released early due to smoke from fires. I imagine that schools here might also be closed if they had a problem with the heating or cooling system, as right now it's about 31 degrees outside, and in the summer it can hit triple digits. I wouldn't say any of these are really strange reasons, but I do remember thinking it was a bummer to have school closed when SOME of the kids didn't have snow. I think it's a district decision, not an individual school decision though, and it's based on the percentage of kids who live in the affected areas, as well as the borders of the district. When my kids went to that school, we were inter-district transfer, meaning they were attending a school that wasn't our home district.

gOOD MORNING jEN, THE ONLYREASON THEY CALL OFF SCHOOL HERE IS WHEN IT SNOWS. My neighbor is a guidance counselor at the high school & i accuse her of doing snow dances to get out of work. She's as bad or worse than the kids, lol.What's the temp there. i just called & it's 12 degrees here. brrrrr, baby it's cold outside, not my favorite weather.

It is for insurance purposes. People are so sue happy these days that anything that might cause an issue to be sued, makes the schools do this.

Power outage is the most common, but also weather, many of our kids come from the mountain areas and it's sometimes impossible to pick them up and if bad weather happens while they are in school it can be very difficult to get them back home. A bear up a tree is probably the most strange

I live in the middle of what we call the "endless" mountains, at the top of one of those hills. Twisting winding roads are pretty much all we have, and in ice & snow, busses can't navigate very well, so they either delay the opening time or call off. We also have "built in" snow make up days in our school calendar, if they don't get used, the kids get out a few days earlier for summer break. The funniest call off for me was in my junior year of HS, in Pennsylvania. There was a big hurricane coming up the coast towards our small town. The called off school, and it only drizzled!

Flood is d main problem here, schools of my province are called off due to this main reason. In rainy season, heavy rain is also a considerable matter. Thanks.

Usually around here school is called off b/c of heavy snow. So far this year they haven't had to call any off but with the temps the way they have been, I think their going to be soon. [b]~~AT PEACE WITHIN~~ **STANDING STRONG IN MY BELIEFS**[/b]

The schools here have been delayed in the past when its been so cold after a holiday that it took a few extra hours to warm up the buildings.

it is natural that schools do adjust when the weather condition is not that good. there is no snow here in our country so there is no reason for delays. the only delay i saw was when it flooded in our city last september. the schools was delayed for almost three weeks. for people are busy cleaning their houses and the school was doing their own cleaning as well.

Not in my city but nearby in a smaller farming community they closed the school because so many kids were sick and absent. Can you believe it? I couldn't! Usually they do if we have alot of snow or other adverse weather conditions but never have they closed a school because of sickness. It wasn't during the N1H1 flu either.

Of course living in Perth Western Australia snow is never a problem! When I was a kid we used to be sent home from school if the weather got too hot! It doesn’t happen these days because the classrooms are actually air conditioned unlike in my days! I can appreciate how it would be annoying if the school closures and delays varied from school to school for no apparent reason.

Yes the phenomenon you mentioned are common in my country, according to my experience there are about 3 kind of reasons to call off of a school. 1. Bad weather as you said, example snowstorm; 2. Disasters, for instance earthquake, floods etc; 3. Some diseases which is ease to spread, like H1N1, SARS.