Schools Began to Reopen Amid Snow Storm

Schools Began to Reopen Amid Snow Storm
Sarah Elizabeth Carpenter 3:47pm Friday
Okay, so I know that talking about school closings due to snow is not exactly breaking news but I wanted to look at the article for a little bit more than just the snow, so stay with me here.
The snow that should have fallen didn’t fall? Snow has been falling for the past week pretty heavily and was intended to keep coming, but didn’t. The weather forecaster told schools that there was a possibility of 12 more inches of snow, as well as already icy roads. So the schools closed and noting happened. Later that week schools continued to stay closed and finally three days later the snow began to fall. At least 8,000 schools were closed yesterday due to adverse weather. (This happened in Nnorthern Scotland, Wales and south-western parts of England.) Yesterday and Mondays school closings alone cost the school system and parents 3 billion.
Some parents argued that the children could have gone to school and that it was costing them money to stay home with their children. Also, adults have claimed that staying out of school even when things are not as bad as people thought keeps kids on edge. As stated in the article, "when things are difficult, you should just stay at home and have fun". Kids should have fun but is that necessarily outside of school?
My reasoning in choosing this article had a lot to do with our own “snow” days. How effective are they? Just this Tuesday UNCG was on a two hour delay and most schools were closed, all over less than an inch of snow. It is always nice to have a day off but was it necessary. Some families really cannot afford to have snow days, especially with our economy. So my question is for families like the one in this article should the schools provide some sort of “snow day care”? This article said that it cost the families and the school board 3 billion dollars, I feel that this ridiculous amount of money could have been saved. Yes safety is always first, but if you live in an area that is faced with this sort of adverse weather would you not have precautions set? The other day when UNCG was on a two hour delay my internship at Alamance was cancelled, so now instead of 8 Tuesdays of learning I have 7 Tuesdays. Maybe I am just crazy but I hate snow days and half the time they are not even necessary!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/04/schools-snow-closure