Attention Tennessee Parents & Kids: Tomorrow Might Be A ‘Snow Day’… No School!

If you’ve lived in Tennessee for awhile, then you are fully aware of this already.

If you are a parent with school-age children who might be considering a move to the area, then take note.

On virtually any day during the months of November through February (…and any rainy day in any other month), school is likely to be closed — for no good reason.

 

As a rule, parents must find alternate child care up to 13 days each year! (This is for days in which you would think that your children would be in school.)

…the same is true for day care, preschool, and even colleges & universities in Tennessee.

 

Why? Because around here, they close schools on the premise of having snow, sleet, ice, or even rain sometimes! No kidding.

Yep. Administrators within the Tennessee school systems appear to be very safety-conscious when it comes to getting children to and from school on Tennessee’s roadways.

The good news is they try to make “the call” the afternoon or evening before — which gives parents some time to make alternate arrangements for their children the next day.

The bad news is they often guess wrong, and the bad weather never even hits!

For the children:

• This is great. I would have loved up to 13 “free days” each year when I was a kid.

 

For the parents: This can be a headache. It’s often difficult to make last-minute arrangements for your children… especially if you work outside the home.

 

 

In all fairness, we don’t normally see a lot of snow in Tennessee. And as a result, there are relatively few salt trucks available to “work their magic” by preparing the roads for snow and ice — particularly within the Nashville area.

Because of this, the school administrators tend to be very generous in their guestimation of how bad a winter storm will be or even whether or not bad weather is headed our way in the first place. (Of course, if they use the weather forecasts seen on the local news channels as their guide… well, then that’s a whole other issue. Those poor guys rarely seem to get it right!)

I should mention that while snow & ice aren’t all that common here in these parts, heavy rains and flooding are! The Harpeth River that winds through all parts of middle Tennessee overflows more times than not after 1 to 2 rainy days in a row — or a very heavy downpour. So it’s not at all uncommon to see some sideroads closed, and yes, schools closed due to a lot of rain (…maybe even on the premise of a lot of rain).

Want to see something really funny? Check out these actual notes written by parents in a Tennessee school district!

 

Adults Should Get “Snow Days” Too

Now, if you ask me, what they need to do is call off work for adults on such days… because NO ONE in Tennessee knows how to drive on even the slightest bit of snow, ice, or sleet (…even rain!).

DISCLAIMER: I grew up in Indiana, and my husband lived in Ohio for much of his adult life. Therefore, we are perhaps more adept at driving in snow & ice (and rain?) than most Tennesseans.

If you haven’t experienced the mayhem on the roads here in Tennessee yourself during “bad weather”… just imagine a bunch of 70-somethings driving 30-something (on the expressway), tapping the break the whole way, and riding with the hazard lights on the entire time.

Then again, you’ve got the other extreme: daredevils who don’t have a clue about things like “reaction times”, “turning into versus out of the skid”, and “stopping distance”.

No matter which end of the spectrum you see out there driving in bad weather, these folks put everyone else at risk without even realizing it.

Can’t picture what I’m talking about?… Check out Matt Helms’ article entitled What NOT To Do When Driving.

Your best bet: Call in sick at work on the premise of a bad weather day. You and your kids (…and all the other drivers out there on the roads) will be better off for it.

Check here to see if schools are really closed today: News Channel 5 School Closings