The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for the region at 6 a.m. Monday lasting until 7 p.m.

The weather report is identical to last week’s… 6 inches due starting at 10:00

Just like last week, we knew the exact forecast a day before…..

It was to start around 9.  The districts decided to go for the half day.  Clear roads going in at 6 am, but by 10:00 the roads were dangerous after the first hour’s snow.  The elementary schools didn’t get out until 12:30… often awaiting delayed buses from previous runs.  Furthermore, as everyone was leaving to go home from work, as the danger of the 2-3 inches fallen so far became apparent, they not only had to navigate at 5 mph on the account of the ice and snow, but all major routes were stop-and-go from blinking red school bus lights disgorging their precious cargo.

The entire northern state of Delaware was a disaster, by 1:00…  Exactly right when the buses were still running with elementary kids, and the snow was already too deep to go get them if anything had happened.  The buses were driving on unsafe roads…

This, I know has to be balanced against children who only get one meal a day and that is at school..  We can certainly thank our Republican friends for that later.  But we must sincerely consider whether any meal is a reason enough for creating the most costly snowstorm traffic damage estimates ever made  by New Castle’s County’s insurance companies..  Most could have been prevented if we’d just trusted the weatherman and said no school on account of snow….

And if it had been done the night before, all parents could have had contingency plans in place, instead of telling their boss they had to leave early to be home for their child getting off the bus, then finding themselves being stuck 1 hour and a half because of snow.   Meanwhile the child is standing outside the locked door, wondering where her parents are…..

We can do better, we must do better… call off school early.