Here's the problem. No matter what the school system actually does they will be hit with some form of complaints. If today would have been worse or actually lived up to the hype (~4-5 inches) and they actually had school, people would be running around screaming; maybe even you.

Personally, I agree with their decision. It's better to be safe and let them come in the summer. A bus accident or a child getting struck would not be a good situation.

The "snowanoia" among local school officials stems from an unexpected snowstorm that hit the area on Veterans Day in 1987. On that day, an unexpected snow shower hit the area early in the morning. With all of the local weather forecasters predicting a changeover to rain by mid-morning, all of the public school systems decided to delay their openings by two hours. By the time school officials realized that the snow wasn't going to change over to rain, they decided to close schools early. The only problem was that there was already six to twelve inches of snow on the ground, and most of the major roads and highways had not been plowed. As a result, most schoolchildren (including myself) did not get home until the wee hours of the night (some even had to spend the night at school).

After that fiasco, I think our local school officials decided that they would rather err on the side of extreme caution than worry about potential lawsuits from angry parents.