Anytime there’s impending bad winter weather, it seems all the crazies come out on social media to share their opinions about whether or not schools should be closed.

Some of these people are concerned parents who don’t want their young children to freeze in the cold temperatures. I understand their frustration when schools choose not to cancel when it’s clearly in children’s best interests for them not to be out in the cold to go to school.

Then, there are those who hit the roof when the decision is made for schools to be cancelled due to snow. Plenty of posts appeared on my Facebook newsfeed late last Monday afternoon as Wichita area schools, including Wichita State, began cancelling school. 

Predictably, fellow students were happy with the decision. However, those who weren’t directly affected by the cancellations decided to share their opinions about the snow day.

Among them, “Back in my day, we had to walk three miles in four feet of snow.” Fascinating. I’m sure that’s why you are the qualified candidate to make the decision to close schools.

I do appreciate their perspective, though. Sometimes, schools make ridiculous calls when it comes to cancelling school.

 I remember once in high school, it seemed like every school in the area cancelled classes just because they could; yet, when the actual snow day came about, the lack of snow and ice made that decision laughable. 

However, last Monday’s decision by area Wichita schools was called for. To be honest, it was more of a precautionary call rather than one made based on the weather, since there was not a snowflake in sight when the decisions were made. 

Yet, it was appropriate to suspend classes that day because, even without ice, the projected amount of snow and high wind speeds could have contributed to low visibility and several accidents on the road (and predictably, some accidents did occur).

When it comes to snow days, let the powers that be make the decision.

 I realize not everybody will agree with the decision, but I think we can all agree that when it comes to the safety of students, cancelling classes because of bad weather is much better than risking injury due to car accidents.