Just so we are clear on this, this has NOTHING to do with the skill of the person driving your children around....it's the "other person" you have to be scared of. If someone lost control or overcorrected in front of you, you could be the best driver in the world but you have no control of the outcome. Wether it's a mother driving her children to school, or a bus driver with several lives in their hands...if an hour or two makes the difference between "safe" and "unsafe"....why is there a debate???? I should have asked my Superintendent of Schools exactly what qualifies as "unsafe" in his eyes. At least you parents of children in Janesville are assured that someone is looking out for you. Overprotective or not...complaints or not....taking into consideration EVERYONE in your community is the "right" thing to do.

I agree that there would be complaints either way about whatever the discision was about school closings. Parents ultimately have the choice of sending their children or not. All parents should/must have a backup plan if school is called off. Parents have the ultimate responsibility for their children.

We counted 9 vehicles in the ditches from cars to semi's, and the condition of the interstate has no bearing on the schools as none of the schools are located on the interstate and few of them are even located on main roads.

Well I drove from Janesville to Antioch this morning and while some roads were ok, some were not. County A was nearly impassable in areas. I have lived in Janesville my whole life. I have driven in blizzards, torrential down pours, tornadoes, you name it. I am not concerned with my driving or the roads, getting my child back and forth to school. I am concerned about all the other drivers out that I may cross paths with, especially those that think 4 wheel drive, front wheel drive, and whatever else you can think of means that they can drive like morons. Just going down Milton Ave this morning, it was slick so I chose to do 30 instead of 40, and as all those went past me because they had the awesome cars, I laughed at them when the light ahead turned red because they were all sliding sideways, swerving to avoid each other while trying to stop their cool cars. Yes I would have taken my son to school today if it were open but I am thankful I did not have to because picking him up yesterday afternoon was a pretty scary ride and when you deal with high school traffic, you don't even need crappy weather to make the drive dangerous.

I had to make a trip down the interstate this morning also, not a single car in the ditch. Actually all the main roads were melted and fine. There was a little snow on the side roads but its Wisconsin. Also, 16 year olds shouldnt have their license if they dont know how to drive in snow.

To ALL of you out there that say stupid things about school closings being "inconvenient"...and let's face it, that's what you are saying...you are prioritizing your jobs over the lives of your children and SHAME ON YOU!!!!! I cannot fathom honestly that you would put the lives of your children in a stranger's hands, cause that is exactly what you are doing here...weather they are driving your children or driving in another vehicle on their way to school or work, to be on time for your occupation! SHAME ON SOCIETY that we can COMPLAIN when people make good decisions based on their community's safety, because it "inconveniences parent's jobs"! It is OUR responsibility as parents to have a plan in affect for inclement weather delays and/or closings. I for one believe that our personal community schools have an excess of needless days off and "early release days". We never had so much time off when I was a kid! We had TWO early release days (done by 1:00) this month alone! But....we couldn't delay or close our schools when we NEEDED TO for safety reasons??? Come on, for real??? Feb 7 was complete ice on the roads, and an hour delay of our school would have made a big difference in the safety of our roads....but WE stayed open at our regular time, even though all or most surrounding area school districts closed or delayed school that day. Same thing on the 19th...another day that an hour or two would have made a HUGE difference in the safety conditions of our local road ways. That was a very bad weather day with an excess of accidents, people killed from our community, and other weather related issues but our Superintendent had us start on time. All the bus drivers, parents commuting from outside town, young inexperienced drivers and OUR children were all put at risk so that school would start on time, but two days later we have an early release day at 1:00 pm? The problem lies is too much needless time off, and not enough sense of priorities to close or delay when it's really necessary. JOBS ARE REPLACEABLE, OUR KIDS ARE NOT!!!!!!!!!

I drove through three towns this morning getting to work. No problem.
I'm just sayin'...

If there was school today we would still be having this conversation, just in reverse. If there was school and a bus had slid into an intersection or a car had slid into a bus imagine the screaming. I could have easily gotten my kids to school but what is wrong with being a little cautious. We will all get up tomorrow and find something else to complain about. Schools can't win with whichever decision they make on this subject.

Who cares if the residential side roads had been "touched" or not by 8:15 this morning. Mine wasn't either but so what...I could still drive on it. Just sayin....

BeenThereDoneThat: Thanks for the info, I thought they had 0 days built in.

I believe they made the correct decision.

Thinkaboutit -- if you look at the school calendar on the District's website, there is ONE snow day built into the schedule. If there are 1 (or 0) snow days this year, then Friday, May 24th will be a scheduled day off. If there are 2 or more snow days, then there will be school on the 24th.

As for the reason for the snow day, consider that the City of Janesville issued a snow emergency for 5 AM this morning. That means that people didn't have to move their cars off of the street until 5 AM and that is when curb-to-curb plowing would begin. Imagine the mess that would ensue when plows were trying to complete plowing operations with heavy traffic around all of the schools. And for those that are going to jump on the "the streets were fine at 8:00 am argument" -- I live in an elementary school neighborhood and NONE of our streets had been touched yet at 8:15 a.m.

OhGeezDanny - I don't believe Janesville has any "snow days" built into their schedule, therefore they must make up every day that is cancelled - and they had conferences today too. All of it must be rescheduled.

hankidan - the roads were fine with a 2-hr delay. I believe the reason Janesville cancelled was because they don't do 2-hr delays and make their decision prior to 6am. I wouldn't think they could assume the roads would be ok at that time in the morning.

For those complaining about the decision made: Remember there are consequences to their decisions. What if this decision was on your shoulders and a child was injured/killed in an accident because you decided not to cancel/delay. After all, we live in Wisconsin, who cares if there is snow and slippery roads, right!

Contrary to belief out there there were other school closings ! UW-Rock County, Rock County Christian school, St Mathews, St Paul's, St. Williams & St. Patricks.Then there are the following groups/businesses... HealthNet, Echo, several daycares, Edgerton Library, Janesville Boys & Girls club all have decided to close today.
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Some areas in and around Janesville were much worse than others...the main concern was the rural routes! The kids safety is #1 and Janesville in conjunction with VanGalder bus company made the right decision...besides JSD has not burned up as many snow days as the other area districts...those districts (such as Albany) I am sure had they called another snow day would be into the middle of June before school gets out, I am sure that played a large role in their decisions to only delay.

As another person who attended Janesville schools and rarely had a snow day off, I say, "Enjoy!".

There have been worse days than this that school was not closed. Today, they close. Makes no sense. The last bad time, even Blackhawk Tech. College was closed. Janesville schools were open. Who is making these decisions?

Well, in MY day, the schools were never closed. We had to WALK no matter what the weather. 2 Miles. Uphill. Both to and fro. "Janesville Public Schools are opened today" was all I ever heard on WCLO.

doc0430, And so are the teachers & staff..YAH Snow Day! Embarrasing.

All of you talking about these young inexperienced drivers not needing to be out on these roads, what do you think they're going to do now that school has been cancelled? THEY'RE GOING TO GO OUT AND DRIVE ALL DAY IN THIS BECAUSE SCHOOL IS CLOSED! I know if I were off school today and Mom and Dad were at work I'd go grab some of my friends and go try finding something to do, and in turn this is going to make it even more dangerous for all of us making our work commutes today.

Wow, WTP! I'm amazed you can use a PC and blog! You've come a long way.

Some of you people complain when they don't close the schools; some complain when they do. The roads are bad, people are snowed in and it's unsafe for travel. The School District did the right thing by closing schools today. Sitting in your warm house at the computer and telling other people what is safe for their children is not only naive but embarrassing. The same negative people here would blame the school for not closing when a student got hurt traveling today. Some of you people will whine about anything.

jqpublic I resent your comment. I m from Milton and not Janesville. Two we did not have a snow day like Janesville did I still had to report for work because I am a district employee. Three check your facts before you comment because not every school burned a snow day check the closings and cancellations and you will know what I am talking about. One other fact there is nothing wrong with having a job as a school crossing guard because there just as important as a teacher the school can't function without both teachers and crossing guards. So if you see a crossing Gard be sure to thank them they earned it. Why because there out there every day rain or shine doing just as tough of a job as a teacher dose. Yes I am a crossing guard in Milton.

I love how people mention the real world! How many teachers do think their are nation wide. 3-4 million or more. You act as if teachers don't have a real job! No it's not Walmart or McDonalds but teaching is an actual career! Typical ignorance and rants from Janesville. Not surprised!

I come from North Dakota and back in the 40's and 50'a schools closed after every snow storm. why because there was no roads that was open and it took days for any plows to open. Most of the time farm kids had to come to school in horse and sleigh bus. My bus had 15 kids that was picked up along the way. High school boys drove the bus and stabled the horses before walking back to school for the day. They where let out early to hitch up the team again and brought us back home. The bus had a coal stove in the middle and one got hot sitting next to it. Those by the back door froze. Kids have it made today.

Do the math 'lets burn a snow day'. The rest of us in the real world have jobs that don't have the luxury to turn a blind eye with a little dusting. For god's sake we live in the midwest..suck it up buttercup!

ljs64, the roads are not a training course for new, and or young drivers. One just needs to learn to adapt, make time, leave early, and take your time driving.

Like many other people say... this is Wisconsin. In my opinion, Schools should be open. Just leave it up to the parents to make the decision whether or not you feel safe enough to get them to school, or they get to school. Just like a job, business usually do not close due to inclement weather. Of course you are right... bad road conditions could be the difference between life and death. Just a matter of your own judgement whether you should drive on the road or not. Why leave that up to businesses or schools? I travel from Janesville to Madison/Sun Prairie for the last 20+ years daily. I've ventured through 2 hours one way, and I've also made decisions to stay home or off the road. The decision being just my own. That is the way I feel should be implemented. Then again, I understand a shortage of teachers and staff can effect many classrooms, so closing the school would be one way to resolve the issue. Today was no different than many 3-5 inches of snow with the exception that some roads were icy. Bottom line... slow down when driving in abnormal conditions. People are always in a hurry these days.

Ohgeezdanny: One word for you ...MORON. Are you kidding?

Gee Janesville Schools the only school district closed in South Central Wisconsin. Coincidence that the Middle Schools are off Thursday & Friday?? Must be nice to have a five day weekend!

What's the matter Sigma, McDonalds won't give you a snow day ?

Roads were fine from Janesville to Beloit this morning. This IS Wisconsin! *shaking my head*

U-Rock is also closed along with Rock County Christian school so it is not just Janesville. If you noticed the ones with the 2 hr delay are also the ones who have closed multiple times this past winter...they probably decided on delay because doing otherwise would mean more make up days into the summer.
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I am glad they called off school. JSD called it right, had they not I still would have kept the kiddo home...just too slippery to risk it on the rural route bus.
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As for you Sigma, roads were not fine ! My husband drove to work at 4:30 this morning and they were horrible ! Not going in to school or work when it is deemed a safety hazard is not an excuse...it is being smart and having common sense, something I fear you Sigma must lack.

ooorrr, we could be thankful that our children are not on these not so safe roads. This is a good opportunity for you to make your child's day constructive.

Sigma40: Are you a 16 year old kid with a new drivers license that has NO IDEA how to drive on these bad road conditions? Or, do you have a child whos life is going to be put in the hands of another driver, like say a Bus Driver or another young inexperienced driver? Why don't you stop and think of the possibility that your child could be hurt or even killed in an accident, either by themselves driving or by some other idiot that does not know how to slow down on these snowy/icey roads today!!! How can you dare say that we should not use bad road conditions as a reason to close or delay schools?? It could make the difference between LIFE and DEATH!!! Shame on you!!!

What P.C. genius made the decision to close schools today? What a bunch of BS !

I just like how Janesville is closed, and yet Parkview, in the middle of nowhere where they don't even plow only has a two hour delay. Typical morons in charge at Parkview.

I don't know why they changed the school closing page though. The other one was better.

It's Wisconsin for heavens sake! We drive in snow and ice. We are dumbing down and making excuses for our kids to take the easy way out.

Damn if do, damn if u don't! Sigma, maybe u should be Superintendent, big talker betty crocker!

There was some pretty bad accidents last night. I think it's the smart move given how slippery it is.

This is pathetic. All they are doing is teaching the kids its ok to use whatever excuse you can to get out of work. My 5 mile drive part way around town and part way through town this morning was no different than yesterday.

Unreal.