To the editor:

Weather happens. Every day we have weather. And sometimes we even have snow. Or ice. But life goes on. Except if your kids go to USD 497.

I appreciate the concern for safety. But several times this year, school has closed for the “threat” of bad weather that hasn’t materialized.

Somehow, back in the “old days,” we managed to go to school, even when it snowed. Adults go to work, even when weather conditions are not ideal, and kids need to understand that they will need to work, even when they don’t want to put up with the weather. Everyone needs to learn how to drive in bad weather conditions, and if we don’t have bus drivers careful enough to drive in a few inches of snow, we need to look at who we have driving our buses.

If other states that experience snow (like Colorado or Nebraska) closed school every time there “might” be snow, there wouldn’t be any school in winter. Time for USD 497 to grow up and toughen up.

Renee Maichel,

Lawrence