Dismiss school for Tornado/Thunderstorm?

The stories about Enterprise Alabama make a big deal about the school's decision not to release students once a Tornado Warning was issued. It seems that it is common practice to let students out of school early in these situations. Some radio person claimed that the storm caused school closures in Alabama and Georgia.

Huh?

Release school for a thunderstorm or tornado? Where is the logic in that? In BN state school gets closed for snow --because snow causes difficult travel AND it keeps getting worse. Rain isn't dangerous. The schoolbus won't get stuck in a raindrift and if it does go off the road, getting wet isn't the same as freezing to death. Rain is also effing TEMPORARY. When the storm is over, it is easier to travel... If anything, they should keep students IN school when it is stormy -- waiting for the storm to end.

It is true that tornadoes ARE dangerous. The safest thing to do during a tornado warning is to STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!!!! Sending students home during a tornado warning is dangerous. Having them in cars or on busses with tornados on the way means they are out of shelter and might have to hit the ditch to save themselves -- or not.

I just don't see it -- it really is sad that 7 students died when the tornado hit their school. It would have been even more sad if the bus taking them home had been hit and all 40 students had been killed. It would have been terrible if they'd been home when the tornado hit their neighborhood while they were hanging out and watching MTV, killing more students.

Of course, the cynical side of me looks at the low test scores and overall poor schools in Alabama and realizes that their schools probably suck because they let them out early for nothing. Teaching students entails keeping them in school. This wasn't a hurricane, this was a series of thunderstorms.