I’ve been asked any number of times in the past couple of months, "WHO is responsible for my child’s safety?"

My answer:  "you are."  And I exercised that authority this morning.

As my younger two children boarded the bus at 6:50, it was sleeting pretty hard (not necessarily a road hazard, but worthy of further investigation) and turned on the TV.  A couple of school systems were closed or delayed, but those were north and east of us — the usual systems that close when no one else does.  Still, I left the news on, since I’d noted yesterday evening that the ground was frozen in my front yard… it’s been very cold the last couple of nights.

Beta wasn’t ready yet, but as the news came on that DOE had closed Bethel Valley Road due to black ice, I told her to just hang out for an extra hour and give it time to warm up a little.  I e-mailed a note to her first period teacher, and wrote a note for her to check in at the office.

It was subsequently announced that buses in Oak Ridge would run 1.25 hours late, but that was after the middle and high school run had already occurred.  I just learned a moment ago — literally, in the middle of the last sentence — that all after-school activities at Robertsville have been cancelled.

Good call.  This ice sort of took everyone by surprise, because the weather-guessers had predicted rising temperatures.  Even now, today’s forecast high is 42, but it’s only 34 as of 1:52 p.m.

The last thing I remember the weather guy saying this morning is "there’s NO chance of this stuff re-freezing for the afternoon commute," whereupon I clarified to Beta that we’d just received the best odds of bad weather one can get.

I’m out of bread, but I have what I need to bake some.  I think that’s just what I’ll do.

Stay home, be safe, and focus on what’s most important for tonight.