Amid the winter chill, heated debate has erupted between parents and principals over the decision to close Otago schools yesterday, despite the fact most roads were open.
Some parents were critical of the decision to close Dunedin schools because the rest of the city appeared to be running normally.
One parent, who declined to be named to protect the identity of her children, believed teachers who were able to make it to school should have opened the school - not for normal classes, but for movie day, music, indoor sports, craft, study, dance or stories.
"I know there are issues with teacher-child ratios, but there could be contingency plans in place and it would ease the stress on some families who cannot afford days of income lost.
"It should be optional for parents to send their children to school, and it should be up to the parents to take the risk, if any, of transporting them to and from school."
Another parent said although he could understand the reasons for closing schools, there did not seem to be a lot of effort put in to stay open.
"And I don't understand how high schools were closed at 7am when it was still dark."
Dunedin Child Care Association director Jo Ellis said all the association's centres were open yesterday and he believed it was safe to do so.
But all Dunedin Kindergarten Association centres were closed because the association was closely aligned with schools.
Waitati School principal and parent Heidi Hayward said she was relieved school was cancelled.
"We live in Wakari and I could not believe that primary and intermediate schools were opening at 10am [as originally planned].
"We're still thick in snow and more is forecast.
"The best way to keep people off the roads is to close schools when there is cause to question safety.
"There would be a huge public outcry if a child was injured or worse because schools felt the public pressure to open against better judgement."
Miss Hayward said people needed to understand how difficult it was to close a school once it had opened.
"I do not envy the principals charged with making the snow day decisions. They must make a judgement call and this must be done in a timely fashion to ensure there is no public confusion."
Considerations such as getting staff to and from school also came into play, she said. Schools on the flat may well be unaffected, but have no staff available.
Parent and teacher Aaron Warrington said given the accuracy of the weather forecasting to date, schools needed to be cautious.
"Imagine if it had snowed and school was closed during the day, with parents having to leave work to collect them."
Three principals, from schools on the flat, in a valley and on a hill, are responsible for making the decision to close Dunedin schools in adverse weather. None of the three was available for comment yesterday.
However, Otago Primary Principals' Association president Bernadette Newlands said their decision was made after consulting police, taxi services, the Otago branch of the School Trustees Association and the MetService, following "snow day" procedure.
The inclement weather forecast was one of the major considerations in their decision, she said.
