An abundance of caution shouldn’t mean an overreaction every time there is severe weather here.

Freezing weather tends to cause people to freak out in Florida.

While the Sunshine State doesn’t get the prolonged single-digit temperatures and snow seen up north, even a little ice leads to problems here. Without roads being salted and drivers unprepared to handle icy conditions, accidents are sure to happen.

With these things in mind, one can understand why Alachua County Public Schools would exercise an abundance of caution in advance of Wednesday’s wintry weather. More than 10,000 students each day ride buses that would have to traverse potentially hazardous roads in the morning, when conditions were forecast to be worst.

But northern districts sometimes address this problem with a delayed start time, something the city of Gainesville did in opening its offices later Wednesday. And the district’s decision to close schools both Wednesday and Thursday was baffling, given the lack of precipitation in Thursday's forecast.

School closures pose a significant burden for working parents. The closures sent many parents scrambling for child care, or forced them to call off work just as some were just returning  from holiday vacations.

The district should give greater consideration to these concerns when closing schools. The district had already closed six days this school year due to Hurricane Irma, past the point when most of the area had seen power restored and roads cleared.

Of course, criticism would be much greater if schools were open in either instance and students hurt as a result. Superintendent Karen Clarke’s job first and foremost is to look out for the best interests of students, and she is tasked with making the final decision on closures in the absence of a district policy dictating closures under certain conditions.

The School Board should consider a policy that keeps the focus on student safety while making things more manageable and predictable for working parents. Decisions to close schools affect teachers and other school employees, too, a significant number of whom were out of work during the Irma make-up days scheduled at the start of winter break.

Alachua County isn’t alone in having a school calendar that fails to fully account for the schedules of working parents as well as the education needs of children. Our district and others continue to have a lengthy summer break, which causes learning losses for children and hurts families unable to afford costly summer camps for their kids.

Our school district has made things worse for some working parents with decisions on spring break and Thanksgiving break. The district’s spring break typically falls on a different week than the breaks of the University of Florida and Santa Fe College, making things difficult for parents working at those institutions, while a week-long Thanksgiving break forces most working parents to call off or make child-care arrangements.

The district won’t be able to please everyone with its closure decisions, but should do more to take the concerns of working parents into consideration. An abundance of caution shouldn’t mean an overreaction every time there is severe weather here.