I hope this is not the reason but in our school district it is not considered a full day of school unless the kids stay until 1. Federal monies are also taken away from the school on days that the kids are not in school for a full day (all kids receive lunch)
School had let out at 1:00 pm and the tornado hit at 1:15 pm
Hard to know at this point- but theoretically a school should be a fairly safe location- unless the tornado is a real hellraiser- which this one looks to have been.
Very interesting that you bring that up. Most of the schools in the Birminhgham area closed anywhere between 11 am to 1:30 pm. I thought the 1:00 closings were hitting it a little close. That said, it was the schools in the more affluent areas that were closing on the early side.