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.
In our school district kids are not permitted to drive their cars to school.
You know the moment I heard they let the kids out at 1 I got a feeling it was so they could count it as a full day of school. Hope I'm wrong about that.