Private school or private babysitter?

As schools remain closed due to the inclement weather we've noticed a new issue bubbling up amongst private school parents...they are getting increasingly cross that schools are closed due to the snow.

Whatever the reason: lack of staff, poor access and hazardous condition, "health and safety", parents are contacting schools to effectively demand that they open in all weather.  "We pay for education so you should educate" is the theme.  However, when you dig a little deeper the reason is often something else, its childcare.  We heard of one parent who wrote to his son's headmaster saying that they should be open in all weather and if necessary ask boys to take in packed lunches and reading materials.  The father noted that his staff had got to work so the teachers should (ignoring that its' a small school located a fair way from any main road and is valued for its rural surroundings), and that any form of engagement with students was better than them staying at home.  This parent then gave his position away when he said that if the school was closed he couldn't work as he didn't have childcare sorted.

This is new territory for schools, as they balance the limitless fear (which in my experience is generally unfounded) of health and safety with the practicality of opening a school and the desire to placate harassed parents - his clients -who need to get to work.

So far private school parents are on the same ground as state school parents - they all need to get to work and don't generally have emergency childcare lined up.  What then changes is the use of school fees as a justification for private schools to act differently to the state system.  I'm not sure this is reasonable and feels like saying to the armed forces "we pay your wages through our taxes so come and clear my drive".  Perhaps that's a little extreme but private school fees are meant for schooling, not childcare.

If you trust your headteacher to look after and educate your child, why doubt him now over something like weather, and his opinion on how many staff he can muster and his opinion on the safety of your child?

I don't have an answer but surely we need to be practical here and check our values, a days earnings and education over our childrens' welfare?  I know this sounds dramatic but I wonder what "angry dad" would say if the school was open regardless of conditions but then became snowbound and his son was stuck at school one day and forced to camp overnight the classroom?  Be careful of what you wish for?