All Birmingham schools will close for a second day on Friday amid fears over safety of pupils and staff as icy weather continues to grip the region.
But Solihull and Dudley expect most schools to open as usual.
Thursday saw 264,000 pupils stay at home in Birmingham, Solihull and Dudley after education chiefs ordered a complete schools’ shutdown due to the bad weather.
Other authorities across the region were leaving it up to individual headteachers to decide whether to close or not.
Birmingham’s Cabinet Member for Education Les Lawrence (Con Northfield), defended the unilateral closures.
"I took my wife to New Street station to catch the 6.10am train and used that to judge the conditions not only on the main roads but the side roads and residential roads where people live and schools are located," he said. "Having seen the condition of those roads and being mindful that most parents would drive on those roads and more snow was expected to fall, I took the decision we should seek a blanket closure of all schools rather than leaving it to individual schools
"I felt it was my responsibility to make a decision relating to the whole of the city that gave people time to make alternative arrangements."
In Warwickshire – where 209 out of 250 schools were shut on Thursday - John Betts, head of resources for children’s services, also said the decision would be left to schools.
The authority used a new text messaging system to contact 4,000 parents by mobile phone alert them of closures.
