While Mayor John Whitmire was lauding Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles for making the decision to close schools Tuesday, Miles was telling an education committee the district should have stayed open and "I'm not going to make the same mistake again."

Miles was the last of the local superintendents to decide on Monday to close schools Tuesday because of the arctic cold front that moved through the area. This came after Whitmire called him.  "I gave Superintendent Miles my best advice yesterday afternoon. I encouraged him to not have school and he made the right decision," Whitmire said.

But in a meeting before HISD's District Advisory Committee to talk about school year calendars today, Miles deviated from the agenda to talk about Tuesday's school closure.

He said he regretted his action and wouldn't do it again. He also took a shot at what he called exaggerated fears about the damage the weather was going to do.  He did add later "That doesn't mean we're going to go to school when there's a hurricane," but he made it clear that Tuesday's weather did not meet that standard.

"We made a decision to close schools today. I'm not sure that was the best decision. It was mine to make and I made it. I'm not sure it was the best decision.

"I think we missed an opportunity to develop a culture of essentialness. We need that. Our profession has gone away from that. We close schools too often in this country, in this profession . And we don't emphasis essentialness.

"No fire departments close; no police departments close; no hospitals close. And after those first responders we're it, except if we were in combat.

"A lot of other restaurants and businesses were open. In fact most were open. Which means that we had parents who had to go to work.

"When we close, parents don't get a choice. if we were to stay open parents get a choice. They could keep their kids home. But when we close they don't have no choice.

"There are some parents who needed us today and there are some kids who needed us today. and there are some homes who didn't have power today. And there are some kids who didn't get a hot meal today. And there are some kids who got left alone today. That happened today.

"I'm the one to blame and I'm not going to make the same mistake again.

"There's only one way to build a culture  of essentialness and that's to act essential  Despite the noise,  despite the whining, despite the people who are exaggerating  [that] we're going to cost people's lives.  I've  got to ignore that and think about the kids and our core function. "