Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin sparked criticism Tuesday after he complained that school districts across his state are closing due to below-freezing temperatures.

“There’s no ice going with it or any snow,” the Republican governor said during an interview with 840 WHAS Radio. “I mean, what happens to America?”

“We’re getting soft, Terry,” he told radio host Terry Meiners. “We’re getting soft.”

Mr. Bevin later admitted he thinks it’s better to err “on the side of being safe,” adding that he was “being only slightly facetious.”

“But it does concern me a little bit that in America — on this and any number of other fronts — we’re sending messages to our young people that if life is hard, you can curl up in the fetal position somewhere in a warm place and just wait until it stops being hard,” he said. “And that isn’t reality. It just isn’t.”

Mr. Bevin’s comments were criticized by educators on social media. The Kentucky Education Association tweeted its support for the decision to keep students at home.

We will always support decisions made for the health & safety of Kentucky’s children. Always. https://t.co/y0UlCd7VYL — KEA (@KYEducators) January 29, 2019

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