Alexandria, Va. public schools to close on March 8, the ‘Day Without a Woman’: Report

By Ken Shepherd - The Washington Times - Monday, March 6, 2017

More than 15,000 students in Alexandria, Virginia, will get an unexpected day off on Wednesday.

The public school system for the wealthy suburb of the nation’s capital will close on March 8, International Women’s Day, thanks to hundreds of unexpected time off requests, the city’s school system announced on its website Monday.

“It has come to our attention that as of today, more than 300 staff members have requested leave this Wednesday, March 8. Given the unusually high number of requests, this may be attributed to the observance of International Women’s Day. This day has also been deemed A Day Without Women. Consequently, ACPS has decided to close schools for students for the day,” reads the Alexandria City Public Schools statement. “This day will be a teacher work day for ACPS staff. This is in addition to the teacher work day that is on Friday, March 10.”

“This is not a decision that was made lightly,” the school system added, saying that the decision was “based solely on our ability to provide sufficient staff to cover all our classrooms” and “not based on a political stance or position.”

Thanks to a mild winter devoid of snow days, students will not have to make up the lost time, the statement said. In addition, students who rely on the school system for hot breakfasts and lunches can count on the cafeterias at six of the system’s 16 schools to be open.

Last week a school district in North Carolina announced it would not conduct classes on Wednesday, and instead would schedule an optional teacher workday.

As with ACPS, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools insisted in a statement the closing is not politically motivated.

“[T]he decision to close schools is not an endorsement of the planned demonstration. The decision is made solely to avoid operating school on a day when there are insufficient staff to provide instruction and basic school services,” said the Chapel Hill school system statement.