Alexandria City Schools Will Close For ‘A Day Without A Woman’ Protests, Staffers Will Get Paid Too

Alexandria City’s 15,200 students won’t have to go to school tomorrow because their teachers are going to participate in “A Day Without A Woman" protests, which is being organized by the same folks who mobilized the Women’s March during inauguration weekend. Alexandria public schools said that they didn’t have enough substitute teachers to fill the 300 leave requests from teachers, according to WJLA, a local ABC News outlet. Only one-third of those posts could have been filled. As such, out of safety for the children, the entire school district is about to undergo a total and complete shut down…for the day. In Washington D.C., on the other hand, all staff and students are expected to show up for class:

Same crew that told me DeVos' appointment would shut down public schools is shutting down public schools Wed. For the children. Noted.

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) March 7, 2017

“This was not a political decision,” says school spokesperson Helen Lloyd. “This is about the safety of our students and our ability to deliver instruction to them.”

School officials say the Alexandria district has only enough substitute teachers to fill about one-third of the vacant slots.

Students will not be required to make up the instructional day.

The district says with the lack of snowy weather, there are enough days in the school calendar to close on Wednesday without affecting "the number of teaching days required by the state."

[…]

Other metro-area school districts are taking a different approach.

Montgomery County Public Schools is monitoring the situation "hour by hour."

Schools in Prince George’s, Fairfax, and Loudoun counties all say they are not closing for the day.

D.C. Public Schools issued a statement that says, in part, "all students and staff are expected to be in school throughout the day so that teaching and learning can continue.”

Recently, The Washington Post reported that Prince George’s County school district would be closed after “1,700 teachers and 30 percent of the transportation staff had asked for the day off.”

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The Federalist’s Bre Payton reached out to Alexandria Public Schools and they wouldn’t comment whether staff that takes the day off would be paid. Remember, it’s not a “political decision.” It would look bad if the school district subsidized a politically motivated walk out to protest the Trump administration. Sean Davis also of the Federalist confirmed that teachers in Alexandria that don’t show up for work tomorrow would be paid.