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Chicago public school teachers on strike in September 2012.
Scott Olson / Getty Images
Public schools in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Alexandria, Virginia will close this Wednesday, after hundreds of teachers requested the day off to participate in this week's Women's Strike.
“I asked our school principals and central office department heads to survey staff to find out how many absences would occur,” wrote Jim Causby, superintendent of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City public school system in North Carolina, in a statement. “The results came back, and the number was significant. In fact, it is my determination that we will not have enough staff to safely run our school district.”
After more than 300 staff members requested leave for Wednesday in Alexandria, Virginia, schools superintendent Alvin Crawley decided not to hold classes with so many teachers absent.
“This is not a decision that was made lightly,” he wrote in a statement. “It is not based on a political stance or position.”
Organized by the coordinators of the Women's March, the “Day Without a Woman” protest has called on women to do three things: stop work (both paid and unpaid labor), don't shop (expect at small, minority- and women-owned businesses), and wear red. They also ask that women give any of their own employees a paid day off.
A smattering of small businesses, have also announced they will close for the day.
The New School in New York and a Brooklyn preschool will also be closing their doors in solidarity. At the University of California, Berkeley, at least 30 professors and instructors will either take their classes to a demonstration in support of the strike, or will not hold “business as usual” classes, according to Natalia Brizuela, an Associate Professor there involved with the day's organizing.
No other school districts have reported closures so far. Spokespeople for the New York City and Los Angeles public school systems said that regular staff absence policies will apply for the day.
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