Columbus City Schools, the stateās largest district, has called off classes Tuesday because too many school bus batteries succumbed to the bitter cold.
The decision was made Monday evening after district employees tested and found that about 140 school buses wouldnāt start, said district spokesman Scott Varner. This is the first snow day of the 2018-19 school year, and it means the districtās approximately 51,000 students will have four days off in a row.
But the impact goes beyond Columbus public school students. Columbus Catholic Schools, which depend on the Columbus district for bus transportation, also have called off school for Tuesday. Varner said charter schools that receive bus service from the district also will be closed.
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Although Columbus schools were off Monday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, district employees still check the buses. The subzero temperatures of Sunday night and early Monday apparently took a heavy toll on batteries.
āOn a normal day, we might be able to cover something like that,ā Varner said. With so many buses down, there was no way to double up to cover the 700 routes to 110 school buildings, he said.
The continued cold weather forecast for Tuesday morning ā temperatures are expected to hover around 10 degrees before rising later in the day to the mid-30s ā also factored into the decision because of the impact on students waiting at bus stops, Varner said.
Elsewhere in Franklin County, the Canal Winchester and Groveport Madison school districts and Eastland Career Center have decided to delay their normal schedules by two hours Tuesday.
Also in central Ohio, Pickerington in Fairfield County and Olentangy in Delaware County are among the districts on two-hour delays Tuesday.