Following weeks of Columbus City Schools administrators using a school-by-school approach, the district on Wednesday decided to close all buildings because of ongoing transportation issues and bitter cold temperatures.
There will be no remote learning Wednesday, and all extracurricular activities are also canceled.
Forty-four Columbus schools have had to temporarily operate remotely over the past three weeks as the district and others around the nation struggle with a bus driver shortage.
The district has used a controversial strategy of pivoting to remote learning in individual buildings instead of a district-wide approach. On January 7 the district canceled all classes because of transportation-related absences after earlier planning to have 24 buildings operate remotely.
Administrators have repeatedly defended the school-by-school approach, while the Columbus Teachers Association, which represents more than 4,000 teachers and others employees, has called for a temporary district-wide move to remote learning to clean and repair buildings, replenish masks and other protective equipment, and allow