COLUMBUS (WCMH) — For the second day in a row all Columbus City Schools will dismiss early due to high temperatures.

Columbus City Schools spokesperson Scott Varner said all schools will dismiss early on Tuesday, Sept. 26. All high school and middle school students will be dismissed at 12pm. All elementary, K-6 and K-8 schools will be dismissed at 1pm.

The schools will serve lunch for all students before the early dismissal.

“Yesterday went very, very well. I was impressed with not only our faculty and staff, but our parents and guardians in this community. They step right up in situations like this, and we had very few students who weren’t met when they returned home or were dropped off on their bus yesterday,” said Columbus City Schools Superintendent Dan Good.

All afternoon buses will complete their normal routes about 2.5 hours earlier than usual. Parents need to make plans to meet their children at the bus stop or make alternative plans for picking their children up from school.

“I like that kids are getting out because teachers want to be in a position where kids are focused,” said Octavia Matthews, a parent of a Winterset Elementary student. “They are not focused when they are hot.”

High school sports and activities will continue as scheduled, but middle school activities and sports practices are canceled. Latchkey will remain open and welcome students at 1pm.

“We once again refreshed all of our coaches with the heat acclimation, Ohio High School Athletic Association’s program for addressing our student athletes during hot weather like this. So they’re prepared to enact that today and so we will have all of our after-school activities for high schools occur today,” said Good.

All teachers and other staff will remain at the schools for the full day.

Right now more than 40 CCS schools are without central air in its buildings.  To keep cool on hot days, teachers are giving out cold water bottles to students, running fans and limiting the amount of time students spend outside. 
“We know that things come up, and so we have an alternative plan,” said Dan Good. “So students that are either fearful of going home or may not have someone to meet will remain at the schools and our faculty and staff will be here for their regular workday, so there’ll be supervision and activities planned for those children.”
For any more information, families are asked to call (614) 365-8888.