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 (except 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.