TOLEDO, Ohio — Nearly 30 school districts closed this morning after yesterday's snow.
Even some of the schools that remained open didn't stay that way.
Three area schools sent kids home early today, including St. Francis de Sales, Notre Dame Academy and Christ the King elementary school.
The president of St. Francis de Sales School, Father Geoff Rose, said that this was highly unusual, saying that in his nine years in his role, they have never sent students home early. He said that normally if the roads are safe enough to travel on in the morning, then they're usually safe enough to ride home.
However, weather reports on Monday increasingly predicted that the hours after school would see more snow, so out of concern for both parents and young drivers, SFS thought it would be in its best interest to let students out around 12:30 p.m.
"It's not an easy decision to make, once you get the guys here. It's always that tough thing. You look at the weather report and the last thing you want to do is be pushing them out into heavier traffic, into the teeth of the storm," Rose said.
Father Rose said they immediately reached out to parents and communicated the decision. While they were unsure how it would be received, Father Rose said parents were grateful that the school was displaying an abundance of caution.
"Most were grateful, and again giving them that information as soon as possible and leaving the building open," Rose said. "The feedback we received for the most part was very positive, very understanding. If you're going to err, err to the side of safety."
All after-school activities have been canceled for all three schools. When asked if school will be closed the following day as well, Father Rose said they will continue monitoring the weather before they make a decision.