At least four area school districts so far are canceling classes next year on the day a solar eclipse casts a shadow 124 miles wide across Ohio, but officials aren’t doing so purely so students can enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime occurrence in the state.
Instead, those district leaders are heeding warnings from state and local emergency management officials who are warning the Toledo area will be in the path for potentially hours-long traffic jams, spotty Wi-Fi, and other risks more akin to hazardous weather than a natural phenomenon viewing opportunity.
Thus far, Maumee, Perrysburg, Rossford, and Sylvania are the only area public districts that are canceling school the day of the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse. Maumee officials tacked on the extra day as part of its spring break, while families in the other three districts will simply have a three-day weekend and return to school the day after the eclipse.
“We obviously have to have several in-service days throughout the year, and we thought holding one on April 8 provided the students with a great opportunity to have a fun day and experience the eclipse with their families,” said Matt Thompson, spokesman for Rossford Schools. “Also, as the eclipse approaches, we know there will be traffic and other logistical issues, so we thought it would be a great in-service day.”
If Kentucky’s 2017 solar eclipse is any indication, Mr. Thompson and officials from the other three districts might have the right idea, said Jeff Klein, Wood County’s emergency management director. Back then, he said, so many travelers converged to the eclipse viewing area, which stretched from Oregon to South Carolina, that restaurants ran out of food, gas stations ran out of fuel, and traffic was backed up for hours.
For example, Mr. Klein said an Ohio contingent of emergency workers traveled from Columbus to Hopkinsville, Ky., for that eclipse, and the five-hour drive there turned into a more than 17-hour return trip. With the eclipse expected to occur around the time schools let out, he said that could mean children spending hours on school buses that day or stuck at school because parents can’t get through traffic to get them.
“The thing with the school systems is they need to have a plan,” he said. “They need to have a plan for if their buses get locked in traffic, and what are they going to do for the other schools that use this bus to get the kids picked up? And how are they going to feed them during those long periods, make sure kids have their medication, things like that.
“If you're talking 17 hours like they had in Kentucky to get back, that means this isn't going to be over at 8 o'clock at night,” he added. “So they may need to think about it because the reality is, if we can't get the parents in to get the kids, you’ve got to prepare for that.”
Mr. Klein said he isn’t surprised more school districts haven’t canceled school that day, as total eclipses are rare and most people don’t stop and think about what impacts they have. The last total eclipse in Ohio was in 1806, and only 15 total solar eclipses have been visible in the United States since 1867.
So far, Mr. Klein said, an additional 264,000 people are expected to travel to Wood County alone for the solar eclipse, not including the hundreds of thousands more traveling to other parts of the state. Along with heavy traffic, that puts more strain on cellular networks, meaning people stuck in traffic could find themselves with limited access to their wireless phones.
And travel difficulties from drivers pulling over to view the eclipse from wherever they can doesn’t take into account other hazards, such as the eclipse confusing nocturnal animals into thinking it’s time to come out, or the visual risks from looking at the eclipse without proper eye protection, Mr. Klein added.
That’s not to say officials from Toledo Public, Washington Local, Springfield, Ottawa Hills, Oregon, Anthony Wayne, and Bowling Green Schools are opposed to canceling school on April 8.
Jim Gault, executive transformational leader of curriculum for TPS, said school officials are in talks about whether they should cancel school that day. Rebecca Schwan, spokesman for Anthony Wayne Schools, said officials there will discuss the matter further during their August meeting.
Hal Gregory, superintendent of Oregon Schools, said district leaders will likely wait to consider the matter until closer to when the eclipse occurs.
“If at the time of the eclipse we decide the safety of our students and staff is at risk to hold school, we will close school on that day similar to a calamity or weather day,” he said. “The event is too far out and too many unknowns at this time to make a definitive decision to not hold school.”
First Published June 19, 2023, 7:09 p.m.
