The Orange County Schools Board of Education voted at its meeting on Monday night to make Wednesday, May 16, an optional teacher workday.

The district joins Chapel Hill – Carrboro City Schools and several other districts across the state in making this decision.

The districts have canceled school as a high number of teachers have requested personal leave for the day in order to participate in a Day of Advocacy, where teachers are organizing a protest as the North Carolina General Assembly returns to Raleigh. The advocacy effort is being organized and promoted by the North Carolina Association of Educators and comes after teacher strikes have taken place in some other states battling for teacher pay raises and increased education funding.

The numbers of teachers that have been requesting across each district have exceeded the number of available substitute teachers, the districts have said.

OCS officials said after Thursday night’s vote that 40 percent of the district’s teachers had requested leave for that day.

“Without proper staffing in the schools, serious and real concerns for student safety will exist.”

CHCCS and OCS officials have said they will work with local organizations to provide meals for students who rely on free-and-reduced lunch during the school year.

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