COLUMBUS (WCMH) — All Columbus City Schools will dismiss early today, Sept. 25, due to expected high temperatures.

CCS Spokesperson Scott Varner said the plan to dismiss early Monday comes after a warm weekend, he added 40 schools lack building-wide air conditioning.

All high schools will begin dismissing at 12pm. Students in the elementary, K-6 and K-8 schools will be dismissed starting at 1pm.

All students will be served lunch before dismissal.

Afternoon buses will run normal routes about 2.5 hours earlier. Varner stressed that parents need to make alternative plans to meet their children at the bus stop or make other plans for early pick-up at school.

After-school sports and other activities are also cancelled. Latchkey will remain open and will welcome students at 1pm.

Teachers and other staff will remain in the building for the full school day.

Custodians will report an hour earlier to open windows and turn on fans. The hope to circulate air before students arrive.

The district has placed additional industrial-sized fans in the buildings as well.

Students will be provided bottled water and additional staff will be placed at buildings without air conditioning to monitor conditions.

For now, the early dismissal is precautionary and is only in effect for Monday. The district will monitor building conditions and make decisions about future early dismissal dates as early as possible.

For any more information, families are asked to call (614) 365-8888.