SPOKANE, Wash. - Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich strongly recommended all schools in Spokane County close for Monday and almost all of them did within two hours of his announcement late Sunday afternoon.

Will Mueller, KREM.com

Spokane Co. Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich strongly recommended that all schools in Spokane County be closed on Monday.

The Sheriff made his recommendation at 4:30 p.m. Sunday due to most sidewalks near the county's schools being covered with snow and forcing children to walk in the street to get to school, presenting a major safety issue.

The Sheriff was also concerned about a new winter storm expected to dump up to seven inches of new snow on top of the 61 inches already on the ground in Spokane County.

The Sheriff said he will re-assess the situation by 4 p.m. Monday to decide if he will recommend that schools be closed on Tuesday.

Spokane Public Schools closed their schools just after 6 p.m. Sunday.

Spokane Public Schools Supt. Nancy Stowell asked all business owners and homeowners to clear their sidewalks near schools so students can use them to get to school safely on Tuesday.

Stowell also said that if parents feel their children will not be safe and prefer not to send their children to school, then their child's absence will be excused.

Stowell said District 81 hired a structural engineer to inspect the district's roofs. The engineer said that as of Sunday afternoon all of the school's roofs were stable. The engineer also said the school district's roofs are built more soundly than the roofs of the dozens of businesses that have collapsed around the Inland Northwest over the last eight days.

Some schools in District 81 have shoveled their roofs, but others who have not said there is no danger of a roof collapse.