Down power lines, fallen trees, and flooding bodies of water were just some of the damages caused after Hurricane Irene swept across the east coast. Connecticut, in particular was hit hard and the affects of Irene will continue to be felt through June.

With so many power outages, and roads closed, schools across the state were unable to start on the date they had originally projected. As a result school days have already begun being tacked on to the end of the year.

Over thirty Connecticut schools including Norwalk and Meriden Public Schools along with Region’s nine and seven were forced to delay their openings until September 6th. Due to this all of these school districts have to add days onto the end of the year.

Power outages were not the only reason for these delayed openings though; safety of the students and faculty was a main concern aswell. Susan Marks, superintendent of Norwalk Public Schools stated, “Out schools had power, but many of our teachers who lived outside of town didn’t. In addition, there was still a concern about safety where students could walk. There was still trees and debris on the sidewalks.”

Some other schools like Meriden Public Schools, were not forced to wait until September 6th, but were still delayed two days and because of this they will be getting out a day later than they had originally planned.

All of these school districts have decided that the school days will be made up at the end of the year. However, Howard Thiery, superintendent of Region 17, brought up the main issue we faced last year, a bad winter.

“June 19th was our original date, June 21st is the new date,” Thiery said. However, he also mentioned that in the case of a bad severe winter, some days will have to made up during February break.

While many schools were faced with having to cancel the first day, Region 16 was not. Just as scheduled the students and faculty of Region 16 were back in session on September 1st.

James Agostine, superintendent knew Hurricane Irene was going to have an impact on Prospect and Beacon Falls. When alerted about Hurricane Irene he began rearranging the events for professional development days and notifying teachers of these changes.  Preparations were also made to make sure the schools would with stand the impacts of the storm.

“Our director of facilities, Dave Langdon, had  his staff clear roof drains, secure outdoor materials, and schedule custodians to stay in the building during the event so that we could be ready to respond,” Agostine explained.

While some schools, like those of region 16, escaped unharmed others were not so lucky. For these unfortunate school systems an extended summer, while be resulting in an already extended school year.