School Starts Tuesday for Most Students in Howard County

After a false start, Howard County Public Schools are scheduled to open for the first day of class Tuesday, Aug. 30—one day late, according to a statement sent out by Howard County Public Schools.

As of 4:30 p.m. Monday, 12 schools were still without power, according to the statement; any schools that are without power as of Tuesday will remain closed.

Schools were scheduled to open today, after Hurricane Irene left schools and residents without power, and roads difficult to navigate.

“It can be difficult for parents to understand why we can’t open schools when they look around their neighborhoods and see little or no significant storm damage,” Superintendent Sydney Cousin said in the statement.  

“There were parts of the county that were hit harder than other areas. We had a lot of cleanup work to do. That began on Sunday and will continue through today and beyond. In the end, it all comes down to student safety," he said. "That’s always priority number one.”

All scheduled sports practices will be held tomorrow, even at schools that remain without power.

"We have games scheduled for Friday,” Athletics Coordinator Mike Williams said, “so we want to make sure all teams have adequate and equitable practice time.”

School officials said they were "confident" that the damage from Hurricane Irene that affected almost half of the 73 schools in the system would be cleaned by the end of Monday. 

Check HCPSS.org for information about which schools will remain closed. As of Tuesday, the following schools were without power:

Atholton High School

Dunloggin Middle School

Folly Quarter Middle School

Glenelg High School

Marriotts Ridge High School

Mount View Middle School

Northfield Elementary School

St. John’s Lane Elementary School

Triadelphia Ridge Elementary School

West Friendship Elementary School

This article has been updated to reflect that Clemens Crossing and Dayton Oaks have power as of 5 a.m. Tuesday and will be open.