Despite Irene, Woodbridge Schools Set to Open Tuesday on Schedule

Hurricane Irene caused mayhem throughout Woodbridge and the area, but the township's schools made it through with little damage. 

School is set to open on schedule on Tuesday, Sept. 6, said Dennis DeMarino, the 's business administrator.

"We were very lucky. We had very little water," he said. "We were nervous. That storm was a real test."

All of the district's 24 schools have been or are in the process of having their roofs replaced in anticipation of the installation of new solar panels next year. A $32.5 million was passed by township voters last December to fund the project. 

Three of the schools - Woodbridge High School, Colonia Middle School, and Avenel Middle School - got the brunt of the water damage, DeMarino said, and that had less to do with the roofs than it did with the driving hurricane rain forcing its way into the chinks in bricks of old buildings.

"The bricks need to be repointed with cement," he said.

The roofing contractors are rushing to get the buildings ready for the opening of school, but more than likely, the last details on finishing the roofs will go beyond Sept. 6. The roofs will be completed after school and on weekends, DeMarino said.

Two elementary schools - Ford Ave. School #14 and Kennedy Park School #24 - have yet to have their roofs replaced.  "We have until November to do them. They're small roofs, so it shouldn't take long," he said.

Reinforcements needed to be added to the roofing structure of the Ford Ave. building so it can hold up the weight of the solar panels when they are installed in 2012. "It's an old building. It needed additional support," DeMarino said.

The lion's share of the roofing work is slated to be finished soon. "We're expecting the building department to sign off on the roofs next week," he said.