UPDATE: Wells Middle School Closed Thursday

BREWSTER, NY — Extensive damage from the electric problem at Henry Wells Middle School will take time for NYSEG and district contractors to repair, forcing the school to remain closed Thursday.

One of the main electrical lines failed and interrupted power, district officials said.

Supervisor Valerie Henning-Piedmonte said that students will have to stay home, but staffers will come to work, reporting to Brewster High School where they will be assigned to classrooms across the district.

Parent-teacher conferences scheduled for Thursday are postponed indefinitely.

"We will update you as soon as new information becomes available," Henning-Piedmonte said in a letter to parents and guardians on the district website.

School district officials said their emergency plans worked well when a power outage forced Brewster school officials to evacuate Henry Wells Middle School and CV Starr Intermediate School and then dismiss students early Wednesday morning.

"The parents of CVS students who remain at JFK will be individually contacted for pickup or dropoff plans," district officials said on the website. "We will be communicating additional information later today. Thank you for your cooperation and flexibility."

There will be no after school programs for WMS or CVS students. The BHS and JFK school day and after school programs will run as scheduled.

The Transportation Department took kids home via their regular bus stops. Earlier, district officials issued a plea to parents to stay away from BHS and JFK in order to allow them to concentrate resources on getting students on their buses to go home.

The students were evacuated as the fire department began an investigation at Wells Middle School. All WMS students were evacuated to the Brewster High School Performing Arts Center. Students in the morning program at C.V. Starr were evacuated to JFK.