Irene Delays Opening of Schools Across East

In Connecticut, 42 of the state's 166 school districts had been slated to start the new year Monday, followed by dozens more on Tuesday

Parents may be ready to send their kids back to school, but some schools aren't ready to take them back. 

Power failures, flooding, road closures and other problems left by Irene have led some superintendents in the tri-state area and elsewhere in the East to delay the start of school. 

Parents have had to scramble to find child care for kids who were supposed to be in school but now will be hanging around the house longer than expected. 

An extra day or week of summer vacation may be fun for kids, but the calendar reshuffling has caused problems for school administrators who must now reset schedules so students can make up the missed days either during the school year or at the end. 

In Connecticut, 42 of the state's 166 school districts had been slated to start the new year Monday, followed by dozens more on Tuesday. 

Mark Linabury, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, said school officials were still tallying the number of districts that delayed their start dates to Wednesday and later. He said the school districts were grappling with power outages, flooding, road closures and disruption to bus routes — all caused by the remnants of Hurricane Irene. 

"It's such an uncertain situation right now in many districts based on all of the circumstances," said Linabury.

Colleges were not spared, either. 

The storm delayed student move-ins and early classes on a number of campuses, though by Tuesday most appeared to be up and running. Two State University of New York campuses were still without power Tuesday, spokesman Morgan Hook said. Several were dealing with flooding.

Here are some of the modified Connecticut school openings:

  • Greenwich -- first day (and original start date) is 9/01 (final decision will be announced after 5 p.m. news conference)
  • Stamford -- first day is 9/06, delayed from starting today
  • New Canaan -- first day is unknown, delayed from starting today
  • Fairfield -- first day is 9/06, delayed from 9/01
  • Wilton -- first day is 9/06, delayed from 8/31
  • Weston -- started today
  • Darien -- expected to open 9/01, delayed from 8/31
  • Westport -- first day is unknown, delayed from 8/31
Copyright AP - Associated Press
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