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SALT LAKE CITY — Ongoing power outages due to hurricane-force winds that blasted northern Utah earlier this week mean the first day of school in the Salt Lake City School District has once again been postponed, this time until Monday.
Interim Superintendent Larry Madden, speaking at a press conference Thursday afternoon, announced that classes will resume next week to help ensure power is running and students and educators can connect via remote learning.
Salt Lake City School District is the only district statewide to start the school year solely via remote learning.
“We know the day-to-day uncertainty has added additional stress to all,” Madden said. Postponing the start of school will give families the rest of the week to recover from the impacts of the storm, he said.
“Even if every family had electricity now we know there are still a lot of families without internet access and dealing with loss and destruction of property. We hope this additional time will help our families, students and employees be ready for a start on Monday.”
City schools were supposed to open on Tuesday via remote learning, but classes were called off due to weather conditions and again Wednesday and Thursday as cleanup and power restoration continued. As of Thursday morning, power had been restored to 38 of 40 Salt Lake City schools, but many homes were still without power.
Madden said news of the delay will be disappointing to families and students who are anxious to start the school year. Educators are disappointed, too, he said.
“We can’t wait to get back in classrooms, but to start tomorrow when so many people across the district are still without power is not the right decision. I want to offer my deepest apologies to our students and families, our employees and all those that have been impacted by the decisions this week,” he said.
Many students and educators were meeting online Tuesday and Thursday when district officials made the call to cancel school.
“We are grateful for their patience and send our apologies out to them,” he said.
In Granite School District, class was canceled at eight schools Thursday due to power outages at Eastwood, Cottonwood, Crestview, Rosecrest, Upland Terrace and Twin Peaks elementary schools, Wasatch Junior High, and Connection High School, the district’s alternative high school.
Teri Ann Cooper, principal of Crestview Elementary School, said the school year got off to a great start and then the building lost power due to the storm. Power was restored Thursday.
She joked that it was an unscheduled fall break, courtesy of Mother Nature.
“Sometimes you need a few days off after starting something with so much stress to it, to just kind of breathe for a minute and then, start off again. Teachers are going to come back tomorrow and do their distance learning, get some planning done and we’re going to start off next week, ready and fresh to go again,” she said.
Cooper, who is in her eighth year as a principal, said the start to the 2020-21 school year has brought many unfamiliar challenges, between COVID-19 protocols and a school schedule where students attend school in person four days a week and online on Fridays.
“I’m finding I can really truly deal with more than I ever thought I could. Every day is a new adventure and I learn a little bit more. I can’t read the future and I don’t know what I’m walking into, but I’m learning. And you know, once we learn, we do better,” she said.
Schools in Canyons School District were back in full force Thursday after power at three schools that had experienced outages — Albion Middle School, and Quail Hollow and Brookwood elementary schools — had been restored.
In hard-hit Davis County, power was restored at Centerville Elementary School Thursday afternoon but was still out for Centerville Junior High, said school district spokesman Chris Williams.
