Grafton, MA, Delays School Openings Again Because of Outages

(NECN: Brendan Monahan, Worcester, MA) – In Central Massachusetts, power is being restored but there are still thousands of people in the dark as some areas were hit harder than others.

One of those towns is Grafton.

School was again cancelled due to outages and streets are still in need of being cleared of debris.

Grafton first grader Maya Clark has been anxiously awaiting her first day of school.

“When it stopped raining, they said it was still not safe to go out there,” says Clark.

Two days after tropical storm Irene hit New England, life is still not back to normal across Central Massachusetts. School was cancelled Monday and again Tuesday in Grafton with many without power and roads still blocked.

Superintendent Dr. James Cummings says school just wasn’t possible.

“Bus drivers have never run these routes so it wasn't like we were re-routing around familiar stops. Everything was brand new to everybody,” says Dr. Cummings, beginning his first school year as a superintendent.

“In all my different dreams of opening going awry, that never came up as an option,” says Dr. Cummings.

“I was kind of sad about that,” says Clark.

Some did use the extra time to go down the slide one last time, while others like senior Domenic Trupiano worked on their hoops game.

“Trying to work on some things to get better for the season,” says Trupiano.

The storm caused an increased rush of back-to-school shoppers heading to stores at once this year.

“We weren't ready yet and it was last minute so we were with 10,000 others waiting until last minute,” says Chris Clark.

With less than 200 Grafton customers without power late Tuesday afternoon, those entering first grade and those that are seniors say they’re ready for the first bell.

“Tomorrow's my first day,” exclaims Maya Clark.

“It's senior year. It's supposed to be the best year of high school,” says Trupiano.

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