Wrentham Elementary Superintendent Recaps School Opening After Storm

Despite the lingering effects of Tropical Storm Irene, the Wrentham elementary schools opened as scheduled on August 30.

Though the storm hit two days before, downed tree limbs caused power outages and closed roads throughout the town.

District Superintendent Jeffrey Marsden spoke about the challenges of opening while much of the town remained without power.

"This is the first year I can remember where we started school without having a teacher day the day before," he said. "We had sent out a hard copy of the information the weekend before in preparation for the storm."

Marsden praised the elementary teachers for working well despite missing the prep time.

Though the district had enacted a bus fee during the summer, that was not it's main transportation problem as school began.

"Our biggest bus issue was with downed trees and inaccessible roads," Marsden said. "We had to notify some parents that we couldn't pick their children up, but the parents were very cooperative about making new arrangements."

He said he considered the opening a success overall.

"I think it was a great start, considering the fact that some students didn't have power or running water," Marsden said. "I think the parents appreciated that there was someplace the children could go that had power."

"We followed the lead of King Philip, which did a wonderful job opening up its middle school [to those without power]," he added. "Our gym was open on Thursday and Friday, and we also had a water station in front of the Delaney School."

Marsden also spoke to the school committee about district preparations for the storm.

"Our custodial staff did a great job — they tied down the dumpsters and everything else that could blow around. As far as the school technology, we shut everything down — we wouldn't have power anyway," he said. "We were able to bring everything back up afterwards."

The loss of power, though, put the food in the cafeteria at risk.

"There was $14,000 worth of food in our refrigerators," he said. "We were put on notice that, if the power went out, we would need a generator."

Marsden said the district was able to secure a generator to power one of the units, but food from the second unit had to be transported via refrigerated truck to an industrial park.