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Electrical outages keep some schools closed

While most Hillsborough students will return to class today, 15 schools will wait another day to open.

TAMPA - About 15,000 Hillsborough students get another day off from school today, courtesy of continuing power outages caused by Frances.

Most students, however, return to school this morning after the three-day Labor Day holiday turned into a five-day break because of the storm.

Superintendent Earl Lennard said 15 schools - about 8 percent of the system's 198 schools - would remain closed because they still did not have power Tuesday afternoon.

School spokesman Mark Hart said that although there was a chance power could be restored to some of those schools overnight Tuesday, administrators felt a need to give parents ample notice to make child care arrangements.

Power was restored Tuesday to Gorrie, Grady and Ballast Point elementary schools.

Administrators said Tampa Electric has committed to restoring electricity to schools quickly, but utility spokesman Ross Bannister was not specific about a schedule for repairs.

Hart said he was hopeful all schools would be back to normal by Thursday.

"We can't hold them to a timeline," Hart said. "They have said schools are a priority. We're confident they are treating it as such."

Worried parents called the district's headquarters throughout the day Tuesday and were told to stay tuned to local media.

"They're rolling in one right after another," said Susan King, who supervises Hillsborough's call center. "The switchboard is just being hit.

Many parents said they were prepared for anything, given the recent havoc hurricanes have played with canceling classes.

Before the school closing decision was made Tuesday, parent Rudy Fernandez, a financial consultant, said he wasn't going to fret about his children's schools possibly shutting down another day. His family's house on Davis Islands lost power, phone and cable service late Sunday.

"We just deal with it," said Fernandez, a former City Council member who has children at Gorrie Elementary and Wilson Middle schools. "The way I look at is people up north have snow days and down here we have hurricane days."

Many parents and children were ready for classes to resume.

Mark Marple's son, a fourth-grader, was one.

"He wants to see his friends and his teachers," said Marple, a student teacher at the University of South Florida. "It's a situation where he's been cooped up. He loves school."

Hurricane Frances, which turned into a tropical storm bearing high winds and heavy rains by the time it reached the Tampa Bay area late Sunday and early Monday, left thousands of Hillsborough residents without power and flooded parts of south Tampa and neighborhoods along the Alafia and Hillsborough rivers.

Hart said no schools reported structural damage from the storm. But Adams and Tomlin middle schools and Lithia Springs Elementary had some flooding.

Last week as Frances headed toward the east coast, Lennard canceled all classes Friday so several schools could be used as emergency shelters for people fleeing their homes from other counties. Classes were also canceled three weeks ago for Hurricane Charley, which had been forecast to hit the Tampa area.

Hart said it was fortunate schools were closed Tuesday. In addition to the power losses, downed power lines were discovered over portable classrooms at Brandon High and Dover Elementary.

Though it will be tough logistically to have some schools open and other closed today, Hart said administrators felt they had no choice. Children have already missed several days of classes.

"We'd prefer not to miss another day," he said. "We would have preferred to fully open the system."

Teachers and students at the 15 closed schools will make up the day at a later date. In the meantime, educators were keeping an eye on Hurricane Ivan as it brewed in the Atlantic Ocean.

"Hurricane season is not over yet," Hart said.

Times staff writer Louis Hau contributed to this report. Melanie Ave can be reached at 813 226-3400 or melanie@sptimes.com

The closed schools, in South Tampa, Plant City and southern Hillsborough, are: Monroe Middle, Lanier Elementary, Chiaramonte Elementary, Greco Middle, DeSoto Elementary, Roosevelt Elementary, Woodbridge Elementary, Lithia Springs Elementary, Durant High, Folsom Elementary, Sheehy Elementary, Robles Elementary, Lewis Elementary, Thonotosassa Elementary and Limona Elementary.