For the third day straight, classes at the Lakewood City Schools have been canceled.
With trees and power lines down — and thousands of residents still out of power — Superintendent Jeff Patterson said in a statement that he’s closing the school buildings again on Nov. 1.
“This has been a trying time for all of us, but with everyone's cooperation, we will get through it safely and welcome the return to our normal routines,” said Patterson in a statement.
Power remains out at Hayes, Emerson and Grant elementary schools, as well as Harding Middle School.
In a prepared statement, Patterson said:
As our community heads into our third day of recovery from Hurricane Sandy, the district wants to reassure parents that administrators are continually monitoring the situation and are in close touch with city safety officials. Being a walking district, it is critical that we ensure that are students' routes to school are safe and that we are not endangering any of our children. The number of trees and power lines felled by the storm throughout the city as well as intersections with inoperable traffic lights has caused an unsafe situation for our students to be walking the city sidewalks. Our top priority is the safety of our students and we cannot put that at risk in a rush to re-open schools. For that reason, all Lakewood Schools will be closed on Thursday, Nov. 1.
On Wednesday, the American Red Cross and Cuyahoga County partnered to open a shelter in the Garfield Middle School gym.
