Fiftal: Darien Schools to reopen Thursday

Darien Public Schools will reopen on Thursday for the first time since Saturday's storm.

"Everybody's anxious to get a little more normalcy, and we're going to take a big step toward normalcy and reopen the schools," said Superintendent Donald Fiftal on Wednesday afternoon.

The last of Darien's public schools had its power restored earlier in the day on Wednesday, which made the decision to reopen a little easier for the district's administration, Fiftal said. But while all the schools have their lights on right now, there may be moments of darkness on the first day back.

"There will be sporadic outages, even tomorrow while school is in session, because as the different neighborhoods get connected, they have to refine the grid," Fiftal said. "So there might be very short outages for a period of time, but that will be normal life for another day or two."

All activities will resume on Thursday, including Middlesex Middle School's production of Seussical the Musical, which was originally slated to open Wednesday night. The play's scheduled performances on Thursday and Friday will continue as previously planned and Wednesday's show will take place as a matinee on Saturday.

While the superintendent said school will begin at its usual hour, he understands that some students may be running a little late.

"We ask that people have a little patience with regard to buses," he said. "Buses will be driving around through the morning carefully and it may take a little more time to do all the pick ups. Just be patient. Our schools will be understanding and forgiving."

Fallen trees and wires have been a safety concern over the last several days, not just for bus drivers, but also for child pedestrians, Fiftal said. But the bus routes have much improved," he said.

"It's not 100 percent, but it certainly would not warrant keeping 4,800 children home. There are some isolated areas where it might be a little tricky for a bus, and families should go to the nearest accessible spot and the bus should come there," he said.

"The biggest caution, of course, is if there's any street with a wire still down, people need to be very careful with regard to that. Some of them are cable or phone wires, but the untrained eye might not know the difference between those and electrical wire."