Schools are closed through Friday, area districts say

All Central Florida public schools will be closed through Friday, the districts announced Wednesday, as some campuses still are without electricity and others need repairs after Hurricane Irma pummeled the region. The school districts in Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole and Volusia counties will remain closed through Friday. Brevard County schools are listed as closed until further notice by the Florida Department of Education, though the district’s last announcement said it was closed through today. Orange administrators said some of their campuses will not have power restored until Friday night, making opening this week impossible. Across the region, officials said they could not open schools yet because there was no electricity, internet or phone service on some campuses; leaky roofs need repairs; and debris and flooding would make transporting kids to and from some schools difficult. They also said they needed to give employees and families time to recover from the storm. In Seminole, administrators also noted that in schools that lost power they needed to remove spoiled food, then wait until fresh replacements arrived. “We understand the inconveniences a major Hurricane of this nature causes a community, and we can assure you we are doing everything possible to return to normalcy and get things safe for our students to return to school as quickly as possible,” the Seminole district’s message to families read. Florida school districts from the Panhandle to the Keys have been closed this week after the storm knocked out power and damaged some campuses.