Miami-Dade County Public Schools Will Be Closed The Rest Of The Week

MIAMI, FL — Miami-Dade County Public Schools will remain closed at least through Friday and possibly longer as repairs continue, according to Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho. As of Tuesday night, schools are scheduled to reopen Monday of next week.

"The main reason is that two-thirds of our schools are without power," Carvalho said Tuesday night. "There are downed/inoperable traffic lights, trees, and debris around many [district] schools making access difficult and hazardous."

The district will make another announcement over the weekend about whether or not reopening schools on Monday remains feasible

Carvalho thanked the maintenance workers and custodial staff for their work to restore the schools to operating condition.

"We are very optimistic," he said, "that power will be restored by Friday."

If a small number of schools are still not able to open by Monday, but the majority of buildings are operational, officials will work to consolidate students so that all can restart their education as soon as possible.

Carvalho said the district will have a better sense of the ability to reopen schools when the FPL produces a timeline for restoring power, which is expected Thursday. (For more information about the recovery from Hurricane Irma, subscribe for free to the Miami Patch and receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you're outside of Miami, find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Watch: Hurricane Irma's Destructive Journey By The Numbers

He added that preliminary inspections have found minor to moderate damage, but no school has suffered "catastrophic impact." Debris on the road also poses challenges for reopening the schools safely, and the district will test bus routes before officially reopening the schools.

"As our community pulls together and slowly returns to normal, we [at Miami-Dade County Public Schools] are doing all we can to bring our children back to school, safely," Carvalho said.

"We estimate we will have restored power to essentially all of our customers along the east coast service territory by the end of this coming weekend," FPL said of Miami-Dade County, "with the possible exception of areas impacted by tornadoes, severe flooding and other pockets of severe damage."

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images