Lindenhurst Schools Remain Closed Thursday & Friday

Lindenhurst Schools will be closed for the remainder of the week due to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Superintendent Richard Nathan told Lindenhurst Patch on Wednesday, "The District will be closing on Thursday and Friday, and a determination as to whether we'll also close next week will be made over the weekend."

He said for parents to check the Lindenhurst School District website on 4 p.m. on Sunday.

"The reason we're waiting to make a decision for about next week is that we're waiting to see when power is returned to the schools," he said.

As of yesterday Tuesday afternoon, all elementary schools except for Daniel Street were without power, the Lindenhurst Middle School had power and power to the McKenna Administration Building and to the the Lindenhurst High School was restored.

The LHS had been running on generator power, and was serving as a temporary evacuation center through Tuesday, Bob Cozzetto, emergency coordinator for the District said yesterday.

The last of the 30 to 40 people who stayed there were moved yesterday to the Red Cross shelter Robert Frost Middle School in Deer Park, with one family moved to the shelter at the Brentwood Recreation Center wher they had pets, he said.

On Wednesday the superintendent toured the District and said there was a little roof damage at the middle school, and at Harding Avenue Elementary School there was some water that got into the boiler room, but they were able to pump that out.

But the main issue is the power outages, which is why following a meeting on Wednesday with administrators and Lindenhurst Board of Education members they made the call to close for the rest of the week.

Then another meeting will take place over the weekend to assess the situation and make the call about next week, he said.

So many families in Lindenhurst are homeless now because of Hurricane Sandy, he said, and those children will have to educated.

This storm has created a new reality for the District, and for the community, with nearly 300 people in the Lindenhurst area having to be rescued from their homes when the storm sent waves pouring into the streets and with officials already saying it's possible that up to 70 percent of the homes south of Montauk Highway in Lindenhurst will be uninhabitable.

"This is very sad and is unprecendented for all of us. We're doing the best we can," Nathan said, who also noted that given the school closure and the dire situation in the community, the high school's annual Safe Halloween event on Wednesday afternoon will not be taking place.

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