Ludlow scheduled the first day of school for Tuesday, postponed it until Thursday and then changed it to Wednesday.
Tropical Storm Irene disrupted school schedules as superintendents canceled the first days of classes this week.
The first day of school in Springfield, Ware and Westfield was switched from Monday to Tuesday. Ludlow moved its opening from Tuesday to Wednesday and the start for schools in the Mohawk Trail Regional system has been pushed back a week until Sept. 6.
“So many bridges are damaged and we don’t know when the buses will be able to traverse the bridges,” Mohawk Superintendent Michael A. Buoniconti said.
The Franklin County towns of Shelburne, Charlemont and Buckland, which are included in the district, are among the hardest-hit by flooding created by Sunday’s storm.
Instead of being filled with high school students, the building is occupied by about 140 National Guard members working on storm cleanup. The parking lot is being used for equipment and the cafeteria and gymnasium is serving as temporary housing, Buoniconti said.
The Hawlemont elementary school was also flooded when the nearby Deerfield River overflowed. Monday afternoon, the boiler room was full of water and the grounds were covered with mud, he said.
Most superintendents delayed Monday openings because of concerns about power outages and routes blocked by downed trees and wires.
In Springfield, all schools will re-open Tuesday, with the exception of Elias Brookings School, which will begin Wednesday, said Azell M. Cavaan, spokeswoman for Superintendent Alan J. Ingram.
Brookings was damaged in the June 1 tornado and cannot be used, so temporary classrooms have been erected. Workers had expected to move in furniture over the weekend, but were ordered to stay home because of the storm, she said.
School officials said they are worried about losing a day typically set aside for cancellations because of snowstorms. All schools are required by state law to be open 180 days.
“We always build in five days and we are already down one and fall hasn’t even come yet,” Cavaan said.
Ludlow’s school opening was complicated because the town’s safety committee agreed the Baird Middle School would be the best place to locate an emergency shelter, said Kenneth J. Grew, the new superintendent.
Saturday evening, the group made a decision to postpone school from the planned Tuesday opening to Thursday, thinking Baird School could be occupied until then as a shelter for storm victims. On Sunday, when it was clear a shelter was not needed, Grew decided to start classes Wednesday.
Because cots and other equipment had to be moved from the school, the original Tuesday start was still too difficult to pull off, Grew said.
“We knew we could be ready and it wouldn’t add to the calendar,” he said. “We lost three weeks of school last year (because of snowstorms) and I didn’t want to take a chance we would lose more days,” he said.