Parents Anxious To Get Their Kids Back To School
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BROWARD (CBSMiami) – Power outages, no routines and lots of cabin fever. It's been a very long week after Hurricane Irma. So the big question: school on Monday or not?
We should know in the next 24 hours.
In Broward, FPL pledged to have all the schools up by midnight Saturday. Yet more than two dozen are still offline.
Meanwhile, parents are trying to figure out how to work and entertain their kids.
As we head into the weekend, many parents are wondering if Monday will finally be the day their kids go back to school.
"It's been interesting trying to work with a five year old and eight year old to say the least," said Carrie Horowitz.
So far kids have missed seven days, days that have been full of stress for those who evacuated.
"Going up to Atlanta was a 20 hour trip and saying that was miserable puts it kind of lightly," said Erajh Panditaratne.
Related: Schools Serve Hungry Families Ahead Of Targeted Monday Openings
And those who stayed are't faring any better.
"It's a big issue. We've been having a lot of stress and anxiety before the storm. We went through the storm and there was a lot of hard work after the storm," Horowitz said. "And we are just ready to get back to our normal life and that getting our house in order, going back to work, and most importantly getting the kids back to school."
Miami-Dade's school superintendent has yet to commit.
"Stay tuned to your local media, social media," said Alberto Carvalho.
CBS4's David Sutta caught up with Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie.
SUTTA: So parents are hoping you have good news for them. Do you?
RUNCIE: Well I don't have definitive news yet. What I will tell you is that we remain optimistic and were focused schools on Monday.
As of Friday night Broward has 27 schools without power.
Miami-Dade has 100 schools either powerless or inaccessible due to debris.
While both districts are working around the clock, Monday may not happen.
"I'm concerned about how much school they are missing. She is in third grade this year and that's a really big year. So we are concerned they are going to missing a lot of material," said Jennifer Panditaratne.
Runcie said the state is considering a couple of options.
"We can integrate those days into the remaining days that we have left, or get some waiver from the state," he said.
Meaning they would just shorten the school year.
In the meantime Erajh Panditaratne is making use of the family time. A community dodgeball game is planned for Saturday morning – parents verses kids!
"Have a little bit of fellowship, let the kids play, let us get outside and talk to other adults because we've been with our kids the entire time," he said.
