Johnston Schools Cancelled For Sept. 1

will be closed again tomorrow, Sept. 1, because of ongoing concerns about the safety of transporting students, Supt. Dr. Bernard DiLullo said during a phone interview on Aug. 31.

On what was originally scheduled to be the first day of classes for public school students, DiLullo explained that work has been continuing to clear roads of tress and other debris, and to restore power to areas of Johnston that are still without electricity, three days after Hurricane Irene touched down in Rhode Island.

"Every day, we do a tour of the district to get a sense of how the work is progressing," DiLullo explained, and following the Aug. 31 review, officials found that "there are still a couple of areas of Johnston having problems with wires and tree limbs being down, and that was the reason for our cancellation of classes tomorrow."

At Brown Avenue School, National Grid crews removed a tree on Aug. 31 that had pulled down a utility pole, leaving the school without phone service, DiLullo reported. The utility workers also set up a new utility pole, and the school district's electrician reattached the wires that had been pulled off the building.

A few neighborhoods still had homes without power as of about 2 p.m. on Aug. 31, DiLullo said, including the area near Graniteville School and the so-called "Spice Rack" neighborhood off Reservoir Avenue, which includes Nutmeg Drive and Peppermint and Jasmine Lanes.

National Grid's Outage Central website reported that 2,970 residents remained without power, and that the company expects to restore power by Sept. 5.

Other area school districts — including and — announced earlier this week that they were beginning their school years on Sept. 6.

DiLullo said his goal is "to have school open as soon as possible" once it's safe to transport students.

"The decisions we're trying to make are cautious, so that's why we're taking the decision on a day-to-day basis," he added.