Baltimore County Schools Closed Tuesday

Summer vacation is still not over for Baltimore County Public Schools students. (Listen closely and you can hear parents moaning.)

Schools in the county will be closed for a second straight day, the system announced via _Twitter_, as the region continues to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.

According to a news release, 43 of the county’s 173 schools, centers, and programs remained without full power on Monday, down from 65 that had no power on Sunday.

“We are making progress, and we all want to have students return to school as soon as possible,” said Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Joe A. Hairston in a statement. “But with so many of our schools unable to open, our entire system is impacted, from bus routes and operations to our ability to enroll new students. We are not at the point where we can safely open our doors.”

The school system also reported in a release a number of problems that continue to impact school buildings, including:

• 79 schools had limited or no telephone and Internet access
• 25 roads remained blocked due to fallen trees and debris
• At least 24 intersections—12 of them major intersections—had no traffic signals
• 100 BCPS school buses were trapped at the Hopkins Creek bus lot by debris
• About 40,000 households in Baltimore County remained without power, according to BGE.

Hairston said in the release that school officials will continue to work with BGE and will continue to monitor the cleanup efforts before deciding when to open schools.