Update: Atholton's Power Is Restored, School Open Thursday

Updated at 3:07 p.m.

had its power restored this afternoon, meaning the first day of school for those students will be Thursday.

"We are thrilled that the power is back on, yes," said Atholton Principal Jen Clements. "The kids are excited to start school, the staff is excited, the parents are excited. Everybody was relieved, excited, thrilled."

was the last school in Howard County have its power restored, because it is on its own feeder, BGE officials said Wednesday.

That means the power line that serves the high school in Columbia doesn’t serve any other customers, and BGE’s strategy has been to address work first that would restore services to the greatest number of customers at one time, said spokeswoman Linda Foy.

The first day of school was canceled Monday in Howard County as 27 schools were without power. On Tuesday, school started except for the 12 schools left without power.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Atholton High School, Glenelg High School and Triadelphia Ridge Elementary School in the Howard County school district remained without power.

On Wednesday, Atholton was the only school left without power, which was restored in the afternoon.

Schools spokeswoman Patti Caplan said all schools, including Atholton, will only make up one lost day for the county-wide school closure Monday due to the power outages.

Clements said earlier on Wednesday that the Howard County School System was in charge of finding out when power would be restored, and that she was unsure of when that would be.

“It’s more inconvenient than a challenge,” Clements said. “Students want to come to school. They’re anxious to see their friends, put on that first day outfit and to learn.”

Two parents, whose children were at band practice Wednesday morning at Atholton, declined to give their names, but said that they were not worried about the situation inconveniencing them or their kids.        

“I know it's posed problems to people who work, because the announcements from the school have come at the last minute, and it’s hard to schedule ways to get the kids to practice or get them home,” one parent said. “But it’s not forever.”

A staff member who only would give her first name as "Paula" said the power outages have affected some of the cleaning processes at the school.

“We can’t use the machines to wax the floors, so some of the floors are not done,” said said. “Most of the work was done before [the hurricane] because we had asbestos, and we had to let the building air out, but now we can’t finish. But it’s okay, because I get to come early and finish early.”

One teacher, in response to questions about the power outage, rushed into the building and said “speak to my boss.”

Katie Wegeleukel, 16, a German exchange student, said she was excited to start her first year at Atholton.

 “I was very disappointed because I don’t get to go to school like this and it won’t start,” she said. “I’m just getting an extra week of vacation now to sleep.”