Foxborough Schools to Reopen Wednesday

A frustrated Foxborough Schools Superintendent stressed that Foxborough Public Schools would reopen Wednesday after two straight closures due to Hurricane Sandy.

“There will be school Wednesday,” Superintendent Debra Spinelli said.

Spinelli’s frustration Tuesday morning was the result of receiving inaccurate information from National Grid Monday night, which reported nearly 75 percent of the town was without power and restoration efforts would last “multiple days.”

So the decision was made to cancel school Tuesday.

But by Tuesday morning, 85 to 90 percent of the town had been restored, including Foxborough schools.

“I do feel bad,” said Foxborough Fire Chief Roger Hatfield. “We went back and forth all night trying to figure out what decision to make [regarding schools] and I apologize. We had a lot of unknowns.”

National Grid liaison for Foxborough, Tom Coughlin, was also apologetic.

“I have to apologize on behalf of National Grid to the town for any erroneous information and to Superintendent Spinelli for the decision she made based on what we told her,” said Coughlin. “That’s something we are going to have to get really good at.”

Town Manager Kevin Paicos explained how the decision to close schools Tuesday was made.

“There’s probably a lot of parents wondering [Tuesday] since the schools do have power what exactly happened,” said Paicos. “Superintendent of Schools [Spinelli] was given the information and based on the information the only reasonable choice was to cancel school.”

But was that information accurate?

“[It is] unclear if National Grid numbers were inaccurate – we proceeded under the condition that 75 percent of the town was without power,” Paicos said. … “The information we acted upon [Monday] night with respect to schools was accurate at the time. Tuesday morning brought about a much better situation.”

Hurricane Sandy forced Spinelli to also close schools Monday. Foxborough Public Schools have used two of its built-in five inclement weather days for the 2012-13 school year.