In Baltimore city, 30 school buildings comprising 42 schools were without power late Monday afternoon, down from more than 60 on Monday, according to Keith Scroggins, chief operating officer for city schools.

The school system, was “extremely fortunate,” with the hurricane, Scroggins said, having equipped schools that historically have flooding with sandbags and minor roof repairs before the storm hit.

School officials completed 43 facility projects over the summer in preparation for welcoming students back this week, Scroggins said.

“We are very excited about starting the school year,” Scroggins said. “The only issue that’s affecting us is power.”

In Baltimore County, about 43 schools remained without power Monday, down from 65 on Sunday, school officials said. 

Howard and Carroll County public schools will open Tuesday, with a few exceptions.

In Carroll County, all schools will open on time Tuesday, with the exception of Hampstead Elementary School and Century High School due to power outages at the two schools. However, staff at both schools will report to the school on time, the school system said Monday.

In a letter to parents Monday afternoon, Harford Superintendent Stephen H. Guthrie wrote that, “overall, our facilities seem to have come through the hurricane in good shape,” but said the system’s facilities experienced some leaks and debris.

In Howard County, superintendent Sydney Cousin decided to open all but one dozen schools that were without power as of 4 p.m. Howard County school officials said that athletic practices will be held at all high schools tomorrow, even if the school is closed due to power outage.

Crews continued working to clean debris from play fields and playgrounds by the end of the day Monday, and water damage found in nearly half the system’s 73 schools.

The Howard County schools that were slated to be closed on Tuesday are: Atholton High School,  Clemens Crossing Elementary School, Dayton Oaks Elementary School, Dunloggin Middle School, Folly Quarter Middle School, Glenelg High School, Marriott’s Ridge High School, Mount View Middle School, Northfield Elementary School, St. Johns Lane Elementary School, Triadelphia Ridge Elementary School and West Friendship Elementary School.

Cousin said his decision to open schools was based on the progress of clean-up efforts taking place in the county.

“It can be difficult for parents to understand why we can’t open schools when they look around their neighborhoods and see little or no significant storm damage,” Cousin said in a release from the school system.

“There were parts of the county that were hit harder than other areas.  We had a lot of cleanup work to do.   In the end, it all comes down to student safety.  That’s always priority number one.”