By Sydney Mann ’14, Staff Writer

600,000.  That’s the number of homes within New Jersey that had little to no power after the unexpected October snowstorm.  In addition to power outages, the storm left fallen trees on houses, main roads, and across live wires creating a multitude of safety issues, closed roads, and fires.  From Union to Sussex County people occupied hotels, shelters, and family or friends homes to compensate for their power loss. Governor Chris Christie declared a state of emergency  due to the lingering affects of the October snowstorm and he too lost power at his Mendham home. Local township schools such as West Orange High School and Livingston High School filled the role of shelters set up for residents in need of a temporary home.  Many schools could not offer their services to the public because they themselves contained no power. Public schools within much of northern New Jersey took the initiative to cancel classes, some for the full five day week due to hazardous weather conditions and live wires.

Mr. Austin, Headmaster of Newark Academy, made the executive decision to close NA the Monday following the snowstorm citing the many families without power and the fallen trees along with live wires as his reasoning.  One of the more main concerns was the Academy’s bus service provider as there were many concerns about running busses to NA due to the inordinate number of road closures. Additionally, local Police forces stated that if possible citizens should stay off the roads.

Mr. Ashburn, Middle School Principal, noted the two main reasons behind the school’s closure: the closing of the surrounding townships’ public schools and the number of downed trees on campus which posed a danger to the school environment, which a private company was later hired to clear.

Unlike many public schools however, Newark Academy reopened the following Tuesday.  The question that still lingers within many students was as to why the Academy opened its doors while their surrounding public schools were still closed. Ms. Mahoney, an English Department Faculty member, explained that she was  working on campus on that Monday while the school was shut down. She stated that different services were employed to make sure that the Academy was safe to occupy and that the school was in fact  ready to be occupied come Monday, however, for the bussing concerns remained . Ms. Mahoney initially believed that it would have be reasonable for the school to have a delayed opening but noted that what complicated that decision would be spreading the news to all community members as home phones were down due to the power loss. She reasoned that most families would not have received the call which would have added to the chaos of the day.

Opening school on Tuesday, November 1, was reasonable for most community members at the time,  as NA was the safest building. The school contained power and thus heat, plumbing and other necessities. The Academy even took the initiative to open it’s facilities from 5:30 am to 10:30 pm on starting Wednesday and through the end of the week to those families still suffering from the power outage.  Although the school was closed on Monday, Mr. Sam Goldfisher, Director of Business & Finance, stated that  the construction on the new Upper School Academic Center and redesigned parking lots was not stalled due to the wild weather.

Many NA students and their families were directly effected by the storm. Lexi Katz ’14 ,one of the many NA students directly impacted by the storrm, stated that when she had power her cousins and friends lodged in her house but on Monday, her power went out due to electrical work being done on others houses. Many others such as Hannah Zack ’14 hosted family and friends displaced by the storm.  She remarked that her, “house felt like a bed and breakfast.” In all, the experience shed light to how willing Newark Academy members can be to help their friends in need.  Although we are still recovering as a state, the effects of the storm are now long past us.