Students returned to school Friday for the first time since Tuesday’s storm.

Classes were cancelled Wednesday and Thursday due to safety concerns, according to district Superintendent Jo Moccia, which ranged from debris on roadways to downed power lines. Also, three of the district’s four campuses were without power, so even without the safety issue, the schools simply couldn’t operate.

The closures will push back the last day of school by one day to June 20. Students will make up the two lost days on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend and another in June. If there are additional days that are missed throughout the rest of the year, they will be added to the end of the year.

Moccia said the district was in regular contact with Puget Sound Energy during the outages.

“The frustration is that we’re usually their first priority, but I guess it was pretty bad on Maxwelton,” Moccia said Thursday afternoon. “I really was hoping we’d have school today.”

Custodial staff worked during the power outages to help clean the school of the fallen debris from trees. They also cleaned the only powered campus — the elementary school — so it would be ready for operation when school recommenced.

Moccia didn’t anticipate having to cancel two consecutive days of school, but said that the district prioritizes the safety of students first and foremost because there was a level of danger transporting kids to and from school. At the peak of the storm Tuesday, Moccia said that three school busses didn’t arrive back to the transportation office until after 7 p.m. because of downed trees. The busses normally get back at 5-5:15 p.m. The district also considered the fact that the schools were without power and therefore without working sanitation.

“When you don’t have water and you don’t have light, it’s kind of hard to run school,” Moccia said.

Had school not returned to action on Friday, Moccia said there would have been a chance of losing food stored in freezers. The close call prompted some consideration of purchasing generators to keep freezers working. The only generator in the district is located at the administration and transportation office.

“They’re really expensive systems to put in,” Moccia said.

“It’s frustrating but that’s our reality. It was a big storm,” Moccia said. “I’m sure if (Puget Sound Energy) could have, they would have gotten us going.”