County Schools Surprised By Quake, But Ready For Anything

County schools officials were just as surprised as everyone else when the earthquake hit on Aug. 23.

Yet, schools already —remember those fire and bomb raid drills?—and that helped them calmly leave the buildings after the quake.

"We have a normal plan that schools have for an evacuation mode that's implemented from the first day of school," Prince George's County Public Schools spokesman Briant Coleman said. "How the schools ran [after the earthquake] is commendable because not one student or staff member was injured."

At Northwestern High School, where they waited--some for over an hour--for a ride home.

Although all schools remained closed Wednesday and some Thursday as the county assessed damage, the schools only counted one day off toward the earthquake.

Since then one school, Bradbury Heights Elementary School, has been closed for the remainder of the year and students moved to G. Gardner Shugart Middle School. Bradbury Heights suffered structural damage like cracks in the wall and ceiling tiles.

Then the schools, like the region, were hit again—this time by Hurricane Irene. And although damage wasn't an issue this time, the lack of power was.

All county public schools were closed Monday,19 on Tuesday and five remained closed Wednesday, but Coleman said only one day will be counted toward the hurricane.

"Everyone has maintained calm and has been patient and that speaks volumes to the community as a whole," he said.