JCPS confirmed on its website that school will be open on Wednesday, Aug. 17 for the first day of the school year.

The announcement came after a storm and subsequent power outage led to school closings on Aug. 15 and 16, the scheduled first days of school.

“I love it because personally I think school should start after Labor Day,” said Ms. Beverley Meng, the school secretary and a Manual parent. “Personally, as a parent, I think that school should start later and end later so that the kids are truly able to enjoy summer.”

Manual students will follow the original first day schedule, with school starting on a red day as originally planned. Students will report to homerooms as listed in the hallways.

With two extra days of summer, some students remained apprehensive and unprepared for the first day. “I’m not really excited, but I guess it had to happen eventually,” Brian Rinehart (12) said. “I have a paper to write that I still haven’t started, but I’m set other than that.”

School picture days, assigned for seniors on Thursday and underclassmen on Friday, will continue as planned. The senior picture schedule will be an hour delayed due to the state-mandated suicide prevention video viewing, which will last until 9:10 on Thursday in homerooms. Teachers will receive new schedules in their mailboxes and they will also be posted in hallways.