All Montgomery County Public Schools are closed for Monday, September 22, due to the continuing effects of Hurricane Isabel, including at least 51 schools without power. The central administrative office will open on time.

All student and community activities at schools are canceled for Monday, along with private day care in schools. The Board of Education meeting scheduled Monday night also was canceled.

The effort to reopen schools is hampered not only by the large number of schools without power (more than one-fourth of the system's total of 191 schools) but also by road closures and malfunctioning traffic lights at intersections throughout Montgomery County, as power companies attempt to restore electricity to communities serving more than 100,000 homes. The road and intersection problems are prompting Montgomery County police to use school crossing guards to direct traffic at disrupted intersections.

The school system is continuing to work closely with emergency management operations of the county, state, and federal governments in coordinating resources and services in response to the damage caused by the hurricane.