The York County School Division announced Tuesday Grafton Middle and High Schools will be closed through Friday.
No scheduled weekend activities will happen at the Complex either.
“Due to the extensive electrical damage caused by yesterday’s (Monday) fire, the division does not have an anticipated date for re-opening the Complex at this time,” Katherine Goff, spokeswoman for the YCSD, wrote in a news release. “Staff are working to address both short-term and long-term instructional and facility needs.”
An electrical fire Monday triggered the sprinkler system, causing the Grafton School Complex to be evacuated around 4 p.m.
“Due to the nature of this incident, power to the building remains off and Dominion Energy is on site assessing the situation. We do yet not have an estimate for power restoration or a timeline for necessary repairs,” Goff said said Monday night.
The school was only supposed to be closed just through Wednesday.
RELATED STORY: There was an electrical fire at Grafton School Complex; schools closed Tuesday, Wednesday
Goff noted while the damage was contained to the electrical room, which powers the entire building, the electrical equipment was damaged.
Division officials are working with YCSD’s insurance company — representatives from the insurance company are on site assessing the damage.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
York County Department of Fire & Safety Chief Steve Kopczynski said they have not determined what caused the fire.
“The entire school was heavily charged, filled with smoke, with smoke through the school, most of which appears to be on the middle school side,” he said, noting the high school was not quite as bad as the middle school.
The electrical room is adjacent to the school gymnasium and the electrical panels, which take up an entire large room, are damaged, Kopczynski said.
“It does not appear to be significant structural damage,” he said. “But of course, there is no power to the school.”
Goff said high school students who attend half-day instructional programs like the Governor’s School, New Horizons, SOA or NJROTC can check the email message about transportation options sent to the families and students who participate in extra-curricular programs with events scheduled Wednesday, Feb. 5-9 will be contacted directly by their coach or program sponsor.
The principals will keep staff posted with work expectations through Sunday, she added.
“We understand the difficulties this interruption to the school year poses to our families, students and staff, and we want to assure you that it is our goal to return students and staff to a daily schedule as soon as possible,” Goff said. “Division staff are working on a long-term plan, which will be shared later this week.”
Anyone with questions regarding the school can email Grafton High School at ghs@ycsd.york.va.us or Grafton Middle School at gms@ycsd.york.va.us.
Main numbers for the schools will be monitored for phone calls and messages during regular business hours, officials said.
Parents and staff will be updated on the situation and can also visit the online resource page, Grafton Complex Status reports, on YCSD’s website.
