Gloucester County Public Schools expects to welcome 5,340 students when school opens for the 2017-2018 session on Tuesday, according to assistant superintendent John Hutchinson. 

Speaking this week as high winds and rain battered the area, Hutchinson admitted some buckets had been strategically placed in schools to catch drops from leaking roofs.

“We have a few of them out, I’ll be honest with you. You’ll find everything you can when it rains like this,” Hutchinson said, adding that schools will be cleaned up and ready after the storm passes. 

“The classrooms all look good. The water fountains are all working and are being tested to make sure our drinking water meets state standards. That’s a new state mandate this year, to check for lead content, but because all of our old fountains have been replaced we don’t anticipate any problems.”

The big capital improvements project over the summer was to replace some HVAC units at Pe...