So, our 800 students were halfway through the process of scanning into school when, without warning, we lost all electrical power. Other than the few battery powered emergency lights and our UPS backed up servers and switches, darkness reigned. Our phone and intercom systems were dead.
While we finished getting kids into the building and into their classrooms, we got this information from ComEd:
It was “scheduled service.” Really?! Then why were we given ZERO notification of it? We could have scheduled an E-day. Or, knowing an entire district is in this grid, why not schedule it at 2:30 PM?
Their window extended from 8:00 am to 2:00 PM. That’s the whole school day! It is not acceptable to keep school open under those circumstances for a variety of reasons such as school lunches have to be cooked and kept warm, classrooms need lights, we have to have a working phone system, etc. Heck, even the modern toilets we have need electricity to flush.
The decision was made to undertake the monumental task of contacting the families of all of those kids so that they could be picked up. It was organized mayhem.
The electricity unexpectedly returned at 9:45 AM! Unfortunately, we had begun the process, so we could not reverse it without causing mass confusion and ending up with half the kids in school and half out because they already had left!
I’m sending ComEd a torn, faded sock filled with coal fro Christmas. In fact, it will be that sooty bituminous coal.
Perhaps the school principal, superintendent or school board should invite a representative of the electrical utility in for a meeting to discuss the fiasco? Perhaps even ask them to explain themselves during a public school board meeting?
My point is that they knew ahead of time that they were going to do it, and they should have taken the circumstances into account, and they should have informed us. So, I’m not really sure what you’re trying to say with this comment.
I’m applying the “technically correct, the best kind of correct” logic they almost certainly must have when they planned this event.
Engineers often have a short-sighted view of consequences outside of their direct area. Customers often count as “outside of their direct area”. Hence, notification is overlooked. Or, at worst, “not my problem”.
It’s a common failing in engineering organizations.
It’s unconscionable.
It cost dollars to keep school open. Aren’t most districts in financial chaos now?
If there’s no electricity or working toilets, there’s a safety issues.
The buildings it was gonna affect should have been notified.
They lost a weather day and no points for class going on.
Then having to take off your job and pick up the kids is another loss of productivity, if the parent could even get off easily.
“But the plans were on display…” “On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.” “That’s the display department.” “With a flashlight.” “Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.” “So had the stairs.” “But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?” “Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard.”
I think a PTA meeting might be even more effective at terrifying the utility representative into introducing some change into the utility’s procedural checklist. You know, sort of a “Scared Smart” situation, although I doubt there really is such a thing.
Here on the West Coast, PG&E will jump anytime you can get the local news involved. Their maintenance department isn’t staffed well enough to keep their lines from starting fatal wildfires, but their PR department can move faster than any fire department on Earth.
It was really interesting to follow this thread. I looked back on an uneventful brownout my middle school had back in 1987. The school sent the students home after a slight delay. It was just a little rural school where the facility was decidedly low-tech. Altogether after reading here, it was enlightening how much higher expectations are now in the schools.
I remember occasional power outages in High School (c1980); some lasting until school let out. We just opened the blinds and continued as usual. The only difference was that the teacher used their watch instead of the buzzer to know when to end class. A few classes relocated onto the grass outdoors. I think lunch prep probably went sideways but I was a brown bagger. Our location (Southern California) and the design of the classrooms probably made it easier to endure a power outage than other schools. And, of course, the era’s minimal need for audio/visual/digital media.
Unfortunately, we have too many legalities to navigate to be without power for the whole day, which is what we thought was going to occur. We have special needs kids, and our “text books” are electronic, and they can’t sign in on line. Even the school phones are all down, so no one can contact the main office, and that includes parents.
From an engineering(?) standpoint, if it is life-critical operations or you otherwise need the power not to go down, you need an on-site backup generator. Praying that the utility company does not fuck up or that there be no natural disaster is not going to work.
There was a random power outage to my high school back in 1990ish. I “dropped” my little brother off at the nurse’s office, where he was supposed to get an elevator key (he was on crutches, due to a broken leg), and went up to the cafeteria.
A little while later, it was announced that school was canceled, so I used the pay phone to call home and tell Mom to come pick us back up, she’d just barely gotten home. Then I went to the nurses’ office, where they were relieved that I had been able to call out, because their phones weren’t working.
Good job! Yeah, zero phones is a problem. In fact, in our case, the staff used their cell phones and phone lists to call. Even so, it took 2 1/2 hours to vacate 95% of our students, and another hour for the rest. By that time, it was noon, and regular dismissal is 2:45, so they were here for the lion’s share of the day anyway.
