Christopher Peak Photo
Metropolitan Business Academy.
Still easing into the academic year, students were dismissed early on Wednesday afternoon, after three schools were affected by a mid-morning power outage.
Just after 10 a.m., an electric transformer failed at United Illuminating’s Mill River substation, cutting power to nearly 1,800 customers in Wooster Square and Fair Haven, said Ed Crowder, a spokesman for the utility.
That’s just a small percentage of U.I.’s 58,300 customers citywide, but it included three big schools: Conte-West Hills, Metro Business Academy and High School in the Community.
Conte West Hills Magnet School.
The power was largely back on by 11 a.m., Crowder said. But by then, district officials had already decided to send every student in the district home early, two hours before the final bell was supposed to ring.
“At the time of the outage it was not clear how soon we would be back up and we had some concerns about whether other issues may arise,” said Will Clark, the district’s chief operating officer.
The lack of power meant students would be learning in the dark, phones in the main office would be dead, food in the cafeteria would be defrosting, and the buildings would be heating up without air conditioning.
When it has to, the district prefers to send home everyone in droves, rather than separating the students at a few schools. That keeps the buses routes staggered, ensures parents don’t have to worry about multiple pick-up times and plays it safe in case issues arise throughout the system, Clark said.
High School in the Community.
“We have a short window to make the call in order to rally buses,” Clark said. “Thankfully U.I. did a great job and power is back so we will continue working today and make sure systems are up and running and cooling in preparation for tomorrow.”
Crowder said on Wednesday afternoon that they were working to get the transformer fixed and had not yet identified what caused the outage.
Wow, so schools close early today, yet the teachers and students at Quinnipiac STEM School are sweating it out every day during this heat because they have not air conditioning and yet no one seems to care!!! Wow!!!