One Sunday Morning

Ask most any kid living where there's snowfall, and when the snow is falling quite heavily, they're hoping to hear the announcement that school is canceled the next day. When I received the phone call this past Sunday night saying school was canceled due to a tree falling on one of the school buildings, I didn't think that much of it - besides that I wouldn't have to get up the next morning in the dark. Later that leisurely Monday afternoon, we got a call saying that school would be canceled the rest of the week for Lower School students and that staff should report to the high school.

Black Footprints
On Tuesday morning I made a quick stop to the Lower School computer lab to pick up my school laptop and some papers. Immediately upon entering the small building, I noticed soot on the floor, with footprints leading up and down the narrow hallway. Spider webs were blackened. A faint smoky odor still lingered. I stopped just shy of the lab entrance. From the floor to ceiling, the area was covered in thick black soot and burn marks. In place of a circuit breaker box was a mangled, charred mess, with a few wires dangling helplessly. Silence filled the cold lab, devoid of any blinking lights, whirrs of electrical equipment, etc. More sooty shoeprints were on the floor. After making a quick survey for telltale signs of scorch marks or the smell burned plastic, I was relieved. Making a quick test to see if the laptop turned on, I closed up the lid and headed out the door.

One Sunday Morning
Once we were all gathered in the gymnasium, the school Director briefly described what happed that Sunday morning. Early that morning, a tree fell right onto a power line, which in turn hit the wet ground/road (it was a very wet snowfall). This live wire sent a huge surge of electricity into the school and about 50 homes in the immediate vicinity. Two people were hospitalized in the area. The school security guard and the custodian quickly shut off the power at the school. Had it not been for their quick thinking and action, the electrical surges would have continued, causing even more damage at the school.
Thankfully, this all happened on a Sunday morning when there were no staff or students at school. Just 24 hours later, students would have been in that computer lab, some less than a meter away from fuse box where much of the energy surge seems to have been concentrated. This also happened on the shortened Thanksgiving week, minimizing impact to instruction.

For the next week or two, Lower School classes will be held at the High School from 7:30 to 11:30. High school students will use the facilities from 12-5pm. Four classrooms will be situated in the gymnasium "bubble," with every nook and cranny used for some class. PE classes will be held outside, even in the snow. Each teacher was given a short time to pack 5 boxes of materials from their elementary classroom. The situation will require the flexibility and patience of all involved. Hopefully it will be just for a short duration, at which time classes can once again be held at the Lower School and the High School can get its campus back.

At the beginning of the year classroom teachers and some specialists received laptops. Now we are appreciating the benefits of portable technology even more, as teachers' access to technology can continue with as little interruption as possible, utilizing the campus-wide wireless system, central backup, etc.. Several AC chargers were destroyed in the power surge, but teachers will work around this inconvenience. Today the technician is going around to test equipment at the Lower School and will provide a list of damaged equipment. Beyond the known printers, AC adapters and a few computers and likely all air conditioning units, I hope the damage will be minimal.

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