The entire campus experienced a power outage on Tuesday, February 25. The power outage lasted for about 20 minutes, beginning 1st period and ending during 2nd period.
None of the residential homes in the area were effected by the outage on campus, according to associate principal Sharon Bartlett. Campolindo was the only high school in the district to experience a loss of power.
Bartlett said the problem was limited to the campus. “We do know that it was not a PG&E issue. It was a campus problem,” she said.
In the counseling office, candles were used as a source of light. In Rene Gilbert’s Biology class, he opened all of the blinds so students could have light to do their work.
In Gilbert’s class, the power outage effected the overhead, interrupting the lesson. “I had a math problem on the overhead, but I still finished it on the board,” he said. However, he was unable to finish the rest of his presentation.
Gilbert put the presentation on Schoolloop later that day so students could access the information and finish the lesson.
Students in Bevan Vinton’s World History class, who were working on projects in the library, could not use the computers. The project was due on Thursday, and the students had less time to work in class due to the outage.
According to junior Chris Hansen, the blackout did not stop the debate that was in progress in teacher Diane Bessette’s US History class. “We still continued. [Bessette] just opened the curtains,” he said.
Campus clocks and bells did not function during the outage. According to Bartlett, the students were able to get to their 2nd period class on time without the bells. “I am so grateful because we did not have bells and the students and teachers managed,” she said.
If an outage lasts for more than 2 hours, the school must send the students home due to safety issues, said Bartlett. However, the power outage only lasted for 20 minutes. “I have never seen an event where we would have to send kids home due to an outage,” Bartlett said.
“I heard that after a certain amount of time you could go home. It was pretty exciting,” Hansen said.
