Update: Nixon and Escondido elementary schools reopened on Thursday, Feb. 23, after power was restored to both campuses, the school district announced on Twitter and its website.
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Classes were canceled at Nixon and Escondido elementary schools on Wednesday morning because both campuses were without power.
Strong winds knocked out electricity to areas scattered across the Midpeninsula on Tuesday, Feb. 21, including large portions of Menlo Park, Atherton and Stanford. Across the Bay Area, at least 112,400 customers were impacted on Tuesday evening, according to PG&E.
Many areas remained without power on Wednesday morning, according to PG&E's outage map. Nearly 60,000 customers throughout the Bay Area remained without power as of 10 a.m. on Wednesday, a PG&E spokesperson said.
Both Escondido and Nixon sit near Stanford University's campus and hadn't regained power on Wednesday, according to PG&E's map. There wasn't an estimated restoration time for electricity on either site.
The Palo Alto Unified School District announced the school closures on Twitter, as well as with a pop-up message on the district's and both schools' webpages.
Escondido Elementary School families were notified of the closure in a 6:30 a.m. email, according to a copy of the message that parent Sherri Fujieda shared with the Weekly. The campus lost power shortly after 2 p.m. on Tuesday, according to a follow-up email from the school at roughly 6:45 a.m.
"Classes and all school events scheduled for today are canceled," the school told parents. "We will send our community an update when our power is restored."
The closure on Wednesday meant a fifth grade field trip at Escondido was canceled, Fujieda told the Weekly. Half the fifth graders had been scheduled to go to Hidden Villa and the other half to Stanford on Wednesday. The students had gone on the other trip on Tuesday.
Fujieda said that her son was really looking forward to the Hidden Villa trip, but that the teacher said they will try to reschedule.
Comments
Registered user
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Feb 22, 2023 at 12:33 pm
Registered user
on Feb 22, 2023 at 12:33 pm
When schools are closed because there is no power this is much more than a minor inconvenience.
Closed schools means childcare issues for parents and learning is disrupted. Field trips are things that students remember and when they are canceled at last minute it is not just disappointing for the day but a school memory that is lost.
Other questions being asked are serious, when a household with a new baby, someone home recuperating after surgery, elderly and other health issues, we are talking about serious disruption.
The workers are doing a great job getting power back on, working late and long. They are to be commended. The person who answers the phone, is doing a difficult job and keeping calm. But really, questions have to be asked about why our supply is so inefficient every time there is a storm. We can't be expected to use EVs or switch to being all electric when our supply is unreliable and we are told it is something that should be expected. This is not the third world, but we are being treated as problems when we ask important questions.