Students are back in classrooms Friday, Feb. 24 following several school closures across the Ravenswood City School District due to weather-related power outages. The school board is questioning why PG&E did not do more to restore power in the community.
Los Robles-Ronald McNair Academy closed Wednesday and Costaño Elementary School, closed Wednesday and Thursday because of power outages, said Chief Business Officer Will Eger. Both are in East Palo Alto. Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle School and Belle Haven Elementary School remained open. All schools were closed Feb. 20-21 for the Presidents Day holiday.
Trustee Mele Latu said 4,000 households were affected by outages, which means about "10,000 to 15,000 people were subjected to that type of disrespect" by PG&E.
"We won't be ignored," board President Jenny Varghese Bloom said. The school board met at Belle Haven Elementary School in Menlo Park because power was out at the district office. Power was back on at the district office on Friday, but the internet was still down.
"I'm disappointed in PG&E for not even mentioning East Palo Alto," she said. "We are serving the needs of the most vulnerable, and for them to be able to eat at our schools and to be able to have heat and power at our schools is so important and I'm disappointed our schools were not prioritized."
Heavy winds and stormy weather have caused significant outages across the Peninsula, with tens of thousands of customers losing power over the course of the week. PG&E shut down U.S. Highway 101 between Marsh and Willow roads on Thursday to restore power to the community.
Varghese Bloom said it is unacceptable that crews weren't sent to East Palo Alto until late Wednesday night, leaving some without power for 48 hours.
"We will be looking for answers and looking for transparency because the way we were treated was disrespectful and it's not OK," she said.
Latu called the treatment "crimes against our kids."
Varghese Bloom acknowledged Latu for reaching out to elected officials at the city, county and state levels and delivering blankets, gift cards and power packs to residents.
Superintendent Gina Sudaria said the community "has not been served and addressed in the immediacy" it deserves.
The Almanac reached out to PG&E for a response to district officials' comments on the utility company's treatment of East Palo Alto but did not receive a response.
Eger said the district is exploring leveraging state and federal funds to add power walls to each of the schools in case of emergencies. Eger said solar panels are now installed at each school and should help in case of power grid disruptions, but there are no plans to install generators at schools.
Watch a video of the meeting:
Comments
Registered user
Duveneck/St. Francis
on Feb 25, 2023 at 12:01 pm
Registered user
on Feb 25, 2023 at 12:01 pm
'Latu called the treatment "crimes against our kids."'
Wow, that's a bit of an over the top statement, I think. Yet another example of the hyperbolic-speak world we live in.
'Eger said solar panels are now installed at each school and should help in case of power grid disruptions, but there are no plans to install generators at schools.'
Wrong answer. Generators are relatively reliable and don't depend on sunny days to recharge them. Despite their perceived lack of eco-friendliness, I'd take a generator over a battery wall any day of the week.
The takeaway here is that the school district has spent absolutely zero time considering disaster planning. Hope that gets addressed soon.
Registered user
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Feb 25, 2023 at 1:50 pm
Registered user
on Feb 25, 2023 at 1:50 pm
I do agree that schools have no disaster planning, but for this one I don't blame the schools as here we do not expect to be without power for days at a time.
The real problem is that whether we are talking about PG&E or Palo Alto Utilities, they are completely inefficient, unreliable, and very antisocial. They think that a few hours of being in the dark is not a problem. They are wrong. This is much more inconvenient than a few hours in the dark. When businesses have to close, food has to be thrown out, people are unable to shower, sleep in a warm house, do laundry, and as in this case when schools have to close, this is serious bad management.
We are not in the remote foothills of the Sierra. We are in a flat area of Silicon Valley with a population of millions. We deserve better service than we are getting.
Get all residential areas' powerlines underground. Don't blame the weather, the trees, helium balloons or the wildlife. Reduce the potential for outages by having them out of harms' way. Get with it. Give us efficient and reliable electricity.