On Wednesday, October 11, 2019, the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) implemented power outages that forced large areas of California to go dark. James Logan High School was supposed to be a victim of the power cutoff. After two days of delayed shutoffs, the school remained with power but without students.
Logan was scheduled to be without power starting that Wednesday at 8:00 PM. Lack of information released by PG&E made it difficult for the administration to reassure the community as to how long the power cutoff would last — some wouldn’t be affected at all while others could be without power for up to five days. For Logan, the power outage was supposed to last for two days, and even though the school never officially go dark, New Haven Unified School District was forced to close Logan to students.
New Haven USD administration was not the only one experiencing difficulties. For many of the hundreds of thousands of Northern California residents experiencing a blackout, the PG&E website did not provide enough information about how they would be affected by the power shut-off, if it could provide any at all. As people across the state checked the PG&E website to understand the situation, the website slowed and eventually crashed during the blackout.
Many frustrated California residents voiced their complaints to the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. about the failure to provide accessible information about the sudden blackouts in their communities. In response, PG&E tweeted, “We are currently experiencing a high volume of traffic to our website and understand your frustration with the delay of accessing #PSPS [public safety power shut-offs] related web pages.” Thus, almost an eighth of California’s population was not only without power but also without information explaining why.
Why exactly was there a power outage to begin with? PG&E explained that the power shut-off was a necessary precautionary measure. Apparently, high winds in Northern California were endangering power lines. If left without maintenance, there was a risk of another wildfire like the Paradise Fire last year. Therefore, PG&E decided to perform controlled power outages so the power lines at risk could be reinforced.
Though the intention was good, there were still complaints about the timing of these outages. Many Logan teachers mentioned how the ambiguity of the power outages interrupted their curriculum plan.
On the other hand, many Logan students enjoyed the impromptu vacation. Those like Logan freshman, Allison Ng, spent the two days “doing nothing special…just going on with life” and had a little protest about the two days without power.
Still, there is the possibility of more power outages in the near future. Recently, high winds and fires across California caused the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to once again shut off power for nearly one million Northern California residences on the final weekend of October.
Will Logan be closed again? How could these power shut-offs affect the school year? In the words of the San Francisco Chronicle, “one question loom[s] for many blackout-fatigued residents: When will PG&E shut off the power again?”
