Leigh Jacobson

Editor-in-Chief

On Monday, December 12, students and teachers alike were surprised when, only minutes into first period, the power went out on Milken’s campus. According to Mr. Reggie Rios, facility manager, the power went out at the high school, middle school and elementary school at approximately 7:32 AM.

“Mr. Lindsay was passing out Latin tests when the power went out, so we all decided to take it as a message from the gods that we shouldn’t take the test,” Emily Brown ’12 said.

Some teachers attempted to continue classes in the dark, while others waited patiently for an update. Additionally, a diesel-powered backup power generator provided emergency lighting in the halls.

At the conclusion of first period, students milled about in various directions, some heading to advisory, while others headed to the gym.

After about an hour of waiting, all students and faculty were called into the gym for an announcement by upper school principal Dr. Roger Fuller, who announced that for health and safety reasons, school would end early that day.

“This kind of decision is never easy to make,” said Fuller. “We try to coordinate this kind of decision with several other agencies, including the elementary and the middle school. When the contacts with the Department of Water and Power (DWP) agents could not give us any idea about the return of electricity, we made a collaborative decision to send the middle and upper school students home.”

The decision was met with overwhelming enthusiasm, and after signing out with the office or at tables in the gym, many students headed out to enjoy their unplanned day off.

According to Fuller, the schedule for the rest of the week should not be impacted in any way by yesterday’s events.