Washington Elementary adapts to the dark during power outage

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Washington Elementary students had a unique classroom experience on Tuesday when a power outage temporarily disrupted morning classes.

According to MidAmerican Energy, tree contact resulted in a power outage at 8:23 a.m. on Tuesday, April 16 for 906 electricity customers. Among them was the Washington Elementary school building, where students in classrooms without exterior windows suddenly had a much harder time seeing their lessons.

“We had a handful of rooms on the inside of our building that were pretty dark,” said Principal Joe Carney.

While some classrooms were able to carry on relatively unaffected, other classes had to adapt to the situation, moving lessons into hallways or other areas of the building with natural light.

“We did well,” said Carney. “The kids were really flexible. They just continued on.”

In Kelly Bailey’s kindergarten class, the kids turned the situation into a fun learning experience, using flashlights to play a game of I Spy with word parts.

“When the power returned, students turned off the lights so they could finish the game,” said Carney, who was impressed with the teachers and district support staff who kept things running and thanked MidAmerican Energy for resolving the outage so quickly.

The power outage only lasted about an hour, but it made for an exciting shake-up for the teachers and students alike.

“Keep calm and teach on,” said transitional Kindergarten teacher Kim Niichel.