Power outage disrupts seventh period

Power to Blair's electric outlets was temporarily disconnected today, Nov. 16 during seventh period because a power surge tripped a breaker within the school's electrical system.

The school-wide power outage took place at "around a quarter to one" this afternoon, according to Margo Stevens, an English composition assistant. "There's no power in any of the sockets. The power was out in this workroom, and I went down to the computer lab, and nothing was working there either," Stevens said. However, lights were not affected.

At 1:00 p.m., Reginald Tobin, Blair's Building Services Manager, went to the electrical room to survey the problem. At 1:05 p.m., he announced that power was back. "Everything should be fine now," he said.

Tobin attributed this power surge, the second one this school year, to the fact that Blair classrooms are using too much power for the school's breakers to handle. There are around 1350 computers as well as many other appliances running on the school's electrical system. "There are all those extra things in all the rooms, like microwaves, coffee machines and fridges. That's a lot of power we are running in the [electrical] system," Tobin said. The breaker, an advanced version of an electrical fuse, could not handle all the power and temporarily disconnected, according to Tobin.

To prevent more power outages, Tobin suggested that students and staff conserve the use of electricity in the school. "[Teacher and students] have too much stuff in here. They have to cut down on all that [power]," Tobin said.