Principal Joelle Brookner Monday morning was forced to announce an early dismissal in the middle of an electrical power outage. The outage, which began at about 9 a.m., affected the K-6 school, the Williamstown Youth Center, and three properties across Church Street from the school: the Harper Center, Proprietor's Field and Highland Woods.

 

According to a 10:20 a.m. "robocall" sent by Brookner to parents and guardians, the school's main office was running on backup power that would not last, and the school had no way to feed its students because the cafeteria was without power. School buses were called in to bring children home starting at 10:45.

 

The power returned at 10:30, but by that time, the buses were on the property and parents who had received the call already were scrambling to make after-school plans for their children.

 

With the lights on and classes preparing for the early dismissal, Brookner said that she waited as long a she could to announce the closure and that the only indication she had from the power company was that the outage could last until 11 p.m.

 

Utility problems are not new for the WES population.

 

Last year, the school lost two days in the fall due to an October pipe leak and a November boiler breakdown.

 

This time, unlike the fall 2016 closures, the school will not need to add a day at the end of the school year, Brookner said.

 

Tuesday's electrical outage caused a partial blackout at the town's senior center, the Harper Center, and the adjacent senior apartments at Proprietor's Field. The town's newer senior housing project, Highland Woods, had a total blackout.

 

Children bused from the elementary school were brought home, or, if they normally attend programming at the Williams College Children's Center, the facility was ready to accept children.

 

The Williamstown Youth Center, which lost power along with the school, was not able to accept children at 10:45 because it did not have the staff on hand, director David Rempell said. The WYC planned to have its regular after-school program at 3 p.m.

 

"We'd like to take them now," Rempell said Monday morning. "But we can't."