South Monterey County schools still open for classes amidst outages

Despite having no power, Soledad and Gonzales schools were open for students on Monday, but that did not mean the day got productive.

It was a full day of recess and sunshine for kids at Gabilan Elementary School in Soledad. But for some Soledad High students already out of school around noon, it was a wasted morning.

“We had no lecture, you know. So we were just like talking around,” said Brian Flores, a senior at Soledad High School. “The teacher was not doing anything, they were just right there. Completely useless, that’s how I found it.”

“My son texted me and said, ‘hey, we’re just kind of sitting around talking, it’s kind of useless being here. Can you come pick me up early?, and I said sure,” said Karen Mathews, a Soledad High School parent.

There is no electricity at the five elementary schools, the middle school and the high school in Soledad. But all 4,900 students were still required to show up for class.

“Oh, I was kind of shocked that they were still having school. I was told that as long as they have running water, they could keep the kids all day long,” said Mathews.

“We did a lot of work over the weekend in preparation, and so when school started this morning, it was different not having electricity,” said Timothy Vanoli, the superintendent of the Soledad Unified School District.

SUSD directed all schools to move their refrigerated and frozen foods to portable units. They also made sure land line phones at the schools were working, in case they needed contact.

Electronics were out for the day: no WiFi, cell phones or laptops. It was back to the paper and pencil, and natural lighting from the sun.

“Parents have to go to work and their power is out in their home, I think the best place for them is at school,” said Vanoli.

These past few days have been the first time South Monterey County residents have experience a PG&E power shutoff. And if this is the new normal, schools and their students will have to adjust.

“That’ll be kind of tough because going without a generator would be kind of hard to go out with, you know,” said Flores.

“Yeah, that would be tough because they don’t have WiFi, so it makes it difficult to do their homework,” said Mathews. “Everything is on their iPads.”

The superintendent tells KION they have to take these shutoffs one day at a time, and if this is the new normal during the school year, they will start preparing differently.