On Wednesday, Niles West experienced a blackout that also affected buildings around us such as our district offices and residential buildings in the area. While our school has backup generators that are supposed to kick in during times of blackouts, this did not happen. The generators appeared to be inoperable during this time, but the lights kicked on about 20 minutes later.

During the blackout, there were many lengths taken to ensure the safety of all staff and students. An announcement was made over the loudspeaker instructing students to stay in their classes until further instruction and instructing security guards to sweep the halls to make sure all the lights were on and to make sure students weren’t roaming the halls.

“Well for the most part I was in the cafeteria so I wasn’t roaming the hallways, so I had to just keep everyone inside and make sure no one left,” Security Guard Isaac Santiago said.

Many wonder what exactly happened to cause a power outage within the school and why the backup generators didn’t turn on, as the HVAC and lighting systems were down, but not the bells. The main cause of the power outage was actually due to a breaker opening and closing, which is usually designed to prevent a power outage. Details of exactly what happened are still being investigated, but Faculties Manager Marcus Holleran describes what we know now.

“What the school experienced was due to a breaker opening and closing as designated to prevent a sustained outage. The reason the breaker opened is under investigation. The backup generator did come on and as it was switching to take on the school it tripped. When the generator trips we have to wait 5 minutes for it to reset then it can start again. The power came back during that 5-minute window.” Holleran said.

After the blackout, many rumors arose within the school regarding the cause of the lockdown. However, Principle Jeremy Christian can confirm these are false.

“Our community had a power outage and it didn’t just affect our school, it affected our district offices, and residents in our community, and it definitely wasn’t a lockdown. I would never lie to my students, you mean too much to me,” Principle Jeremy Christian said.