Santa Monica High School students are getting a four-day holiday weekend as the campus will be closed for classes on Tuesday, Sept. 5, due to a power outage caused by a major blown fuse.
Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) Superintendent Antonio Shelton sent a notice to parents on Monday evening announcing the closure after district staff and a specialized contractor spent two days trying to repair the problem but were unable to do so in time for school to open as normal.
The closure impacts all students on the Samohi campus including the Infant Toddler Center (ITC). However students on other campuses are unaffected and project based learning pathway students will have school as normal on the SMC campus.
“Southern California Edison is expected to inspect, approve and restart the power by late morning. Electrical systems at the campus will need to be restarted following their process, including air conditioning, ventilation and technology, which is expected to take about one hour,” he said in his letter.
“Additionally, the kitchen at Samohi serves as the District kitchen for all Santa Monica sites, requiring clean up and restocking of refrigerated food and supplies. Students attending other SMMUSD schools will have a regular school day on Sept. 5. Breakfast will be served as usual as food is stored on sites prior to this outage. Lunch will be pizza, salads, and fruit. No special diet items will not be available Tuesday. We highly encourage families who are able to prepare lunch for their student(s), to do so on Tuesday. We appreciate parent cooperation as we work through this challenge.”
Youth sports scheduled for the afternoon including tennis, girls flag football and volleyball are still scheduled and students will receive instructions from their coach on arriving at school for the games.
Samohi and ITC are expected to reopen as normal on Wednesday, Sept. 6.
“It is unfortunate that this situation has a snowball effect requiring the loss of a school day, however, we are unable to have school without lighting, including in restrooms, heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC), no phones, other electrical needs, and no use of the kitchen to provide food services for students,” said Shelton in his email.