CAHS power failure leaves students sitting outside for hours

ST. THOMAS — Students at Charlotte Amalie High School sat outside for hours Monday morning, waiting for the V.I. Water and Power Authority to repair blown fuses that left classrooms without lights or air conditioning.

“We expected that children would be able to go into classes today, that’s what we knew. But when we got here, we saw something different,” said Insular Superintendent Stefan Jurgen.

Students arrived at the campus at 7:40 a.m. but were unable to go into their dark, hot classrooms, so they sat outside waiting for power to be restored. Tropical Storm Ernesto caused widespread power failures throughout the territory, and WAPA crews are still working to repair isolated outages.

Principal April Petrus explained that the campus is split between different WAPA feeders, so while the adjacent Lockhart School and the 9th Grade Academy did have power, the majority of the campus did not.