Two Moses Lake elementary schools lose power

MOSES LAKE - Moses Lake's Larson Heights and North Elementary schools lost power Wednesday morning after a electrical breaker was overloaded.

Power flickered off and on from around 9:30 a.m. until noon.

Administrators decided to bus students to Columbia Basin Secondary School.

"We transferred kids to the secondary school because power had been on consistently and it was warm," said Executive Director of Elementary Education Linda McKay.

About 50 students from each elementary school watched movies and waited in the secondary school gym for their parents to pick them up or for school to end at 2 p.m.

"It was important to get the kids to a safe, warm environment whether that's here or home," McKay said.

The two schools joined of the 750 homes and businesses that did not have power until about noon on Wednesday.

"We had about four substations that were overloaded," said Grant County Public Utilities District communications specialist Thomas Stredwick. "The Airway Drive area was the last of the four to come back on."

Students didn't seem to mind the outage, according to North elementary teacher Jessica King.

"The kids were fine," King said. "We played games and talked about what was happening. Everyone got their coats on and stayed warm until we left."

Some concerned family members, such as Keith Simpson, say school should have been canceled that morning because of the weather.

"They were without power for more than two hours," said Simpson. "To have kids in there freezing is just crazy."

Moses Lake School District Superintendent Michelle Price released a statement notifying parents of the situation.

"We realize the power is also out at homes of the students at these two schools, however, we want to let parents know so that they can decide if they want to pick their child up or not," Price wrote.

Larson Heights office staff Beverly Nickols and Rene Stephens say this is the first time they have experienced something like this.

"It's surprising how many kids just want to go outside and play," Nickols said.

"Obviously this time of year is a different situation than having this happen in September," McKay said. "But in any situation where the power goes out we make sure all the pieces are in place to take care of students."