Even when students attend school remotely there are challenges.
The first day of school Wednesday for more than 4,000 Gary Community School Corp. students was short-circuited by a cellphone tower power outage.
Thursday and Friday classes were also canceled with remote schooling expected to begin Monday.
“We were ready to go today; we were so excited,” said emergency manager Paige McNulty said in a Facebook message. “Then there was an act of God with the microburst storm.”
The Monday storm knocked out power at a T-Mobile cell tower leaving students, who use Chromebooks with hotspots, unable to connect to the internet.
The Northern Indiana Public Service Co. reported as many at 95,300 customers lost service during Monday’s derecho storm. By Wednesday afternoon, NIPSCO reported 14,197 remaining outages, including 4,845 in Gary, the hardest hit city.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic and Gary’s high infection rate, McNulty announced last month that Gary students would begin the school year at home with virtual classes. The district supplied laptops for all its students with the internet connections.
“I apologize, this was out of everyone’s control,” said McNulty. “Teachers are anxious to visibly see students,” she said.
The delay of school until Monday gives NIPSCO more time to restore power, she said.
She said meal distribution will continue Monday, as usual, and students who still haven’t picked up laptops may do so at their home schools Monday.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter at the Post-Tribune.
