MONTAGUE — Electrical engineers have restored power to Franklin County Technical School, and students will be welcomed back to school on Wednesday after a temporary fix to a failed Federal Pacific Electric switchgear restored power, avoiding long-term closure.
Superintendent Richard Martin confirmed Tuesday at 1:15 p.m. that electrical engineers were able to temporarily fix the failed switchgear and order new parts that will allow for a more long-term repair when the equipment arrives.
“This is the best-case scenario ” Martin said Tuesday afternoon.
This repair comes hours after the school lost power due to a power outage from Monday night’s high winds, and the aged switchgear failed, keeping power out for several hours and keeping the students at home for the day.
Martin said he received word from maintenance staff just before 7:30 a.m., and students on buses were returned home as Martin made the district-wide phone call to cancel school.
“This is the first time it’s happened due to an external power outage, and it might have been our first external power outage in that building in many years,” Martin said about the electrical switch failure. “So that’s probably why it exposed the system.”
Before the repair, Martin explained that if a temporary solution could be found, students could be back in school by Wednesday morning. However, if the issue required further intervention, then contingency plans for online learning would have been instituted.
This issue comes as the district is continuing to advocate for a new school building, which has a total project cost of $246 million, with an estimated $125 million reimbursement for eligible costs as part of the Massachusetts School Building Authority program.
The need for a new school to serve Franklin Tech’s 19 member towns has been communicated by district leadership, and part of this outreach has been an emphasis on the fragility of the electrical system. Among other structural problems with the current building that was built in the 1970s, the district relies on switchgears that are no longer manufactured by Federal Pacific Electric.
Two previous failures have cost the school $200,000, according to Martin. A total replacement of the electrical system could cost $32 million, which would include new switchgears, panels, distribution and backup generators, according to the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s project page.
“It just underlines the failing systems that we have structurally within the building, which impacts our students’ learning,” Martin said this morning.