High country schools wading through lingering power outages after NorCal storms
PLACERVILLE – Several school districts were still closed on Thursday in Pollock Pines and Camino, while others in lower elevations were able to reopen – except one.
Superintendent Eric Bonniksen showed up early at Louisiana Schnell Elementary in Placerville, even when students couldn't.
"Our generators can run the phone systems [and] the internet, but our generators aren't large enough to run the heaters," Bonniksen said. "And it's under 30 degrees in classrooms right now."
A small section of Placerville was still without power Thursday morning, sparking challenges for hundreds of families.
"We have other staff that work in our district that have students who go to school here, so they've taken the students with them to work today," Bonniksen said. "It's hard on parents all the way around."
When school leaders couldn't get a reason why the power hadn't been restored when it was elsewhere, CBS13 began getting answers. A PG&E spokesperson said, "We continue to patrol the circuit and have identified at least one area of damage and are working to continue patrolling for trouble."
Travis Tyus and his wife Laura have four kids. Two are homeschooled, but their oldest is jumping at the opportunity to get head back to class outside the district.
"They are happy to there because we don't have power here," Laura said.
Bonniksen said PG&E informed them that power will be restored by 6:10 p.m. Thursday.
If all goes well, school will be back open on Friday.