Sonoma County Colleges, Numerous Other Schools To Remain Closed Due To Outage
SAN LEANDRO (CBS SF) – Two Sonoma County college campuses and nine schools in Oakland will stay closed through Thursday due to PG&E's Public Safety Power Shutoff, school officials said Wednesday.
According to officials, Santa Rosa Junior College campuses will be closed Thursday, while Sonoma State University will remain closed through Friday.
The closure applies to online classes and activities at SRJC. The junior college will monitor the situation and provide updates as more information becomes available, spokeswoman Erin Bricker said.
Sonoma State University said it lost power to internet and network services on campus, and the best way to receive updates is by calling its emergency hotline at 1-888-533-5388 or checking Facebook or Twitter.
Additionally, all schools in the Napa Valley School District will remain closed Thursday.
The Oakland Unified School District announced Wednesday afternoon that a total of nine schools would be closed Thursday due to the planned outage. Those schools include Fruitvale, Grass Valley, Howard, Montclair, Sequoia, Elmhurst United, Rudsdale Continuation, Skyline (the one school that was closed Wednesday) and Sojourner Truth.
Oakland Unified expects that all schools will be back open by Friday, based on current information provided by PG&E.
Mills College and Holy Names University -- both in Oakland -- will also remain closed.
Other continued closures announced for Thursday were San Jose's Alum Rock School District and Tam Valley School in Mill Valley.
Late Wednesday afternoon, the West Contra Costa Unified School District announced the following schools would be closed Thursday: Pinole Valley High School, Ellerhorst Elementary School, Kensington Elementary School, Madera Elementary School and Olinda Elementary School
Meanwhile, the superintendent with the San Leandro Unified School District announced Wednesday that all schools will be open and resume classes on Thursday.
San Leandro Unified School District Superintendent Mike McLaughlin made the announcement Wednesday afternoon.
All San Leandro schools were closed on Wednesday in anticipation of a PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoff that hasn't yet been imposed in the East Bay, including San Leandro.
McLaughlin said on Thursday that all staff will return to their sites and regular work schedules and all district events, including sporting events, scheduled for Thursday will be held at their regularly-scheduled times.
However, McLaughlin said it's possible that the plan to reopen schools on Thursday could change and said if a change is made community members will be notified via district communication channels.
In a message to parents, McLaughlin said, "Please plan on having your children attend school tomorrow with a plan in place in case we have to close schools due to a power shutoff."
McLaughlin thanked the community for its "flexibility and quick response to this unforeseen situation."
He said, "We appreciate your flexibility as we ensure everyone is safe during this time of uncertainty."
So far, there were no other announcements from universities or school districts that had closed for the PG&E power shutdown on which schools might reopen Thursday.
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