VCSD feeds kids and saves its septic

VOORHEESVILLE — The Voorheesville Central School district sent middle and high school students home early last week, after the district office lost power for two hours.

Parents received automatic notifications about both the power outage and the subsequent closing.

According to Superintendent Teresa Thayer Snyder, power went out around 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 26.

“We had one group of kids to feed,” Snyder said about a remaining lunch period. “We brought food up from the elementary school to feed them.”

Only the district offices and the middle and high schools, which are housed on the same property, were affected by the power outage, Snyder said. The elementary school, further down the road, did not lose power.

Twice in the last month, the schools lost power.

Patrick Stella, a spokesman for National Grid, said that 2,200 customers including the Voorheesville secondary school were affected by an outage on March 12 that lasted from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

“There was a tree on the line,” Stella said.

Students were not released early on that day, Snyder said.

“On March 26, the same line and the same number of customers had an outage,” Stella said. Power went out at 11 a.m. and was restored close to 12:45 p.m., he said.

“There was a wire down that we found off-road, in the woods,” Stella said. “We don’t know why the wire was down. The two incidents were unrelated.”

Last Thursday, Snyder decided to send students home, as the day ran on without power at the schools, she said.

“Our biggest problem is our septic system,” she said. Without power, she said, “the pump doesn’t work. We worry about sewage backing up. We were approaching two hours” without electricity, she said.

The lunch period is when the septic system has the greatest strain, Snyder said. She arranged to dismiss the students at 1 p.m., she said. Power was restored around the same time, she said.

“The important thing is they all got fed,” Snyder said. Younger students may not have the ability to make their own lunches, she said. 

More New Scotland News

The Altamont Enterprise is focused on hyper-local, high-quality journalism. We produce free election guides, curate readers' opinion pieces, and engage with important local issues. Subscriptions open full access to our work and make it possible.