When school is closed suddenly for any reason, whether it’s weather-related or not, most kids rejoice. But when it’s a college that closes as the semester is winding down and final papers are due, that’s a problem.
And that was the issue facing California’s Victor Valley College earlier this week after it was closed and classes were canceled Monday because of a "high-voltage electrical failure" that began late Sunday afternoon, VVC officials said.
The cause of the outage has still not been publicly disclosed, but the damage – however slight – has been done.
According to VVC Superintendent and President Roger Wagner, as quoted in the Victorville Daily Press, "Continued electrical issues" from an electrical failure Sunday afternoon closed the upper and lower campuses of VVC's Main Campus on Bear Valley Road. The campus was expected to be reopened "before the start of business" Tuesday morning, the paper reported.
Adding to the problem was heavy traffic on California’s Interstate 15 Sunday night. As such, repair crews were unable to get up the hill to the campus in a timely fashion to start exploring the cause of the problem after it was reported Sunday night. Both students and staff were notified of the closure Sunday by text and email, and it was hoped the campus would be reopened by noon Monday. They tried, but the decision to close the school all day came around 10:45 a.m. Monday.
The shutdown and subsequent delay in getting help only serves to underscore the importance of having a backup power plan. While it’s impossible to protect 100 percent from such situations, individuals and businesses can at least protect their equipment and systems until power and communication lines are restored. That’s why there are uninterruptible power supplies, or UPS.
Aside from maintaining power when necessary, UPS prevents data loss and offers surge protection. The UPS automatically switches to AC generated battery power, preventing the spike or surge from harming whatever is connected to it. A UPS also prevents power fluctuations. It’s something all schools should look into, to save students and faculty from needless grief.
Edited by Dominick Sorrentino