Power outage impacts start of school day for Piedmont

PIEDMONT, Okla. (KFOR) - The lights are fully back on at Piedmont Public Schools after some power troubles on Friday morning. 

"This morning started very early for us here at Piedmont,” said Riley Thomas, the communications coordinator for the district. 

Thomas confirmed to KFOR there were partial power outages at both Piedmont High School and Piedmont Middle School. 

"It was a little bit before 6 a.m., but that's when we started directly contacting OG&E,” said Thomas. “They assured us that we would be good to go in 90 minutes. So from that point, we established that we could probably move forward with school."

Thomas said parents were notified about what was going on immediately. 

“They did have to turn off that power to repair the damage to the line, but it was repaired within the time frame that they told us,” said Thomas. “Students start school here at 7:50 and power was restored by 8:10. So, it really wasn't too long without power, but we made sure that our kids, if they wanted breakfast, had the opportunity to have breakfast.”

Thomas added that all of the district’s schools ramped up heat overnight, and despite the outages, never dropped below 60 degrees. 

“They all were warm," said Thomas. 

Parents expressed mixed reactions to the situation on Piedmont Public Schools’ public Facebook page. 

“We understand if they're frustrated, we totally get it. It's hard to be a parent,” said Thomas. “So we understand and we're doing our absolute best to make sure that their kids get everything that they need here at school." 

She added that the district will work with students who were absent Friday because of the power situation.