Power Outage At Several Detroit Schools
DETROIT (WWJ) - All Detroit Public Schools students will be dismissed one hour early Thursday due to power issues.
While several Detroit schools were in the dark, an ongoing power outage forced students from Detroit's Gardner Elementary School to temporarily move to nearby Jemison Elementary.
(Scroll down for a list of Detroit schools without power)
Students have been instructed to go to their normal bus stop locations and to be transported to Mae C. Jemison school on Tireman, about a mile away from Gardner's campus. Students who get dropped off at Gardner will be taken to Jemison by bus between 8:30 and 9 a.m., and returned to Gardner at 4:10 p.m.
Ada Murphy was among those parents dropping off kids at Gardener to be bused over to Jemison elementary, where the lights are working.
"It's not inconveniencing me at all, but I hope they turn the lights back on for the kids to be in their own school," she said.
Murphy said the children don't seem to mind, telling her that they are just excited to be going to school again.
Barbara Bartlett's adopted granddaughter goes to school at Gardner, and she doesn't understand why the neighbors have lights but the school does not.
"We live in Dearborn and I could have put her in a Dearborn School but she wants to finish up here. I want her to do the same, but I'm not sending her over into an area that I am not familiar with, that I've heard a lot of not very good things about that area. I'm not putting her on one of these busses," Bartlett said.
Detroit Public School officials say Jemison has sufficient classrooms to accommodate all Gardner students. Breakfast and lunch will be provided to Gardner students at Jemison.
It's not clear when Detroit Public Lighting will have the outage repaired. Gardner has been in the dark for three days now.
Other Detroit School Power Outages:
Mumford High - dismissed early Thursday, no power
Cass Tech - dismissed early Thursday, no power
Carleton Elementary - closed Thursday, no power
Detroit School of Arts - closed Thursday, no power
Marquette Elementary - closed Thursday, no power
While Cass Tech students huddled under umbrellas while waiting a ride home, WWJ's Ron Dewey spoke with parents, including Tiffany Wilson.
"I'm very frustrated considering I don't live close, so it's a nice little drive on the freeway. I had just got home when my daughter called me back and said I had to come back," said Wilson.
Another parent said the school should have gotten the power situation straightened out before the start of the school year.
Related: Detroit Council Tackles "Huge Problems" In Public Lighting
