This morning, an unexpected electrical outage at Coppell High School from 10:30 a.m. to 11:10 a.m. caused classrooms to move outside for light and cool air.

“Right now the district is helping us to assess why the power is out,” said CHS Principal Mike Jasso during the power outage. “It looks like, the sounds of it, that it extends beyond the campus and there’s parts of the city without electricity. So that looks like more of an electrical company issue. The district handles that portion of it thankfully for us.”

Jasso addressed students over the loudspeaker to ask them to stay in third period for their safety, and until the power was up and running again.

“For safety’s sake, it’s a hard transition to go up and down stairs without lights, so we’re going to stay in third period for the time being,” Jasso said. “The cafeteria can not finish cooking all the food they need to without electricity, so we have kind of been in a holding pattern to assess what the rest of the day look like.”

Some classrooms school were able to rely on wireless technology until the power returned. Others were without any Internet access during the outage.

“My students are resourceful because they are using their flashlight on their phones to do their work,” CHS Algebra II teacher Michele Bellish said. “I can’t demonstrate anything so they are asking separate questions out in the hallway.”

French II teacher Michael Egan, whose classroom has no natural lighting, brought his class out into the hallway to finish their conjugating exercise on whiteboards.

When power returned, Jasso came on the loudspeaker again to transition to fourth period. An email was sent out to students and teachers with a schedule for the rest of the day.

A lunch occurred from 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., B lunch from 12:05 p.m. to 12:35 p.m., C lunch from 12:40 p.m. to 1:10 p.m. Fifth period begins at 1:15 p.m. and the remainder of the day will follow regular schedule.