What do you do when the power goes out at your school? Well, if you're a student at Portage View Elementary School in Barrie, you go on a road trip.
That's what happened today.
A small, battery-operated radio is the only thing playing at Portage View Elementary School today. The lights are off and there are no kids or teachers.
A breaker problem forced the principal to close the school, so all of the students and staff were sent to Barrie Central Collegiate for the day.
“All these students that are at Portage View will eventually come to Barrie Central as a school,” says principal Chris Samis. “The other thing is Barrie Central has more flexibility in terms of the Fisher Auditorium to be able to accommodate our students.”
The Simcoe County District School Board made the decision this morning. And parents had mixed feelings about it.
“They have to go someplace so they may as well go where there's heat and everything else, right?” says Jim Horner.
Melissa Cook, however, disagreed.
“It's Barrie Central. It's downtown, close to downtown,” she says. “I really don't feel too comfortable with my daughter at this age being downtown at a high school like that.”
Because the school had no power, it couldn’t use its phone system to call parents and let them know the kids were moving for the day.
To make sure the kids were safe in the high school, the doors to the auditorium were locked all day. Students were escorted outside for recess and to the washrooms.
To help entertain the younger students, Central's drum line put on an impromptu concert. And the kids seem to appreciate it.
The problem at the school has yet to be fixed. The board says power is back on.
