11/10/11 Power outages at Riverside Intermediate School and Lincoln Junior High on Wednesday prompted Plymouth School administrators to dismiss all students approximately 45 minutes early.
According to Superintendent Dan Tyree, the decision for early dismissal was made within one hour after learning of the outages. Tyree said, “When we called NIPSCO, we were informed that all crews were in Kewanna and it would take two hours for crews to reach the Plymouth area.
Tyree said some 8,000 notices were sent by the corporation’s newest emergency notification system, School Reach, to phones or sent by email to parents to apprise them of the change. Tyree said they also notified the Boys and Girls Club, Saint Michael’s School, and the After school Program since students are bused to or from each location.
Tyree said, “The system may not be perfect, but it is so much better than not having it. We could have reached only 10 percent of those that needed to be notified without it.”
“The first concern of our bus drivers is to get children home safely.” said Tyree. He added, “They take pride in knowing their kids and use extreme caution in letting kids off the bus.” If there is no one home or the house doors are locked, Tyree said they contact emergency numbers that are listed on registration information.
Carol Anders Correspondent
