Blackout Causes dTHS’s First Ever “Snow Day”

By: Geordan Neinstein

This Monday morning we were all awakened early – not by our alarm clocks, but by heavy rain, roaring thunder, and blinding lightning.  We all got ready for school, and some of us had already left when we found out that, for the first time in dTHS history, school was cancelled due to weather.  Busses turned around and students everywhere were confused.

So what did students do with their unexpected day off?  Many took the opportunity to catch up on some much-needed sleep.  Others spent the time with their friends.  However, the day was particularly special for the sophomores, many of whom were preparing to head off for Israel the next day, while others were preparing for their local PeTaCh journey and the 3 weeks of separation from many of their friends.  They took advantage of their extra day off, spending time with their friends and family before their departure.

Now, it wasn’t actually the weather that caused school to be cancelled, but instead a power outage.  Early in the morning, lightning struck a power line near the school, which blew out a transformer and blacked out the school’s power grid, leaving the power down for almost 24 hours.

After a restful day off, we got another call in the evening – the power was not back on at school and another day off was possible.  However, sadly (for students anyway), the Department of Water and Power worked all night to fix the power, and it came back online early Tuesday morning with mere hours to spare.  Not exactly a snow day, but the closest we’ll ever see to one as long as we live in sunny Los Angeles.