News
Wind shutters schools; students make most of days off
District works to save frozen food; student council members help with cleanup efforts
By PAMELA WILLIS
Published: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 5:20 PM EDT
Hurricane-force winds hurled tree branches and debris on homes and power lines during nearly six hours of up to 75 mph wind gusts Sunday, Sept. 14, causing power shortages throughout Worthington and indefinitely closing school doors.

The remnants of Hurricane Ike traveled north last week, arriving Sept. 14 in Worthington.

By that evening, all of the Worthington City School District's buildings had lost power except Brookside Elementary School.

The schools were closed Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 15 and 16, and by Tuesday afternoon, district officials had decided to close down a third day, Wednesday, Sept. 17.

On Sept. 15, food service personnel hustled to try to save frozen food in each school's rapidly thawing freezers. School officials gathered at the Worthington Education Center, which did not lose power.

Jim McElligott, director of student services and safety, said Sept. 15 the district was looking for a truck with freezer capabilities in which to store food until power was restored in the buildings.

"We want to get the food out of the freezers and into the freezer truck as soon as possible," he said. "We have some refrigerated food that we'll lose, but the most expensive food is in the freezers."

Superintendent Melissa Conrath said she met with city and school officials at 10 p.m. Sept. 14, while the wind was still whipping through the city, to assess the power outages.

"With most of the city without power and many stoplights not working, we did not feel it would be safe for our students to drive, even if we could get some buildings on emergency power," she said.

By the morning of Sept. 16, Kim Hanlin, student council adviser at Thomas Worthington High School, rallied student council members into neighborhood relief action.

Thomas Worthington High School senior Tara Benninger said about 25 students, staff members and a few parents met at the flagpole in front of the high school at 10 a.m. Sept. 16.

"We decided to go out to either the homes of elderly people or anyone who might need help cleaning up big tree limbs and debris to do whatever we could to help," Benninger said. "We went up to Kilbourne Middle School first and helped some people who live in apartments near that school, then cleaned up around the Griswold Center and on the Village Green."

Benninger said she and the other student council members were happy to help out.

"When I was helping my mom pick up tree branches out of our yard yesterday, I was thinking about some of the older people in the neighborhood and thought that if I wasn't able to clean up my yard, how helpless I would feel," she said. "I think it's really a good thing for us to reach out and help each other."

Vicki Gnezda, district director of communications, said school personnel were still getting the refrigerated truck to more buildings Sept. 16.

"Power has been restored in a few more schools," she said that day. "Sutter Park, Liberty and Slate Hill have power today. We attended a meeting with city officials at 10 a.m. today and will continue to meet to assess the situation."

"There are American Electric Power trucks in our area, but there are still significant power outages throughout the city," she said. "AEP did confirm that Worthington was one of the hardest hit during the windstorm."

Gnezda said once power is restored in the schools, district crews will inspect each building to make sure equipment is operating properly and buildings are safe.

A decision on co-curricular activities, such as sports practices, depends on the sport, Gnezda said.

"It is a decision that the athletic director and the coach have to make," she said. "For instance, if it is football, can the kids practice without the pads so they don't need to access the building?" she said. "The individual coaches would contact the kids in that case."

Gnezda said Worthington police are urging motorists to stay off the city streets, because fallen trees, downed power lines and inoperable traffic signals are still making travel unsafe.

School officials will work closely with the police and the city's Emergency Operations Center to monitor the situation, Gnezda said.

"Superintendent Conrath will defer to the EOC to advise the district when conditions are safe enough to resume classes," she said. "At this point, we are not considering opening some buildings while the majority are closed, but the situation will be re-evaluated daily."




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