Pearl River Schools Forced to Relocate Franklin Avenue Students

Ongoing power issues forced the Pearl River School District to send most of the students from Franklin Avenue Elementary School to other buildings in the district at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.

There was not enough power to properly heat the entire building.

"We knew last night that O&R probably was not going to get to it in time for the opening of school, but we have generators there," said Sandy Cokeley, director of quality and community relations for the Pearl River Schools. "It was not enough to heat the building sufficiently. We were all there for the start of school (at 9 a.m.) and by 9:30 it was still cold. We can't have the kids in the cold all day, so we did what we did."

The first and second grade students were sent to Evans Park Elementary and the third and fourth graders went to Lincoln Avenue Elementary. Morning Kindergarten remained at Franklin Avenue in a heated classroom and afternoon Kindergarten was cancelled.

The students who were sent to Evans Park and Lincoln Avenue will be returned to Franklin Avenue at 1:30 p.m. Parents are able to pick up their children at Evans Park or Lincoln Avenue until 1:30 p.m. or at Franklin Avenue after 2 p.m.

"We accept full responsibility for this situation," said the district through a release on its website. "Were we aware that the building would be without power we would not have opened the school. We will be reviewing our emergency response procedures and adjusting accordingly. Please accept our apologies."

Cokeley said that no decisions have been made for Thursday, though Franklin Avenue Elementary will be closed if the circumstances are the same as Wednesday morning.

"O&R tells us it is on their schedule for today," Cokeley said. "We're looking at other options. If there is not sufficient heat, we will not open the building."