School was cancelled due to electrical problems during second block on Friday, Oct. 23, causing students to be sent home early.

Several factors played into the final decision of the cancellation.

“First, we had several classrooms completely without power,” assistant principal Aaron Leichner said. “Second, the building phone systems were down. Third, our internet throughout the building was running on battery back-up designed to last approximately 1 hour. Fourth, per maintenance there were 6 light ballasts in the G-Hall that were shorted out due to the electrical surge causing the smell of burning electronics.”

The final and deciding factor was the inability to serve lunch due to the kitchen’s loss of power.

Phase 2 of the 3-phase electrical service from Sedgwick County Electric Coop failed at some point after 3 AM. This caused the school’s main 400 amp breaker to pop and its back-up generator to kick-on and take over.

“The reason some of the building’s lights and outlets were seemingly randomly working when others weren’t is because phase 1 and 3 were still feeding the building,” Leichner said.

Junior Reese Martens thought it was odd to walk in the dark but didn’t quite know what the extent of the problem was.

“Neither of my classes were experiencing problems, which is why I thought it was weird for school to be dismissed,” Martens said.

Only Maize High was affected because all of the other schools in the district are on Energy electrical service, instead of Sedgwick County Coop.

“[The] 3-phase electrical service from Sedgwick County Coop has been restored; however, district Maintenance, HVAC and Tech must troubleshoot and repair/reinitiate the building systems that were forced offline and/or sustained damage due to the disruption,” Leichner said.

He is hopeful that everything will be up and running by Monday.