Power outage prompts early dismissal at Whitehall High School

Whitehall High School dismissed early Thursday because of a power outage, according to a district official.

Christopher Schiffert, assistant to the superintendent for general operations at Whitehall-Coplay School District, said a nearby power line was sparking, causing outages at a good portion of the high school.

Schiffert said the district was made aware of the outages before 7 a.m. Not knowing how quickly PPL would be able to resolve the situation, the district decided to dismiss students at 9 a.m.

District officials also closed off traffic to the area near the power line.

Schiffert said any students in the building during the outages were rerouted to areas with power.

PPL officials were able to fix the power line, and as of 9 a.m. power has been restored to the building. After school activities will resume as normal, Schiffert said.