Salem Power Outage Triggers School Dismissal, Phone Service Loss

Updated 1:15 p.m.

SALEM, MA — A power outage at the Collins Middle School cut the school day short for students on Friday.

Superintendent Steve Zrike said the outage occurred Friday morning and that the backup generator failed within minutes.

Because the school is dark with no telephone access, Zrike said "for safety reasons" students were to be dismissed at about 12:15 p.m. Students who typically walk home were to be released at that time with buses set to board and depart for their normal routes shortly thereafter.

"We recognize that there are students who require an adult to be home," Zrike posted on social media. "We will supervise these students at the school until an adult is contacted and home supervision is confirmed."

The city said National Grid is working to restore power to impacted city and school facilities.

Phones and internet access were out at all district schools as of 1 p.m. The following cell numbers can be used to contact the corresponding schools:

Bentley: 781-771-6999
Bates: 781-771-8309
Carlton: 781-771-7902
Collins: 978-882-2348
Horace Mann: 781-771-7683
Saltonstall: 978-265-4050
Salem High School: 978-265-4061
Early Childhood Center: 781-771-5836
New Liberty: 978-360-0083
Salem Prep: 978-265-1269

All schools other than Collins were set to dismiss at their regular time with after-school activities going on as scheduled.

Those caregivers who need information or have an emergency are asked to call 978-998-0481.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)