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PA Cyber Charter School weathers remnants of Hurricane Ike
Press release Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008
MIDLAND, Pa. – The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School continued nearly normal operations in spite of power outages which closed school headquarters as the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through Western Pennsylvania.
“It takes more than a little wind to shut us down,” said Dr. Nick Trombetta, CEO of PA Cyber Charter School. “Monday and Tuesday were class days like any other for most of our 8,500 students across the Commonwealth.”
Several hundred PA Cyber employees based in Midland - including teachers, instructional supervisors, technical support staff, call center operators, administrators, warehouse staff and others – were told to work from home if possible Monday and Tuesday because of an electrical power outage and critically low municipal water supplies in Midland.
With power restored early Tuesday and municipal reservoirs being refilled, school employees were instructed to report for work as usual Wednesday morning. PA Cyber offices in Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Wexford were not affected by weather power outages and operated normally.
Those students who lost electric power or Internet service in Sunday evening’s storm can call up playbacks of the virtual classes they missed when they do get back online, said Trombetta, adding that teachers will make allowances for weather-related delays in finishing classwork.
Hundreds of PA Cyber students and as well as employees were affected as an estimated 41,000 electric customers reportedly lost power in Beaver and Allegheny counties.
In cases where the teacher, not the student, lost access to the Internet and thus was unable to conduct live online instruction, supervisors were able to post recorded emergency lessons which had been prepared ahead of time. Trombetta said each virtual classroom teacher is required to have two of these on-demand emergency lessons recorded in case of absence due to illness or other cause, or inability to get online.
“I head of several cases where our staff went out and found electricity,” said Trombetta. “Teachers took their laptops to Internet cafés, logged on and conducted their classes without missing a beat.”
With the start of fall classes and approximately 3,000 students who are new to PA Cyber, this is already a busy time for the school’s tech support and call center personnel. Trombetta asked for patience from students and their families as staffers catch up on calls for assistance.
Municipal water customers served by Midland Water Authority remained under conservation and boil orders Tuesday in the wake of Sunday evening’s widespread power outages. Electric service was restored early Tuesday in Midland. Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School and Midland Elementary-Middle School planned to reopen Wednesday after two days of no classes.