Peach BOE discusses electricity issues at Kay Road Elementary

FORT VALLEY -- Power outages have been an issue at Kay Road Elementary School near Byron, but the Peach County school board is hoping to rectify that problem soon.

Since the school opened in 2009, the power has frequently gone out without any larger situation happening outside the school, such as bad weather or an accident at a power transformer.

“It’s been a constant since I’ve been here,” said Superintendent Daryl Fineran, who just entered his second year at the helm.

Daryl Hawkins, speaking for the district’s maintenance department at Tuesday’s study session, said a monitor has been put on the school’s power grid to determine the root of the problem, but the power hasn’t gone out during those times. Later, like on the school’s picture day earlier this year, the lights went out until the backup generator kicked in.

“It trips the big breaker for some reason or another,” Hawkins said.

Board members were sympathetic to the inconvenience the outages place on teachers at Kay Road.

“I know that has to be difficult for the staff to do what you need to do,” said board member Jamie Johnson.

Chairman Ben McDaniel, noting his background in electrical work, asked to be notified the next time the issue arises. He said that while he has heard about the outages at times, he was unaware of the problem’s chronic nature until the study session.

“It shouldn’t be something that will be that difficult,” he said.

During the meeting, the board also voted to correct an error in the language of Fineran’s contract regarding his travel expenses. Board members will next gather for their regular meeting next Tuesday, when they will discuss the changes in governance as the district transitions to a charter system, an option chosen out of three presented by the state ahead of a June decision deadline.

To contact writer Jeremy Timmerman, call 744-4331 or find him on Twitter@MTJTimm.

This story was originally published September 29, 2015 at 8:23 PM with the headline "Peach BOE discusses electricity issues at Kay Road Elementary ."