Classes resume after two power failures at South Lake High School

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — Hundreds of Lake County high school students were released from school early on Thursday because of a major power outage that affected airconditioning in the classrooms.

Some students called their parents and went home shortly after the power went out at South Lake High School in Groveland.

"We all came into the cafeteria this morning and they said the power was down and the A/C wasn't working, so that if you got permission from your parents you could go home," said one student.

Officials said 742 students checked out, and another 558 never reported to classes, leaving only 290 at school for the remainder of the day.

Lake County school officials said the outage lasted for about an hour, and during that time they were able to use limited reserve power. The power, however, went out a second time later in the day.

Officials with Duke Energy said a piece of equipment off campus failed and school officials elected to have a temporary fix to get the power back on.

Since that didn't work, Duke is now working on a permanent fix.

Crews said the outages shouldn’t affect the school day on Friday.

WFTV