Cleveland HS cancels classes following power outage

UPDATE: Power has been restored to CHS.

RIO RANCHO — Classes at Cleveland High School were canceled Monday after a weekend car accident blew a nearby transformer, according to a Rio Rancho Public Schools spokesperson.

PNM told the school district it fixed the issue early Monday following the car accident, which occurred Sunday, RRPS spokesperson Wyndham Kemsley wrote in an email. However, when school district crews discovered the power was not back on and could not fix the issue in time for the start of school, classes were cancelled, Kemsley wrote.

In a prepared statement, PNM spokesman Eric Chavez confirmed the outage, which, he wrote, only impacted the high school.

"Our crews worked safely to fix the equipment that was damaged, and service was restored to the school at 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 22," Chavez wrote.

Chavez said in an interview that even when PNM restores power, it is possible for issues to arise on the customer's end, for which they are responsible. He referred further comment to RRPS.

Kemsley said in an interview that power was not immediately restored to the school itself because many systems had to be restarted manually.

He said classes are expected to begin as scheduled Tuesday.