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Committee declares emergency, authorizes repairs after catastrophic electrical failure at Neeson School; district-wide upgrades planned
Summary
Following a catastrophic electrical failure that closed Neeson School, the committee declared an emergency and authorized emergency actions and contracting with Marks Electric to replace a failed 1,600-amp panel with a 2,000-amp unit; members discussed aging infrastructure and a districtwide plan to inspect and upgrade electrical systems.
The Tangipahoa Parish School Board Capital Outlay Committee declared an emergency and authorized the administration to take emergency actions after a catastrophic electrical failure at Neeson School that forced the campus to close briefly.
Administration staff reported the school suffered a failure early Thursday; Marks Electric removed the failed panel and provided generator power so the school could operate while repairs were planned. The administration presented a proposed scope and low estimate to replace the failed 1,600-amp main with a 2,000-amp panel and to inspect and upgrade related supply lines and subpanels. The low estimate discussed in the meeting was about $241,000; staff also said the district was paying roughly $56,000 per week for the temporary generator.
A staff member asked the committee to declare an emergency so contractors could be engaged quickly. “We’re paying $56,000 a week for the generator. So it's actually, in my opinion, it's better to go ahead and get the system replaced as soon as possible,” the staff presenter said. A board member asked whether the failure was related to Entergy’s outages; Marks Electric’s representative answered, “It didn't have anything to do with Entergy,” attributing the failure to internal equipment and insulation breakdown.
Marks Electric explained the failure was consistent with long-running degradation: aging cable insulation and heat buildup in an older CT transformer chamber exposed 480-volt lines and led to shorting in the cabinet. Staff and the contractor said the district’s increased electrical load over the years — for example, charging carts for Chromebooks in classrooms — has added strain to systems that were designed decades ago.
The committee voted to declare the emergency and authorized administration to proceed with emergency repairs and to begin planning inspections and competitive bids for other high-risk sites. Staff said they will engage electrical engineers to produce bid-ready specifications, check supply lines and subpanels at identified campuses, and return to the committee with proposals for each site. Committee members emphasized the need for independent engineering specifications so replacement bids are comparable across contractors.
The motion to declare an emergency and authorize immediate actions passed unanimously. The administration identified multiple campuses with similar vulnerabilities and asked approval to develop plans and procure competitive bids to prevent future catastrophic failures.
