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Parents, students tell Richardson ISD board power outages and unsafe conditions disrupted learning
Summary
At the March board meeting, public commenters described wide-spread power and water outages at district schools and urged board members to take action; speakers said students were left without electricity or running water and called the situation "very unsafe."
Parents and students told the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees on March 14 that recent power and water failures at campus facilities left students unable to learn and exposed vulnerable students to unsafe conditions.
At public comment, Cecíli Blancarte, identified herself as a student and a parent, saying multiple campuses experienced outages and that students were forced to study "in the dark" and classrooms were "very unsafe and ill-equipped" ("fue muy inseguro y fue inequipado"). She said bottled water and bucket toilets had to be used and urged trustees to hold district leaders accountable.
Another commenter, Ruben Blackman, described the challenge teachers face in classrooms with disrupted schedules and urged the board to address student conduct concerns and facility reliability to avoid broader instructional disruption.
Trustees did not take immediate formal action during public comment but later moved through the consent agenda and other items. Board members acknowledged the comments during the meeting and directed staff to continue work on operational and disciplinary priorities discussed later on the agenda.
Meeting minutes and staff reports were referenced during the discussion but no new facilities contract or emergency spending item was adopted during the portion of the meeting recorded in the transcript. The speakers urged the board to investigate the outages, improve campus communication during incidents, and ensure students with medical needs are protected when utilities fail.
Board members and staff indicated the district has had prior work on student conduct and related legislative efforts earlier in the meeting; public commenters tied their safety concerns to those broader priorities.
For further detail the board packet and later staff updates will show any follow-up steps, operational findings or related agenda items.
