No. 1074      Office of the Superintendent
 
Date: May 22, 2001
To: Site Administrators, Division and Department Heads
Subject: Rolling Blackouts
Department and/or
Persons Concerned: 		Site Administrators, Division and Department Heads and All Employees using District Computers
Due Date:  Immediate
Reference: None
Action Requested: Review information with staff

 
Brief Explanation:

In the event of power outages, in order to protect computer hardware from possible power surges, the following actions should be taken regarding workstations, monitors, network hardware, printers and servers.  

If your site is notified in advance that a power outage may occur, the following actions should be taken before the predicted outage.  
  1. All workstations should be shut down in the normal manner and then switched off. (On IBM compatible workstations, the monitors must be switched off manually.)

  2. School site SIS servers should be shutdown normally and then switched off.

If your site’s power goes off without warning, the following actions should be taken:  

  1. All workstations and monitors should be switched off.

  2. School site SIS servers should be switched off.

In either case (with or without advance notice of a power outage) the following actions should be taken:              

  1. Switch off all printers.

  2. Electrical equipment such as copiers, scanners and lamination machines should be switched off with the power switch or disconnected from the wall receptacle (if the device doesn’t have a power switch).

Networking equipment (hubs, routers, switches) should tolerate power problems and power back on automatically. Such equipment does not have to be switched off.   Frequently, when power is restored after power outages, the power may not be stable and a subsequent outage could occur. Computer equipment should not be powered on until 30 minutes after power is restored. Damage to electronic equipment could occur should power be cut off while computers are rebooting.   Report power outages as soon as possible to the MIS/TSS support desk at 619-725-7500. If an outage is widespread, the support desk lines are likely to be very busy and might not be answered. In such cases, a voice message will suffice.
 
Bruce A. Husson 
Senior Assistant to the Superintendent 
For Technology and Special Projects
APPROVED:

Terrance L. Smith 
Chief of Staff   

BAH:dac  

Distribution: Lists A, C, D, E, and F