The entire city lost power today at approximately 7:54 a.m., after a small airplane from the Palo Alto airport crashed into an electrical tower and damaged two houses and a daycare center.

The outage took the school by surprise, leaving lessons in disarray. Administrators walked from classroom to classroom, instructing teachers to proceed with class as much as possible and to continue marking students absent where appropriate.

Administrators said that business would continue as usual despite the power outage.

“We can’t do anything about the situation,” Assistant Principal Kim Diorio said. “Everything runs on electricity.”

According to Diorio, the City of Palo Alto asked residents to conserve water.

Assistant Principal Todd Feinberg said that administrators are working to help teachers alter class plans to accomodate the blackout.

“We’re making arrangements for teachers who need alternate settings, such as Ron Williamson’s class, which was relocated to the student center,” Feinberg said. “We’re working with the district office and food services on student lunches.”

But with computers, projectors, and other instructional tools temporarily non-functional, students and teachers alike were at a loss for activities.

“I think it’s kind of useless to come to school and not be able to do very much because there are limited resources,” senior Claire Skrabutenas said, “but if the lights are back on in the next few hours, it would be OK.”

However, some students took the outage as an opportunity for relaxation and individual study time.

“It’s actually good for me because I didn’t do my math homework and now I can do it without worrying,” said junior Emily Benatar.