Students arrived as scheduled this morning at Bowie High School to find doors locked and half of the building without power.

The first floor of the building has power and the second floor does not, according to Prince George’s County School (PGCPS) Board Chair Verjeana Jacobs. The administration initially made the decision that school would operate as scheduled today.

Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) is on the scene and trying to get power restored to the school, but because they were unable to given an estimated time of restoration, PGCPS made the call to let students out at 12:20 p.m. today.

According to Jacobs, this is a new outage and the board was unaware of it prior to the start of school. Students on the first floor are in classrooms, while students with classes on the second floor have been relocated to the cafeteria, according to Jacobs.

Some kids began calling parents asking to be picked up, but Jacobs said students should stay in the school.

“Kids are not to leave the building," Jacobs said.

Patch reached out to PGCPS early this morning to ask about a possible outage was told by spokesman Briant Coleman that it was a rumor.

Junior Kaitlin McClure messaged Bowie Patch that students were locked out of the building this morning until 7:40 a.m. and did not go inside until 8:15 a.m. Classes usually begin at 7:45 a.m.

Although classes have been cancelled this afternoon, students should remain on campus until dismissal time at 12:20 p.m.