MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Whitehaven High School students in south Memphis are getting a two-day break they did not plan for, after a power outage on campus forced the school to close Thursday and Friday.
Memphis-Shelby County Schools said the outage knocked out critical systems across the Whitehaven campus, leaving the building unfit for a normal school day. The district first announced the Thursday closure, then extended it through Friday as the outage dragged on. The school’s chief of communications said Whitehaven would stay closed for the rest of the week.
District officials have not said what caused the outage or when power is expected to be fully restored. MSCS said it will keep families and staff posted as more details become available so families will need to check district notices to learn when students can return to class.
Whitehaven High sits in one of the city’s best-known neighborhoods. The area covers the southern part of Memphis, with Brooks Road and Interstate 55 along its northern edge and the Shelby County line to the south. Whitehaven was its own municipality until Memphis annexed it in 1969, and the high school remains one of the anchors of the community.
The neighborhood is largely Black and middle class, and it is also home to Graceland, the former Elvis Presley estate that brings more than 600,000 visitors to south Memphis each year. Whitehaven High draws its students from the homes and streets that surround that tourist corridor, so the shutdown touches families across the neighborhood.
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