Students generally don’t think about the intricate workings of the school’s building, nor the logistics it takes to maintain such a system. 
However, like any building, Blue Valley constantly needs updates to keep everything running smoothly.
This summer, the main switch gear for the building, a unit that controls the electricity in the school — in the same function as main electrical boxes do for houses — was replaced to ensure BV had reliable power.
“We were afraid that if this switch would have opened and turned the power off to the school, we would not be able to get the power back on,” BV District Maintenance Coordinator Richard Heusman said.
The new unit performs the same job as the old one, but it has a different design. As opposed to the old unit’s use of fuses, the new installation operates with thermal overload breakers.
Heusman said the main reason for replacing the main switch gear was the old unit’s untrustworthiness, so the replacement won’t affect students or staff much. 
As the old unit wasn’t the source of BV’s almost-yearly power outages, the new unit can’t fix those annual issues.
“The power problems have all been with [Kansas City Power and Light Company] and not with the internal equipment in the building,” Heusman said.