Wichita's boil water advisory canceled classes at all late-start elementary schools in USD 259 on Wednesday, Sept. 16, and forced four surrounding districts into emergency workarounds to keep students safe and fed.

The advisory affects about 500,000 water customers in Wichita and surrounding communities, KWCH reported.

USD 259 shut down every elementary school with a 9 a.m. start, according to a district press release. Schools already in session and secondary schools with 9 a.m. starts continued as normal, with the district providing bottled water and food. The district also canceled afternoon pre-kindergarten, latchkey, all athletic practices and all athletic activities hosted on district property, KWCH reported separately. The district said it was evaluating out-of-district athletic events case by case.

USD 259 had not announced whether cancellations would continue Thursday, Sept. 17. The district said that decision would come "when more information is available."

Andover, Derby and Goddard all kept schools open but adapted operations in different ways.

Andover Public Schools (USD 385) turned off every water fountain and water bottle filler, emptied and drained ice machines, and switched to disposable styrofoam trays at lunch to reduce dishwashing, according to a district news update. Kitchen staff stayed on duty to boil and refrigerate water, sanitizing utensils per Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) guidance. By 1 p.m. Wednesday, the district said it had secured enough purchased water and donations from nearby districts outside the boil zone to proceed with after-school activities, including sports practices.

Derby Public Schools (USD 260) planned to hold classes both Wednesday and Thursday while the advisory remains in effect, the district said in a Facebook post. Derby expected the advisory to affect operations for at least 48 hours and distributed bottled water to all schools. The district canceled after-school activities Wednesday except for Latchkey, Boys & Girls Club and OAC services, the Derby Informer reported. Families were asked to send children with extra bottled water Thursday to supplement the supply.

At one Derby school, assistant principal Cheryl Parks helped distribute water to students. "For now, we have water bottles provided for the students who don't have filtered water so we can keep all our students hydrated," Parks told the Panther's Tale, a school publication. More than 50 cases of water were delivered to that building alone.

Goddard Public Schools identified four affected campuses: Eisenhower High School, Eisenhower Middle School, Apollo Elementary School and Explorer Elementary School. All four stayed open. Nutrition services staff planned to boil water before use, water bottles were distributed throughout the day and drinking fountains were shut off, according to a district press release reported by the Wichita Eagle.

Maize USD 266 said its Maize South schools would follow the boil order, KAKE reported. No additional detail on Maize operations was available.

The advisory traces to a power outage around 5 a.m. Wednesday at Wichita's water treatment plant, which caused a loss of water pressure across parts of the city. The plant is more than 80 years old. KDHE must collect samples from 195 testing stations and wait 24 hours for lab results, meaning safe tap water is unlikely before Thursday afternoon at the earliest, according to KWCH.

Derby has committed to holding classes Thursday, Sept. 17. USD 259's decision is still pending.