Schools taking longer breaks for Y2K precaution

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- Some Oklahoma schools are scheduling more holiday time off for students in case of Y-2-K computer bugs. Holdenville Superintendent Andrew Young says his schools will return from

Wednesday, December 1st 1999, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- Some Oklahoma schools are scheduling more holiday time off for students in case of Y-2-K computer bugs. Holdenville Superintendent Andrew Young says his schools will return from the Christmas break on January tenth instead of January third.

Young says the extended holiday is a precaution in case any computer problems crop up that need to be resolved before students return. Other Oklahoma schools have scheduled an extra day or two off as well in case computer glitches cause heating systems to malfunction or cause appliances to be inoperable. Y2K stands for the year 2000.

The problem stems from computer dates being kept in two digits. Older computers and their programs might read two zeros as the year 1900 instead of the year 2000 and malfunction as a result. A federal report says thousands of U-S schools could be forced to remain closed because of Y2K computer problems