ATTLEBORO - Bishop Feehan High School has cancelled all classes on Wednesday because of an electrical problem in decades-old wires that has forced power to get shut off inside the city parochial school.

A Bishop Feehan boys basketball game against Bishop Stang that was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. also has been cancelled due to the power problems.

The problems are being attributed to an electrical wire getting damaged by an animal, Feehan Principal Bill Runey told The Sun Chronicle in a phone interview. It will take 20 to 24 hours to obtain replacement parts because the damaged wiring dates back to the 1960s, Runey said.

"In our opinion, we couldn't provide the best environment for the kids and for the teachers, so we decided to postpone," he said.

Runey did not rule out the possibility that school could be cancelled Thursday, as well. "I'm keeping my fingers crossed at this point," he said. He advised parents to check the bishopfeehan.com Web site for updates. Power first went out in parts of the school building around 10:30 a.m. when the school lost electricity from one of three electric feeds that bring power in from city utility lines.

The power outage's impact was spotty, with lights on but computers off in some places. "We had partial power. We limped along," Runey said. Around 1:30 p.m., power went off throughout the main building. Generators have been turned on to keep the pipes from freezing, he said.

The principal praised National Grid technicians for their quick response to the problem.

Feehan senior Nick Denho, 17, of Attleboro, said he first noticed a problem when lights started flickering in the cafeteria around 10 a.m. Power stayed on but computers went off in the library around 1:30 when electricity went out in the main building, Danho said.

Not surprisingly, Danho said students were elated at the surprise vacation.

"When they announced it at 2:10, that there would be no school tomorrow, everyone started yelling - and this was right in the library, and the librarians didn't even care," he said.

Danho added, referring to the outage's apparent cause: "If you could praise that animal for all the students, we would appreciate that."

Runey said the missed school day "will be made up at some point," though he has not yet decided when to do so.