New severe weather drills safer, still being changed

genna danial, print managing editor|September 26, 2014

During the emergency drills today, administration enacted their new plan for severe weather drills. Instead of going to hallways, teachers now

Students sit along the hallway during a severe weather drill. Starting this year, students will now be led into interior classrooms instead of the hallways.
Students sit along the hallway during the severe weather drill. Although all students are now required to be led into interior classrooms, there were multiple cases in which students could not enter their assigned classroom or could not get there in a timely manner.

lead students to interior classrooms.

 

“Unfortunately in Joplin, Missouri, there are some videos that show the hallways becoming wind tunnels during the tornado, which would be extremely dangerous,” Mark Frey, school resource officer, said. “The school admin changed their emergency plan to get them to an interior classroom, which is now deemed safer.”

 

Overall, the drills went well, according to Ryan Rubenstein, assistant principal for student activities and facilities, but there were some minor problems. Administration has already started the process of making changes and encourages feedback from all teachers and students.

 

“This time people were given specific rooms to go to,” Rubenstein said. “It took a bit longer than anticipated, so we’re going to make some changes to ease that. We’re going to give blocks of rooms to go to instead of an individual room.”

 

The drill presented some minor obstacles as some rooms were overcrowded, and some students did not make it into a classroom and had to sit in the hallway.

 

“The teachers might not have gotten the official plan, or hadn’t looked at it closely before leaving, or the numbers were just not working out,” Frey said.

 

Some other problems included upstairs teachers not being able to unlock the interior rooms’ doors and having to wait with their class for

Students wait patiently in a dark classroom for the severe weather drill to finish. Multiple classrooms throughout the building were overcrowded with students during the drill, which is something in need of improvement, according to administration.
Students wait patiently in a dark classroom for the severe weather drill to finish. Multiple classrooms throughout the building were overcrowded with students during the drill, which is something in need of improvement, according to administration.

someone to open it for them.

 

“That is an administrative issue,” Rubenstein said. “We will make sure that all the doors which need to be opened will be opened in the future. I do not plan on switching keys for the teachers though.”

 

In addition to the severe weather drill, the school also practiced hard lockdown and fire drills. Although the drills went relatively smoothly, there are still areas that the administration is working to improve on, according to Frey.


“There are many many other pieces of feedback from teachers and students we would like to investigate a little more. For example, having a lockdown during a passing period or lunch,” Frey said. “Also, [we want to emphasize] that in a crisis situation, communication is an important thing. So if the kids are trying to call out or the parents are trying to call the kids 911, it’ll shut down the system.”