California holds a state-wide earthquake drill every October. (You know how much I love those drills.) Of course the schools participate.
The drill was scheduled for 10:18 AM, which put it about five minutes into third period (after they adjusted the bell schedule for the day. On a normal day, the students are out of class at "snack" at that time).
Right after getting to school that morning, I found the evacuation folder, so I was good to go. Not looking forward to it, but good to go.
We were about halfway into first period (so, roughly 8:30) when the fire alarm rang. Seriously?
But this is not the school where we ignore those bells, so we had to evacuate. Ugh.
Alas, the students weren't evacuating. They were cleaning up.
The ceramics class has some strict instructions as to cleaning up. They put away their projects into cubby holes. Then they have to wipe down their tables and sweep up underneath. They even dry off the tables after wiping them down.
They were halfway into this process when I realized they weren't leaving. Those bells don't ask us to evacuate unless something has gone wrong, so I urged them, just leave it and go. If it was a minor thing, we'd be back and they'd have time to clean up. If it was something bad, it was best to get out as quickly as possible.
By the time I got them out and we were halfway to the staging area, the bells rang to release us back to class.
They still had twenty or so minutes of class. Did they get back to their projects? Of course not. Nope, they were halfway cleaned up, so they finished and sat. Sigh.
Then we got to do it all again two periods later. But in this case, they didn't start their projects as we knew we'd be evacuating. (They worked after we got back.)
Any other day that first evacuation would have been enough. But at least I got a good walk in that day.
It used to be that I would have feared a natural catastrophe like an earthquake or a fire in a school building. But if I had your job, I think I'd be terrified of a shooting. Do you have drills for those?
ReplyDeleteI work in NYC, in an office building with over 40 floors. We used to do fire drills. Now we do fire/shelter in place/active shooter drills.
ReplyDeleteTimes have changed...
DeleteIt seems odd that they would "plan" two drills for the same day, especially how disruptive they can be. Would make it hard for everyone to settle back down after them.
ReplyDeletebetty
Oh jeez.
ReplyDeleteMy sentiments exactly. With one drill.
DeleteI think they planned that.
ReplyDeleteThat's the thing about the drills. They know there's no real urgency.
ReplyDeleteMan *shakes head* I'm glad they do the drills but yeah double whammy that day
ReplyDeleteI mean, if you're going to have an emergency, can't we plan it for a day other than the one where the drill is planned? That'd be so helpful...
DeleteI wonder what set the alarm off the first time? At the Barbarians school recently they were scheduled to have a practice fire drill and thanks to a faulty alarm the system went off in first lesson - so they cancelled the drill which had been scheduled for later in the day.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how the students preferred to clean up their stations than save themselves. I wonder if they knew the reason for the sudden fire drill.
ReplyDeleteLock downs drills are the worst because the kids all act up and scream instead of being quiet. Or worse some of them think it's real and start crying and panicking.
ReplyDeleteThey never take drills seriously. Sigh. I mean, I get it. They don't realize how much these help if the unthinkable occurs.
Delete'A good walk'. ~snicker~ Good way to think of the inconvenience.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I call it when I have to run up to the main office for something they forgot to give me, too.
DeleteOh my. So what? They had a 20 minute free period? At least they cleaned up…
ReplyDeleteThey weren't supposed to...
DeleteI understand why we have to have them, but the evacuation drills are so no annoying.
ReplyDeleteYup. And it seems like I'm hitting every one. Sigh.
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