Friday Chaos

Some days...

This past week was Homecoming Week. That meant the game was Friday, the dance was Saturday, and there would be an assembly. Ugh!

I hate assemblies... 

(Although, they were calling it a "rally". It was an assembly.)

They shorten the schedule (the good news) so they can fit the gathering into the school day. My fourth period class was the one I would take. They arrived. I quickly took roll. And I told them to leave behind their backpacks as they would be returning to class after. 

They did not like this idea. 

I found out why when the "rally" was over. Four of the students who were there before the "rally" did not return. Deep sigh. 

(Two girls barely made it to the "rally" in the first place. I saw them arrive about ten minutes before it ended.) 

Of course, I reported those cuts to the attendance office. 

The biggest problem with assembly days is how wound up the students get. And I had the even periods (the more difficult day). 

At least the lesson plan was on point. They had independent work to do, so I didn't have to attempt to get their attention when they weren't going to give it.

But just as things had begun to settle in sixth period...

The fire alarm went off.

This wasn't the school where we ignore such things. 

It was about ten minutes before lunch. 

The students questioned a drill at that time. I told them it wasn't a drill. So, we evacuated. 

And we were about halfway out to the staging area when we got the all clear. 

We had a few minutes before lunch, so of course half the class didn't return. And at that point, I didn't blame them. 

At least eighth period went off without a hitch. (Well, except for them watching Dahmer instead of doing the work. And no, they shouldn't be watching that at school which I argued with them, but they ignored me.)

So, the first week of that assignment is done. Only three more to go.

Not a False Alarm

Friday. I had just parked my car. I hadn't gotten out yet (okay, I was eating the breakfast I had picked up from a drive thru) when I heard the fire alarm blaring. 

I rolled my eyes and kept eating. 

But the alarm continued to blare. That was weird.

This is the school that has the fire alarm that goes off at various times for no reason whatsoever. But that usually happens during the school day, and not for nearly that long. 

As I watched, students arrived for the day. The gates were open, but the students were hovering, not going in.

Did we actually have a fire? 

Eventually, the alarm was silenced. I finished my breakfast and headed in. Students were kind of hovering around, more in clumps than they usually are at the start of a day. 

I asked. Apparently, someone had turned on the heater in their classroom, and it started smoking. 

I checked in. I got keys for the classroom. I headed to the classroom for the day. 

I also heard sirens. I saw a cop car pull up. I didn't see a fire truck, but I assume one arrived. Because later, an announcement was made what we were "all clear". 

And then we went about our day. The "all clear" came through before the first bell had even rung.

That should have been the end of it, but no. The fire alarm went off two more times throughout the day. Because of course.

But this is the school where that happens. The students didn't like the blaring alarms. (I was in special ed, so they were doubly not happy.) But they were false alarms like normal, and we were given the "all clear" quickly. 

I figure the actual alert tripped something making the false alarms happen. While they happen on the regular, we don't usually get two in one day.

Double Drill Day

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.

Two Weeks Later

Remember "More Non-Readers"? I was scheduled to cover the same class. Again, we were on block schedule, so I again had second period for two hours.

Oh, you should have seen the look on their faces when I got there... Priceless. (This is good. It means they know I'll enforce rules. Ernesto groaned. "We won't be allowed to talk.")

The assignment: write book reports for the books they were reading last time.

We went over the book report form. I gave them some time to "discuss". Then, just as I was about to call for silence, the fire alarm went off.

Seriously?

"Fire alarm? We have to evacuate." Ernesto was eager to go. In fact, in less than a minute, the entire class was gone.

I lingered. First, I needed to grab the class roster and the evacuation envelope. Second, most of the classes in my immediate vicinity weren't evacuating. This wasn't the school with the fire alarm glitch, but I recognized the lack of movement. Sure enough, other teachers were urging everyone to get back inside.

(The PA speaker in the classroom was broken. A neighboring teacher told me the "do not evacuate" announcement had been made.)

It wasn't long before kiddos returned. All of them. There's a point when it's obvious that the alarm was false.

Ernesto: "Why are you angry? It wasn't our fault..."

Funny that he would think me angry. At that point, I was just trying to get their attention back so that I could get them back to the task at hand.

At least they got a bit of a break before they had to buckle down and get to work.

False Fire Alarm

The bell to end third period rang. Then it rang again. And again. That's about when it resolved into short bursts...

Oh no! Fire alarm.

At a different school in the district, I'd ignore it. But this was not that school.

As it was passing period, students were walking around. I looked to the neighboring teachers, and they appeared to be evacuating, so I found the class roster and my sunglasses, and I proceeded towards the fields. I got halfway down the building when I ran into the teacher next door heading back.

She talked to another teacher who had called the office. The instruction was do not evacuate. Okay, then, back to class.

Of course, half the student body had done what they're supposed to do and headed out to the field. So, the bell rang to start fourth period, and half the class was missing.

If that's not an excuse to be late, I don't know what is.

*Deep sigh* Mercury retrograde *deep sigh*

On the bright side, it was an advanced math class, so that little adventure didn't wind them up any.

Do Not Evacuate

It was more than halfway through 5th period yesterday. Our video was interrupted by a flashing light and a blaring alarm.

The fire alarm.

I paused the video. And I waited. The rest of the class remained in their seats.

We did not have a fire drill scheduled. At any other school, I would have scrambled to find the class roster. Then I would have started to shoo the kids towards the door. I've been through enough fire drills and actual evacuations (they make us evacuate when we have an earthquake) to know vaguely where to go when this sort of thing happens. (The trick: follow the crowd.)

But not at this school.

The alarm blared for less than 20 seconds, and then it cut out. 30 seconds later we heard the announcement: "Please disregard the fire alarm." I started the video back up.

This sort of thing happens with some regularity. From snippets of conversation and questions I've asked of the office staff, I've gleaned that there is some sort of short or glitch in the fire alarm. It has something to do with the phone system. Anyway, from time to time, nothing in particular triggers the thing, and we're all startled by the flashing light and blaring alarm.

The students have learned to ignore it.

It doesn't happen every day. It doesn't happen as frequently as it used to. But if we evacuated every time the thing went off, we'd be out of class a lot.

If there were an actual fire, the office staff would have to tell us all to evacuate. But then again, when we have an actual evacuation (for earthquakes), we get a confirmation announcement anyway.

Ten minutes later, the fire alarm blared again. This time, I didn't even bother to stop the video.