Evacuations are becoming a new normal at the high school campuses. In one day, there was a bomb threat evacuation at the high school and an evacuation after pipes burst at the senior high. The next week, there was another evacuation at the high school due to smoke in a classroom. As these evacuations become more common, they feel more like a nuisance than an actual threat to the students.
We need students to take these evacuations more seriously. The bomb threat might just have been a threat this time, but we never know when it will be real. After the problem with having to leave behind their backpacks during the bomb threat and not being able to recollect their things for hours, students were more worried about gathering their belongings as the fire alarms rang on Friday than leaving the school.
Neither students nor teachers are told ahead of time if a drill is scheduled for the day. This causes them not to know whether the fire alarms are going off due to a real threat or if it’s just a drill. Some students stayed in their cars, thinking that the bomb threat was just an evacuation drill.
There was also a lack of communication when we arrived at Durham on the day of the bomb threat, as the evacuation occurred right after passing period ended, so not everyone was with their classes. Additionally, the Alliance for Children assembly had been scheduled to happen at the same time, so students were checking in for the assembly, out of their classrooms. Many students were scattered around the intermediate school gym, unable to locate their teachers. There were no announcements about where certain classes were (at least ones that could be heard over the overlapping conversations), and many students didn’t even know that there were classes in the cafeteria.
When it came to what was actually going on, students were not directly updated on the situation, in fact, there were no verbal communications on what the problem was in both evacuations at the high school. Students were left to infer what was going on until the #SafeDragon updates were posted. It could be argued that the administrators didn’t want students to be panicked as it could hinder the progression of the evacuation process; however, withholding information from students caused even greater confusion and worries. If students are uninformed about the situations they are in, they could make it seem like a way bigger, or way smaller, problem.
Administrators need to have more communication with students. There needs to be a clearer distinction between drills and real evacuations, and there needs to be more instruction on where to go if you aren’t with your teacher. Students need to be updated on the situation. These updates don’t have to be specific, but should at least give a general idea of what’s going on. If we implement these changes, evacuations can become more streamlined and effective.
