Natural and man-made disasters are something that everyone fears in today’s modern age, with the warming global and political climate, the threat of something like a nuclear attack, or a natural disaster striking is ever increasing. Students should be glad to know that schools have plans for every possible kind of emergency, even for rudimentary emergencies like fire, tornado, and lockdown regardless of a pandemic.

The pandemic has obviously affected every aspect of everyone’s lives throughout the past year and this is no different. However continuing to run fire, tornado, and lockdown drills still remain of the utmost importance even in the middle of a pandemic so that students can always be prepared in the event of an emergency.

While the procedures for these emergencies remain fundamentally the same, the drills are the most impacted by the pandemic. Due to social distancing protocols, Central has not been able to practice proper drills; therefore, teachers provide information on the drill in question so that students will know what to do.

For fires, when the fire alarm goes off, students are supposed to follow their instructor in a neat and orderly fashion to their designated evacuation area where all students will be accounted for and wait for the building to be deemed safe for re-entry.

In the event that a storm is able to produce a tornado in a location where it poses a threat to the school, students will follow their instructor to an area in the building on the first floor with no windows where it is safest. Students will need to get down on their knees with their head down by the floor, covering their neck with their hands, staying in the position until the storm has passed.

If there is an active shooter in the building or if there is a person in the surrounding area that is armed and dangerous students will need to enter a hard lockdown. This means turning off all the lights, locking the door, covering all windows, and entering a corner of the room where the students will not be visible from the door. Staying there until the threat has passed.

While it’s important to maintain social distancing protocols during drills, in the event of a real emergency that needs to be set aside for the safety of all students regardless of the emergency. 

Assistant Principal Michael Przybylski stated, “If it were a true emergency and we had a shooter or something in the building, yeah, we’re [going to] get in the corner, because we’re [going to] keep kids safe. If that group gets COVID and doesn’t get killed, I’m very happy.”

However in the event of something more severe, say a chemical spill or a nuclear attack where it would not be safe for students to be inside of the building, depending on the situation students will be evacuated from the building and put onto school busses to be brought away from the building.

“We would exit everybody through the back of the building, either through CTE or through the lunch area, and we’d have buses come to the other side, by the tennis courts,” stated Przybylski.

In short, regardless of a pandemic, it is still vital for students to know exactly what to do in the event of an emergency, which is why it’s important to always try and carry out drills regardless of the circumstances, even if that means the teacher reminding their students on the protocols, it’s better than no information at all. Always remember that if you don’t listen to the protocols, it may end up costing someone their life.