Students and staff evacuated to the Paly football field at 9:45 a.m. in the first disaster drill of the 2005-2006 school year. To many, the drill was monotonously familiar. With so much practice last year due to false alarms, evacuation was quick, and the drill ran smoothly.

"We got out really well," Principal Scott Laurence said. "We can get out within five minutes."

According to Laurence, the drill’s purpose was to expose the freshman and new teachers to the procedure the school would follow in a disaster situation and discover any flaws in the system.

"I don’t know if we were all in the right order with the names," said Emily Paugh, a first-year English teacher. "I thought it was organized. All my kids came and they all found the right spot."

From the drill, administrators saw the necessity of developing an easier way to take roll, and the need to repair batteries in the walkie-talkies which enable coordinators to communicate.

"We’re just assessing what we need to do to make [the emergency plan] easier and more successful," Assistant Principal Doug Walker said.

"We wasted five to 10 minutes just trying to take roll," Laurence said.

The school is required to conduct two drills a year. The next drill is going to be a lockdown and will take place in the spring.

Due to repairs over the summer on the alarm system, Laurence expects there to be fewer false alarms than there were last year, which is good news to many who are tired of the disturbances.

"I know the disaster drill is necessary, but it takes away from learning time," junior Molly Kagel said.

Overall, the drill was a success and was largely uneventful.

"I think the drill went really well," Laurence said. "On a scale from one to 10 I would say it was a nine."

Reporters Doreen Bloch, Elena Marinelli and Emily Schickli contributed to this article.