Students and teachers filed out to the football field Tuesday for Paly’s first emergency drill of the 2006 school year.
According to assistant principal Chuck Merritt, the drill went well, and exposed some of the weaknesses in the system.
A simple bell announced the beginning of the drill instead of the usual alarm or PA evacuation instructions. Merritt said there was supposed to be an announcement over the PA giving explicit instructions for students to walk to the football field and meet with their fourth period teachers. However, for some reason the announcement did not go through. Secretary to the principal Carolyn Benfield, who was responsible for making the announcement, said she must have entered a wrong number into the system.
Merritt said another minor issue was that there was confusion as to who from the search and rescue team is responsible for checking the theater.
There was also some communication issues out on the field. Once students meet with their fourth period teachers, the teachers are supposed to take role and send it to the middle of the field so that administrators can account for any absences.
"A lot of teachers did not know to send the role sheets to the center of the field," Merritt said. But apart from that, Merritt considered the drill a success.
"The evacuation was really good and quick," Merritt said.
To many students, today’s drill and procedures were nothing new. The speed may be a result of the extensive practice all except for the incoming freshmen had last school year. Last year’s plague of false alarms has apparently been fixed. Merritt attributes the numerous alarm-system malfunctions of last year partially to the district alarm specialist’s leave of absence. But Merritt says that he has returned this year and fixed many of the problems.
The drill was originally scheduled to take place last Thursday, coinciding with disaster drills at all the other schools in the district. According to Merritt, the Paly administration asked permission to postpone it until today because of scheduling issues.
"The goal of the drill is for people to learn what they are supposed to do in a crisis," attendance specialist Ann Deggelman said.
Deggelman says students should expect to have another drill next semester.