What do schools do when storms hit?

October 27, 2010|By Dustin Grove (grove@wsbt.com)

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY - When the tornado sirens sounded Tuesday morning, students at Granger Christian School went into the hallway and hit the floor.

“We went into tornado mode,” said Administrator Neil Hampton. “Basically when the alarm sounds, we’re going to get into the hallway until we know things are safe.”

Students got into the position they’re required to practice at least twice a semester by state law – kneeling at an inside wall with a book on top of their head.

Theresa Carroll, spokeswoman for Penn Harris Madison Schools, said their emergency plan was executed as well.

“They (students) were in a safe place for quite a while yesterday,” said Carroll. As part of Indiana’s Safety and Emergency Preparedness Rules, schools are also required to submit an emergency plan to the local fire marshal. But school officials say it’s ultimately up to them to put that plan into place when storms hit.

Carroll said their plan calls for evacuating students into their “safe place” when the county tornado sirens are activated.

“We monitored the weather reports and the radio and then gave them the all clear once the warning was lifted,” she said.

Students at Adams High School in South Bend say they did not go into emergency drill mode when the sirens went off.

"They said Adams was a safe enough school we were safe in class and the storm was pretty much going around us," said a student as he left the building Wednesday. “They were all monitoring it - some of the teachers had the news channel on in their classes … if it was really bad I know they would've had us go into the hallways,” he said.

South Bend Community School Corporation spokesperson Sue Coney called the situation a “building-level decision.” She said administrators were monitoring the situation, alerted teachers, but chose not to put the plan into place.

|

|

|