The new approach to drills is designed to avoid chaotic hallways and stairwells.
On Friday, August 25, Watauga High School introduced its updated procedure for fire drills in an effort to ensure safety for students, faculty, and staff. For as long as current students remember, the fire drill experience has been a fairly casual one. The fire alarm rang, students headed out the closest door with their class, and classes grouped together outside to socialize or simply wait to re-enter the building.
New Assistant Principal Ashley Winkler met with Scott Strickler, new Head Principal, at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year to discuss ideas for a safer fire drill plan.
“We are trying to make sure we have the safest procedures possible for fire drills, for lock down drills, for all the drills,” said Winkler. “But fire drills happen once a month, so we wanted to make sure we started there.”
She summarized what drills will look like this year. Classes will stay together as they head to the parking lot with their teacher.
“Teachers will hold up a red or green card depending on whether they have all of the students they’re supposed to have [once they leave the building],” Winkler said. “If teachers are missing a student, that’s something we want to correct, because we want to make sure everyone has exited the building.”
Additionally, classes will receive specific instruction about the location in which they should stand to take class roll. All locations will be clear of the theoretical path of fire trucks and emergency vehicles. According to Ms. Winkler, there may be slight adjustments as to where classes must stand moving forward, but students shouldn’t expect major changes.
Class locations will be carefully determined using professional input. On Friday, a safety team from the town of Boone, including a Fire Marshall, attended the drill to observe and advise.
“I was able to walk around the building with the Fire Marshall and talk one-on-one with him,” Winkler said.
School administrators will use the input to determine how to provide the safest conditions for emergency responders to arrive to in the case of a fire. Some students wondered what the consequences would look like for their peers who aren’t in the correct location, causing their teacher to raise a red card.
“We’re still working on what we want our procedures to be. Of course, the first focus is to make sure students are safe,” said Winkler, addressing the concerns. “I do foresee some discussion as an admin team about whether or not there need to be consequences if students are out of place.”
However, Ms. Winkler pointed out that not all students in the wrong location are intentionally ignoring instructions. Some may be in the restroom or hallway when the drill begins, or unintentionally lose track of their classmates.
Despite the adjustment, students were largely understanding of administration’s efforts to improve the drill process.
“I like it, as far as a safety perspective,” said senior JB Harris. “I thought it all went pretty smoothly.”
Many students, however, questioned the change in protocol and its intended purpose. Sydney Moretz, a sophomore, said that she thought the drill was executed well, but may have still caused some dissatisfaction among her classmates.
“I don’t know that everyone was super happy about it,” Moretz said. She believes many students liked getting to go out and “make a big mob of people.”
Ms. Winkler emphasized that above all, her team values the safety of Watauga students. Their goal isn’t to cause an inconvenience, but rather to protect everyone who learns and works at Watauga High School.
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