Tornado Drill- READ this post!
Tornado (Drill) Protocol:
This week IS the tornado drill, March 7th. We aren’t going to tell which hour it’ll be as we’d like everyone, all hours, to be prepared. (If you have a child with special needs and having more information for them would be helpful please text me, Jackie – 262-308-5413. Obviously in a real life scenario we’re doing what we have to, but for a drill we can try to be more accommodating.)
There are two tornado safe spaces at Calvary – know which space your class is headed to and how to quickly get there.
Location 1: The kitchen, the bathrooms by the kitchen, and the hallway space between the kitchen and the elevator. Classes headed to Location 1:
Room 121, PreK, Small Gym, Study Hall, Nursery, Room 318
Location 2: The Evidence Room and the hallway space by 151. Classes headed to Location 2:
127, 151, Large gym, 203, 305, 311, 313, 314, Library, Coffee Room
Procedure:
Over the walkie-talkie you will hear “This is a tornado drill, please take your classes to the proper safe tornado location”. As the classes file to their locations there will be a point person at each location checking that the correct classes are there with all their students. Hall monitors and another parent will be “sweeping” their assigned floors – making sure classrooms and bathrooms are empty. They will announce “Third floor clear” via the walkie-talkie. Once floors are clear, and classes and students are all accounted for the tornado drill will be over and all will be dismissed to their classes.
Parents – Prep your children that there will be a tornado drill this coming week. Stress that this is just practice so we know what to do just in case. Stress that they need to have excellent listening and obeying. Our ability to complete this drill quickly will be strongly dependent on the kids’ behavior – being quiet so we can give instructions and listening quickly.
Teachers - Make sure your walkie talkie is on when you get to your room, channel 12. Make sure you know where your tornado location is and the quickest route. Bring students, attendance folder, and walkie-talkie to the assigned location. Keep your students together. The quicker we can do this the quicker we can dismiss back to classes. (Also, I apologize it’ll interrupt your class time – but with 174 people in the building during Enrichment – this is important for us to do. And yes, getting homeschoolers to walk quietly in a line – yikes and good luck! Parents – please prep your children.)
Hall Monitors - sweep assigned floors – Check that rooms and bathrooms are empty. Once clear communicate via the walkie “Third Floor clear”.
Nursery – Linda from the office and at least one other parent will be assigned to the nursery to help with children.
Subs – I’ll let you know as soon as possible what your job will be on Thursday so you can think through your responsibilities ahead of time. (sometimes I just don’t know until last minute).
If you have any questions, concerns please let us know. Let us know what went well and what we can improve on for next time. Your safety committee members are just us, moms, volunteers. I’ve never organized a tornado drill before and I don’t know what I don’t know – so I welcome your input. 262-308-5413.
Thank you and God Bless,
Jackie