8/22/08

Not QUITE as we had planned!

With the start of a new school year, our Principal has started the planned run through of the emergency drills. So far we have had the bus evacuation and next on the list is the fire drill and a little later the tornado drill.

Seeing as she & I are the ones that would activate the drills, I was somewhat taken aback as I left my office for the lunch count and had just put a foot inside the school building, when the fire alarm blared into life!! Stunned I hurriedly retraced my steps across the yard and into my office, lights flashing, sirens blaring and rushed to the phone to call 911.

I could see the children streaming across the 'car park' and I had a call coming in from the kitchen, which immediately made me think 'oh crap it's real'. But our head cook was calling to tell me it was a false alarm; one of the tiny tots in Headstart had somehow managed to pull the fire alarm handle in the cafeteria!!

So I called the city office to let them know we were okay and didn't need the firemen (dang it - no men in uniform being macho!)) and then headed down to the cafeteria. All the students and staff had removed themselves immaculately from the building to the rosta point (sneaky BWOTD = emergency meeting point) and were waiting patiently for further instruction. And of course this was not the planned drill, so that part was very encouraging.

The sirens were deafening in the cafeteria and our Principal was working on getting the alarm reset quickly, as we were now running into lunchtime. Within minutes things returned to normal and lunch was served.

Later as she hurried by, my Principal said her first thought was did Sarah just go ahead and run the fire drill!! I thought it was pretty funny at the time, but on reflection maybe I need to be a little bit less efficient if she thinks I'd just do that on my own!

Ah well, once again I find myself thinking TGIF :-)
P.S The Bandaid count is now 12 in 7!

9 comments:

Mary (Bookfan) said...

I'm glad it wasn't the real thing. Thanks for the laugh!

Teresa said...

So glad all was well, in the end. You might want to take that camera of your to school with you. Taking photos of the kids might be a concern for the parents, but it looks like the incidentals that happen (potential firemen, etc.) might be worth having it on hand.

Sherri said...

So glad it wasn't real, but I guess you got your fire alarm drill in!

Pam said...

OMG, never a dull moment, eh! You are going to have to put a bandaid ticker on your page somewhere!!!

Anonymous said...

Whew! That was exciting. You're a good writer, my Brit' friend. Chin up, the weekend's ahead.~~Dee

Julie said...

Nothing like a thrilling start to the school year! I hated drills when I was younger! I blame them for my anxiety about natural disasters.

Daryl said...

OH MY.

last week a friend dropped her cellphone and it somehow dialed 911 ... the police arrived and she was SO embarrassed .. they said no problem, better to be safe than sorry

:-Daryl

Kay said...

Ahhhh... it brings back memories of school life! I loved it so much. Thank you for the fun mind pictures.

Rhea said...

OMG, your first week has been crazy!