Disaster drills prepare kids for emergencies
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VALLEY VIEW — Students and teachers poured out of the school building, running as fast as they could, zigzagging in all directions across the rainy, puddle-dotted playground.
This isn’t usual school behavior, but it was on June 1 when Allen Bone came to Valley View School to work with students on disaster drills.
Bone, a consultant for Safer Schools, had just talked the kids through what to do if an armed intruder entered the rural school.
Bone, aided by teachers Wendy Lobdell and Carol Madden and student teacher Vanessa Sanchez, asked them to remember three steps.
First, he said, run away from the person. If you can’t run, second, barricade the classroom door; and third, fight.
“If he comes in the front door, run out the other door,” Bone said, although he said armed intruders aren’t always male. “Go outside and run in all directions and find someplace on the school grounds to get out of sight. If he can’t see you, he can’t shoot you.”
If an intruder tries to get in the door, Bone recommended barricading the door by pushing desks and filing cabinets against the doors. Then kids and teachers should run out the other door or barricade both doors and escape through the windows.
Making sure all the kids, especially smaller students, knew he was a “good guy,” Bone said he would pretend to be a bad guy so they could practice.
As the children scattered, Bone and the teachers called out words of encouragement, telling people to hide, and congratulating a student for picking up another student’s shoe and returning it to the barefoot kid.
Bone refreshed the kids’ memories about earthquakes and fires, too.
If there is a fire or a fire drill, “You push in your chair and line up,” said student Trapper McAllister, adding that teachers do head counts before and after the kids exit the building.
If each student pushes in his or her chair, other kids aren’t likely to trip on it.
For an earthquake, “You don’t want to be by a window,” said student Alexys Orien.
“Drop, cover and hold on,” classmate Kayleigh Gilmore added.
Both girls said climbing under a desk and covering your head with your arms is good procedure.
All these procedures are in the new safety plan for the rural, two-room schoolhouse southeast of Polson in the middle of farmland.
“Allen helped us draft our safety plan because we’re different from most schools,” Madden said. “The safety plan is specific to our location.”
