Guidelines for describing drills to students

• Evacuation drill
• Lockdown drill

Below are guidelines for describing the lockdown drill to students:

Sometimes we have emergencies in the building and sometimes outside the building so we need to practice different ways to make sure we are safe in either situation. Sometimes in an emergency, it is safer for us to leave the building, like in a fire drill. At other times, it is safer for everyone to stay inside their rooms. Our most important goal is to keep everyone safe and protected. Emergencies can take many forms, such as:

• a wild animal running loose in the neighborhood
• an oil spill in the neighborhood
• police or fire emergency in the community
• an unknown person (stranger) in our building
• police looking in the neighborhood for someone who may have broken the law

In each of these types of incidences, our main goal is to keep students in a safe and protected environment.

Just like we practice a fire drill, we are planning to practice a lockdown drill sometime next week.

What happens during a lockdown?

• An announcement is made over the loudspeaker.
• Students remain in the room they are in or go to another room, always following the teacher’s directions.
• All staff will make sure all students are in a safe place.

If you are close to your room (in the hall or project area), come back into your classroom. If you are not close by, a different teacher might bring you to another classroom. Everyone in the building knows how the drill will work.

• All the rooms with doors will be locked, all shades down, lights off and students must remain quiet. Students will all be sitting together on the floor in one safe spot in the room. We will wait quietly so we can hear the directions.
• Someone will come over the loud speaker to announce that the drill is over.

Like other drills we’ve practiced in the past, we are confident that this will be another successful drill at Pierce School.

Below are guidelines for describing the evacuation drill to students:

Sometimes we have emergencies in the building and sometimes outside the building so we need to practice different ways to make sure we are safe in either situation. Sometimes in an emergency, it is safer for us to leave the building, like in a fire drill. At other times, it is safer for everyone to stay inside their rooms. Our most important goal is to keep everyone safe and protected. Emergencies can take many forms, such as:

• a wild animal running loose in the neighborhood
• an oil spill in the neighborhood
• police or fire emergency in the community
• an unknown person (stranger) in our building
• police looking in the neighborhood for someone who may have broken the law

In each of these types of incidences, our main goal is to keep students in a safe and protected environment. Just like we practice a fire drill, we are planning to practice an evacuation drill in the coming weeks. Our evacuation place is the Brookline Main Library, right next to our school.

What happens during an evacuation drill?

• The fire alarm will go off as it usually does in a fire drill.
• Students leave the building quickly and quietly as usual, always following the teacher’s directions.
• All staff will make sure all students leave the building.

If you are not in your classroom, a different teacher might bring you outside. Everyone in the building knows how the drill will work.

• Once we are outside in our usual places for fire drills, a Pierce staff member will let teachers know when we need to begin to move to the Brookline Main Library, our evacuation place.
• Once we arrive to the library and everyone is in their place, and the attendance for every class has been taken, we will wait quietly so we can hear any further directions.
• Someone will come over the loud speaker to announce that the drill is over.

Like other drills we’ve practiced in the past, we are confident that this will be another successful drill at Pierce School.