Classes were disrupted by an unexpected alarm at Wrangell High School and Stikine Middle School the morning of Monday, Feb. 4. Superintendent Debbe Lancaster said that alarms were triggered at 9:50 a.m. According to a press release from the school district, the alarms were triggered after one of the school’s heaters malfunctioned due to a water leak. As this was not a planned drill, Lancaster said, the schools were evacuated. Everybody waited in the gym of Evergreen Elementary for the all-clear signal.
The fire and police departments checked the school room by room, and said the school was safe within half an hour. Classes resumed around 10:40 a.m., according to the news release. Both staff members and students were very calm and well behaved during the fiasco, she added.
“It [the evacuation] didn’t last that long,” she said. “Everybody worked together, all the staff.”
Secondary School Principal David Macri said that a student assembly was organized after the kids were all brought back to the high school to congratulate them on handling the situation so well and to explain what set off the alarms. It was impressive, he said, that the whole school could be evacuated in roughly two minutes. They have held several evacuation drills through the year, he added, which has been helpful.
“We evacuated the building, took the kids to another site, and got them all back in about 47 minutes,” Macri said. “The joint effort of the community and the school district to form a crisis management plan paid off.”
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