Principal's Pride Page
Keeping you Informed
"Wake me up when September ends..."
Hello All,
We have now completed our first full week of school. The students have figured out where their classes are, navigated their daily schedules successfully, learned the expectations of the teachers, gotten their Chromebooks (which I am currently using to create this newsletter), and perhaps even received gentle reminders from me regarding hats and large backpacks.
They've also had a ton of fire drills.
For students, fire drills present an opportunity to soak in some of the few remaining moments of good weather. For teachers, they are annual annoyances that disrupt the learning process just as students are getting back into the swing of things. To administrators, they are necessary evils that help prepare the school for emergency situations...but man, do there have to be so many of them?
We have eight fire drills to complete during the first half of the year. That is a tremendous amount of interruption to classroom learning. We do four more in the Spring. This means that by the time a student graduates, they will have completed 156 fire drills. One hundred and fifty-six. Not to overstate the obvious, but that's a lot!
So why do we do it?
The straightforward reason, of course, is to have students and staff fully prepared in the event of a fire. The overall goal, however, is not as apparent.
In general, the more we practice something, the more it becomes habit. Whether it's learning our times tables, catching a ball, or washing our hands, it is important to take things from a state of practice to one of habit. The same can be said for fire drills. We want students to not only be prepared for the predictable situations in the event of an emergency, but we also want them to be prepared in the event of an unpredictable variable or situation as well. What do you do, for example, if the usual exit way is blocked? What if a fire alarm goes off during passing time while students are in the halls? What if it's raining or snowing outside. What then?
One of the reasons for so many drills is so that students create habitual patterns of behavior during emergency situations. From the very beginning of their school careers, students are taught to exit the building in a quick, quiet, and orderly fashion. This same procedure is reinforced during their middle and high school years as well. I have been extremely impressed at how efficiently students are evacuated from the building, which bodes well in the event of an unknown variable.
Because the students have been practicing the habits of remaining quiet and orderly, they are well prepared for any unforeseen circumstance. Communication is of the utmost importance in an emergent situation, and the steps that they have taken to prepare allows for clear and timely communication.
Such a circumstance occurred on September 11th, 2001 in New York City. On that day, over one million school children were attending classes around the metropolitan area when the World Trade Center towers were hit. This was a situation unlike any seen before. The safety coordinator for the New York City school system made the decision that the safest thing to do would be to evacuate all schools. In less than six minutes, over one million students were safely escorted from their schools. How did they do it? What procedure had they practiced over and over again that would allow for the timely and orderly exit of all these students? You guessed it: fire drills.
I urge you to practice the same safety habits at home as well. Have a plan of exit, a shared meeting place in the event of an emergency, and by all means practice, practice, practice.
Thank you for your continued dedication to the success of our students.
YEARBOOK REMINDER:
Yearbooks are on sale at Balfour.com. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Mrs. Liberati, the yearbook adviser.
My New Red Jacket Hat
Displaying Pride
Moon over Shortsville
Mark Your Calendars
- Senior Parent Night is September 22nd starting at 7 PM.
- HS PICTURE DAY HAS CHANGED! It will now take place on September 25th so as not to conflict with Spirit Week.
- Open House is October 6th at 6:30 PM.
Contact Information
Email: Samuel.Martina@redjacket.org
Website: www.redjacket.org
Location: 1506 State Route 21, Shortsville, NY, United States
Phone: (585) 289-3966
Twitter: @RJHSPrincipal