The new system
Yesterday we had our first instance of a school emergency. Since it was the first time it happened with our new system, many students were confused about what was happening. In my room, I wouldn’t have noticed the flashing lights if the other students hadn’t said something. The light flashing that day was a purple light which, after a few minutes of confusion, Mr. Thomas announced there was a student having a medical emergency and there was no need for mass panic/hysteria. Then after another few minutes the purple lights stopped flashing and we were able to leave the room again because the emergency was resolved. But this brought forward to a big problem, people didn’t know which emergency the light meant and some didn’t even realise there was an emergency until other students noticed.
What each light means
There are a total of 5 different emergencies that can be communicated with different colors through our system.
Purple– Means to not leave the room for the bathroom or to go to your next class. This is some sort of emergency where students in the halls will only worsen the situation. There shouldn’t be any reason to feel anxious or scared, it will be over eventually. It is called a “hold”.
Blue– There is an emergency outside the school where it would be dangerous to have open windows, unlocked doors, or people wanting to enter. Every door would be locked, you also might not be able to use the bathroom because they don’t want students in the halls. As an example, last year there was someone at the school when they shouldn’t have been there so we went into “secure” for a couple hours, then we were dismissed early. During it we weren’t able to leave class and a lot of students needed to use the bathroom. So nature called and they went into a closet and peed into a trashcan. Other examples where we could go into “secure” is a gun robbery nearby or a chemical spill. Anything dangerous outside that is close.
Green– When we have to quickly leave the building for a real emergency the lights will flash green. This can be because a boiler might explode, maybe a fire, or any other reasons it wouldn’t be safe inside. They might send us to a different, safer location so that we aren’t in any danger. For normal things like fire drills they won’t turn on the lights, it’ll only be used in a real situation just like the rest. It’ll just be a simple evacuation.
Orange– This goes hand and hand with evacuation where if we need to leave the building we might need a shelter to go into. Later this year we will most likely practice this with leaving the school and heading over to the shelter. We will stay there until the emergency is resolved and might be dismissed early.
Red– The serious and most dangerous one, lockdown. This means there is a real threat in/around the school and we have to either get out, or hide.
In every light teachers will help direct you for what you need to do, if you or the teacher can’t figure out what the light means there should be a laminated paper with what they mean. It might be located near your teacher’s door. For red, you will not get in trouble for wanting to run away if you think it would be safer. The sheet says to hide, but we all know it would be better to get out than to sit and wait. All lights will be accompanied with emergency response (Ambulance, police, firefighters).
Some suggestions
I think the different colored lights are good, but there should be a louder sound to go along with it. There was the quietest beep that was going off and only a class taking a test would notice it. There should be a louder noise with the light so that students can notice and recognize we are in an emergency immediately. Also, it should override the “freeze” thing on smart boards so it shows up in front of the class.
After a class meeting I asked why the beeping was so quiet for the recent classroom hold? Bourdeau said something along the lines of since there was no real emergency it isn’t necessary for a loud beeping noise because after more than a few minutes it would become repetitive and annoying for an extended period of time compared to the quiet beeping. This makes a lot of sense to me because if it was a louder noise then people would be thinking we are in a real emergency instead of just a hold.
Review
Purple and blue means that we stay in either the classroom or school, there is no present danger. Orange and Green mean there is something happening within the school and it’s safer to leave to another shelter. Red means there is a real and present danger where you need to run or hide.
