Unexpected experience on the coldest day of the year

Yesterday will be a memorable day for my staff and myself for many years to come.

Part way through the morning, I was working with someone from our maintenance team on a classroom that was too cold. It was approximately -35 degrees outside and a classroom was not able to get above 12 degrees. While we were investigating, the fire alarm for the school went off. Normally, in much more pleasant weather, classes would calmly move outside to a safe location, attendance would be taken, and the cause of the alarm would be investigated. But at -35, different considerations need to be taken.

As I ran out of the cold classroom, I saw classes begin to exit their rooms and start to move towards the exits of the building. I started telling teachers and EAs to grab jackets for everyone as it would be unsafe to transport students outside at -35. I promptly went to the fire alarm panel and determined the location of the alarm. Once I discovered it was coming from one corner of the school, made the decision to move all students and staff to the gym.

Once the firefighters arrived, they informed me that we would need all students removed from the building as soon as possible. Busses were contacted and brought to the school to transport students to a nearby school. As busses arrived, we started by moving our youngest students, and moving up to our oldest students.

Once the firefighters had completed a full investigation, we were given the ‘all clear’ and then transported students back to our building. The entire event took approximately 90 minutes from start to finish, and classes resumed for the afternoon.

I had never been in a situation where students were required to be transported off-campus due to an emergency before, or dealing with the evacuation of a school at -35 as well! The biggest takeaway from today for me was how important our safety drills are for our students and staff. When the fire alarm went off, it was clear that everyone knew that they needed to exit the building regardless of the cold outside. When I provided updated instruction, everyone followed it without question. Even though there was anxiety and concern, the plans were trusted, and in the end, everyone remained safe at all times and there was no incident.

As I have reflected on what occurred, I have realized a few things that are important during an event such as this:

• Regardless of how I am feeling, I need to ensure that I maintain a calm and collected composure. As the leader, everyone is looking to me for guidance and my demeanor will impact how others can feel. Me demonstrating calmness will help others remain calm.
• Whenever I had moments of ‘pause’, I ensured to be visible with my students and staff. While they waited in the gym for busses to arrive and transport them, I made sure to have ‘facetime’ with as many as possible. If I am able to maintain that personal connection with my staff and students, they will feel reassured that everything is going to be fine.
• It is important to know who your ‘go-to’ team members are. As we were starting to transport students to the other school, I quickly realized I need a ‘point-person’ at the other location so clear communication could be maintained. This ensured that we knew were everyone was at all times and once everything was resolved, we could communicate to get all students back to our building.
• It is important to have safety protocols updated at all times. When our current safety plan was put into place, it was based around having 4 staff members in the front office (2 admin, 2 administrators). For this school year, we have one administrative assistant, and myself (principal). Reducing our point staff by half has caused a number of holes in our safety plan tasks. It is essential that these roles are all accounted for so nothing is missed.
• Debrief with staff. At the conclusion of the day, I had a meeting with all my staff to go over the events of the day and provide them with a chance to express thoughts, feelings, and anything else to do with the event. Regardless of outcome, it was a traumatic day for many

I am sure that as time moves on, I will have more ‘ah ha’ moments connected to this event and I need to ensure that I take some time to reflect on how I can continue to improve in dealing with similar events.