With spring right around the corner, storm season comes with it. With Missouri getting a lot of severe weather during this time of year, the City of St. Louis Emergency Management Association (CEMA) held a Severe Weather Awareness Week from March 2-6.
To help prepare for severe weather in the case of needing shelter, Liberty goes through a certain amount of drills each year so students and staff are prepared. During first semester, there are three fire drills, one tornado drill, and one earthquake drill. During second semester, there will be two fire drills, one earthquake drill, and one tornado drill.
“I think of school safety drills as ‘practice games’ that train your brain to stay calm and move fast when it actually counts,” assistant principal Stanton Schumacher said, who manages the school’s required drill schedule. “If you treat fire or tornado drills like a joke, you lose the chance to build the muscle memory needed to stay safe during a real emergency. Taking them seriously means you’ll know exactly what to do later by having a plan.”
Missouri is considered to be in the heart of tornado alley, meaning residents need to be prepared to take shelter if severe weather is possible. The CEMA encourages residents to check emergency kits, or start one if one is not already made.
Here at Liberty, staff is notified about severe weather by an alarm radio in the main office, as well as our SRO being in contact with his radio about concerns.
While there weren’t any bad storms during school last year, in past years, there have been bad storms, causing schools to have to shelter. During the 2022-23 school year, there was a tornado that caused schools to take shelter for almost an hour.
“I remember at the beginning of class there was a huge storm and then the sirens went off and everybody was freaking out,” Jamie West (10) said. “We got in a line and we were all in the stairs, everybody was in there so it was super crowded, and like, scary. We were there for a while and everybody thought it would last the whole day.”
Moments like this are why it is important to have drills and be prepared in case of an emergency. Without having drills and practice of what to do during severe weather events, it can make stressful situations that much worse by not being prepared.
