By Hannah Parker
Online News Editor
Mira Costa High School furthered the progress of finalizing the evacuation procedure by practicing the bomb threat evacuation plan on Wednesday during first and second periods.
After a number of threats throughout December and January, Costa administration made the decision to conduct a drill for a future threat, lead by Costa Vice Principal Jon Shaw.
After meeting with the Safety Committee, a voluntary organization of 25 staff members that works towards improving campus security, administration solidified the new evacuation plan specific to a bomb threat in a 26-page guide distributed to teachers and staff. According to Shaw, a new packet will be distributed to teachers shortly.
“Although I’ve lost count how many times administration has convened with the Safety Committee, we have been doing so in order to receive student, teacher, and facility feedback pertaining to the threats and evacuation,” Shaw said. “The staff and students all acted calmly and I would consider the overall drill a success.”
The bomb threat evacuation threat plan designates classrooms to three evacuation sites on campus, the junior varsity softball field, baseball field and the football field. According to Costa principal Dr. Ben Dale, the specific designation for evacuation sites is done in order to prevent congestion and increase accountability for student’s whereabouts.
“The whole school is involved in the process,” Chair of the Safety Committee Ian Uhalt said. “The purpose of the drill is to ensure that staff knows what to do in the case of a threat. The drill is a reaction to our situation and by repeating it, we try to improve our reaction.”
Administrators were posted to all three of the evacuation sites. Additionally, teachers and counselors without a class were designated as runners, a role entailing them to alphabetically coordinate the movements of students who were theoretically going to walk home, be picked up, or be driven home from campus.
“I think our next step is just getting accustomed to the evacuation plan,” Shaw said. “Knowing where to meet, where to line up, what group is egressing, and who to follow are just some of the aspects of the plan we need to review in order to improve.”
The Manhattan Beach Police Department relayed to administration that students should only be aloud to use their cellphones once they are 300 feet away in the from campus buildings in the case of a bomb threat. Additionally, students will only be aloud to carryout their keys and phones in the case.
“This cellphone regulation is emplaced because the usage of cellphones can lead to a bomb being triggered or could jam information sharing between MBPD and Costa,” Shaw said. “We want students to leave their classrooms with the least amount of personnel properties to ensure the safety of the students.”
According to Dale, administration is considering instructing students on safety measures in the case of a bomb threat. Following the first threat, teachers have been inviting MBPD School Resource Officer Jon Loy to their classrooms for the day to teach students the proper measures needed to be taken if there were to be a threat.
“I am unsure if class time should be spent on non class related work school wide because that’s a lot of instructional hours lost for students,” Dale said. “Although my position might be wildly unpopular, the drill is simply to listen and follow your teacher.”
Immeadly after the drill, the safety leadership committee met and made small adjustments to finalize the evacuation plan. A bomb threat evacuation will now be part of one of the five drills that Costa regularly practices. According to Uhalt, another drill will occur in April.
“We try not to look at a drill as either a success or a failure, but rather continuous progress towards improvement,” Dale said. “We have been drilling before we received the threats and we will continue to do so. We continue to repeat the drill not because the last was bad, but because we only want to get better and better.”
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