Governor urges tornado drills for elementary, secondary schools

Gov. Matt Blunt wants Missouri's elementary and secondary schools to hold tornado drills over the next two weeks to teach students how best to protect themselves from the dangers of powerful spring storms.

Area school officials and a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education say schools hold several emergency drills during the course of a school year and that a March tornado drill is common.

Missouri schools typically take part in the statewide tornado drill that's held each March, said DESE spokesman Jim Morris. This year's drill is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Area school districts say they'll participate again this year.

"We have historically done that," said Jackson schools superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson.

Southeast Missouri State University and the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson will sound their outdoor warning sirens as part of the exercise, said Jackson fire chief Brad Golden.

State law requires school districts in earthquake zones, including those in Southeast Missouri, to hold two earthquake drills each school year. But Missouri has no statutory requirements regarding tornado, fire and intruder drills, DESE's Morris said.

But DESE, as part of its accreditation regulations, requires school district to have safety procedures and emergency response plans, including drills for fire, tornado, earthquake and intruder.

"But when and how many is not dictated by us," Morris said.

Blunt's call for tornado drills follows last week's deadly tornadoes, which killed eight people in Alabama and Missouri, including five at an Alabama high school where a storm collapsed the roof.

"Timing is everything," Morris said of the governor's push for tornado drills.

"It never hurts to be reminded to take this threat seriously," he said. "In years past, we have had some Missouri schools and communities get hammered with tornadoes."

Students and school staff need to be reminded that the threat is real, Morris said.

"We always think that it is somebody else who is going to be hit by a tornado, not us," he said.

Jackson and Cape Girardeau public schools hold tornado, fire, earthquake and intruder drills at least once a semester as recommended by the Missouri School Boards' Association, local officials say.

But building principals can hold more drills if they feel they are warranted, local school officials said.

The Scott City School District initiated quarterly emergency drills this school year. "In the past, we have always done it once in the fall and once in the spring," said Scott City Elementary School principal Courtney Kern.

But district officials put greater emphasis on emergency drills this school year. "We went through and updated all of our emergency procedures," Kern said.

Teachers have binders in their classrooms spelling out emergency procedures in order to have consistency throughout the elementary and secondary schools campus.

"You see teachers walking around with emergency manuals now," she said.

The tornado that struck Caruthersville, Mo., last year and the one that swept through Alabama last week showed the destruction that can hit schools, Kern said.

Students, Kern said, benefit from having to do a particular drill four times in a school year. "When you do it only twice a year, they don't remember it," she said.

In the Cape Girardeau school system, principals are encouraged to hold surprise drills in an effort to spot any "glitches," said Fred Jones, the part-time safety coordinator for the district.

Sydney Herbst, principal at Clippard Elementary School, said her school does a couple tornado drills in the fall and again the spring, as well as fire, earthquake and intruder drills.

"We go in the hallway," Herbst said of her school's tornado drills. "We practice to make sure everybody fits where they are asked to go," she said.

Building principals can decide when to hold emergency drills, except in the case of the statewide tornado drill, Herbst said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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