The USD 489 Crisis Committee held their monthly meeting on Oct. 18 to discuss school drills.

The committee consists of administration, staff and teachers throughout the district.

“We meet once a month to talk about drills we have already done,” assistant principal John Linn said. “We will also cover drills we will be doing soon.”

The district wide committee works to create a plan for the entire year, Linn said.

“They throw out different scenarios and ask us what would happen if it were to occur in our building,” Linn said. “They changed the rules for this year.”

Linn said the school is only required to do four fire drills a year, rather than one a month.

“Now we have three tornado drills, and nine crisis drills,” Linn said. “Crisis drills are things like evacuation and lock-down drills.”

The committee works to have a plan for each scenario, such as a bomb threat or a gas leak.

“We do this to keep our school safe,” Linn said. “We want our students and staff to be safe and make sure everyone is on board with what we are trying to do.”

20ahillebrand@usd489.com