School Officials Sheltering Children in the Gymnasium

[HAltschule]

I'm usually not quick to blame with things like this before I know the facts, but this just makes me sick. What a horrible tragedy. One of the worst places to put people is a gymnasium or auditorium. Whatever happened to the disaster drills where everyone is supposed to go to the interior hallways and kneel/squat against the walls. For all the times that fire drills and emergencies like this have been practiced (or should have been practiced), someone dropped the ball and is going to have to answer for it.

This is 2007. Knowledge what to do in almost any situation should be preplanned and drilled upon. There is no excuse for the placement of the school kids where they were, if inded they were in an auditorium ro gymnasium.

And to think back as most of us watched this thing tear through that school in real-time on radar is just sad...because there was nothing we could do about it.

 

[Jason McIntosh]

A very sad story indeed for that community. One has to believe that the care of all the students was taken seriously. They apparently had school buses lined up outside to send the kids home early at 1 pm. Well we all know now that the tornado hit just after 1 pm. It's possible if they were in the auditorium it was for the organized transfer to the buses. The storm was moving at 50 mph so there wasn't much time to react. It's sad that as many died with the adequate warning, but it also could have been much worse. I saw an amateur video of part of the tornado and this thing was huge! By the damage pictures and video I believe this is a classic F4. Don't know too much about the new EF system so i'll say F4. In all the eyewitness accounts from the HS I never once heard any blame. The kids and faculty did the best they could to avert a tragedy they never imagined could happen. A sad story, but a learning block for the future.

 

[joel ewing]

Even before I logged on to S.T. just now, my wife and I were watching FOX's report about the school in Alabama that took that direct hit, and I said "geez, even when I was a kid in kindergarten in Lincoln, Nebraska (1960) they had tornado drills...where they made us go to the hallways, sit down and tuck our heads between our knees. (yeah, I know.....KYA Goodbye..lol). Back then, America was in the "Cold War" with Russia, and we also had to do drills for Atomic Bomb attacks. For those, we were told to crawl under our desks and do the same thing that we were told to do in the hallways for tornadoes..lol.
I really like what Jay McCoy mentioned previously. If you've got kids in schools (in the alley) I would call and find out just exactly how they're drilling those kids...how often they're drilling, and who is in charge of those drills. If the school is doing things incorrectly...GET INVOLVED and fix it!! There is probably no one in your kid's school with more tornado knowledge than you...the chaser parent..so utilize your knowledge and become pro-active. Thanks...Joel Ewing / Tucson, Az.

 

[Grady Joslin]

I guess thats whats baffles me the most. Its like they didn't know there was a potential for severe storms. If they did do everything they could, then thats different. But if they played the game of where they ignored such warnings thats what bothers me.

Thats what I was drawing from when I heard the report. I had a bad experience myself with school admins, but thankfully it was only a drill. Thats why everytime someone tells me to listen to an offical, it makes me think twice. Not that they can't do their job, but are they really doing their job or just pushing it aside?

And as for the EF5. Yeah, I may jumped when I heard it, but you did bring up a good point Kevin. I guess when I just heard it, I assumed they were already looking at it.

And as for confusion, I guess I am just having a hard time how everyone always seem to get confused at the last minute. I am not dimissing your claim, not at all. I see it here all the when any significant event happens. I am always asking the lead person "Why are we having so much communication problems when we have radios, phones, internet, and so forth." And its really not even the technology that what stops the confusion. Its the fact of a school staying organize when something like this happens.

You would think (and I am by no means an offical when it comes this type of organization, I'm just speaking from thought), that if a principal is aware of a high risk severe weather situation, that all other concerns are secondary. Watch goes out, you think that principal would start issuing orders to his/her assitants and have them go around the school with two way radios and notfying school via intercom of the situation. Tornado warnings issued a few counties away, would it be a sign to start moving students to safety before it becomes their county?

Then again I am thinking of a highly ideal situation or want to think it works that easy. But with our technology today, with our current knowledge of weather, one would think that something better should have done.

Then again I am still a little frizzled I guess one can say that this happened.

 

[Jay McCoy]

The school officials knew of the high risk today. They had planned on letting school out early so kids could get home bfreos storms hit but it apparently happened earlier than they figured and it was too late to let kids go. Better to keep them in the school than have hundreds of kids walking home or on buses or in private cars when it hits. Frpm what IO heard they were suppose to get out like 2 hrs early but it struck at just after 1pm which is early for "normal" times that tornados strike.

I did hear a witness interview who said not everybody was in the auditorium. Some teaches kept their students in the classrooms, closets, or in hallways when the sirens went off so at least a few teachers knew better than the administrators.

 

[rdale]

"The storm was moving at 50 mph so there wasn't much time to react."

There was plenty of time to react - they had 20 minutes of warning...

 

[Grady Joslin]

If that is the case, then someone should have been listening to the weather reports. Especially with the technology today, television, radio, internet..

I know tornadoes can come without warning. But you would hope someone in schools would have some sort of knowledge of at least basic meterology to at least look out the window and look at the sky if not turn a tv on or something.

I guess its one of those things, growing up around technology and dealing with people who (not that they don't know how to use technology) but doesn't want to use it, I grow tired of people not being connected and knows whats going on around them.

Its one of those things that bugs me when I am at work, not being connected and know whats going on. Nationally, locally, or on the other side of the globe.

Its like today, I use instant message heavily, more than I use a phone. To be honest I feel like I get news faster then I do anything else or at least a heads up. But I run into people I shouldn't use it all the time. Especailly during working hours. I can see why they feel that way. But to be honest with everyone, when I use it at home and do work here, it doesn't slow me down hardly at all. I guess I am saying to me its not more distracting as if someone tapping me on the shoulder asking me a question.

So connecting that to this story, I guess if the person in charge of the safety for that school refused to use any technology because it may been too annoying for them or too much of a hassle, I feel they don't have an excuse.

But giving the benefit of the doubt, if this stom just came up too fast as some news claiming it did, then maybe it just a bad situation all around.

I guess I am looking for someone to point a finger out, because feeling being 21st century, that many lives shouldn't been lost.

 

[rdale]

Again - whatever source said the storm came without warning was dead wrong. I was watching the radar along with monitoring NWS comms on IEMChat. It was well known. You didn't need to know a THING about radar to know a NASTY storm was coming WELL in advance...

 

[Grady Joslin]

I just added without warning just incase someone mentioned it.

As for radar, I am confused. I mean looking at a weather site or turning something on to check on the weather. Or even looking outside. I was hinting around that the ones in charge may have their head burried and just flat out not paying attention. (It's happened at my school a few times. I actually grew nervous when I saw a suprised look on an assitant principal when I asked them if they knew we were under a tornado watch. Talk about un-nerving.)

And I am curious, what is this IEMchat you speak of?

 

[rdale]

IEMChat is software used for instant messaging between TV mets, EM, and NWS.

AP now correcting earlier reports - total of 7 dead in Alabama, 5 at a high school. The 15 reported from this afternoon was wrong, although they are still searching through the rubble.

 

[Bob Schafer]

Rita

I'm going off on a bit of a tangent here, and my feelings won't be hurt if a mod deletes...

On the night Rita made landfall, I was with a group of about a dozen Red Cross volunteers taking care of about 400 evacuees ("clients") at a shelter set up at the DeRidder LA JHS. DeRidder was just about in the path of Rita's eye, but about 90 miles inland.

By about 2AM, I was sleeping on the floor of a small office with no windows. (Most of the clients were asleep in the gymnasium, there were other volunteers on duty who would sleep later in the morning, and I was not neglecting any responsibilities.)

At about 4AM, I was awakened by someone shaking my shoulder. A tornado warning had been issued for our county, and the shelter manager had ordered that everyone get into the GYMNASIUM because of it. So, I obediently went into the gymnasium and tried to wake up a bit. After a few minutes, though, like the guy in the movie "Stripes", I thought "F*** THIS", and went back to my little cubbyhole in the office with no windows and went back to sleep.

 

[Mike McDonald]

Ironically, last week was Severe Weather Awareness Week in Alabama. On Wednesday, February 21 was Tornado Safety. Part of the message of the day was:

If you are in a large business...school...hospital...shopping center...or factory...go to the designated shelter area. If a shelter area is not available...the best place to go is an interior hallway on the lowest level. Stay away from the structurally weaker portions of buildings such as windows and rooms with expansive roofs...which are more likely to collapse when tornadoes strike. Do not waste time opening windows in an attempt to prevent damage to a building. The old belief that damage could result from rapid pressure changes during a tornado is not true. It will not make any difference in a tornado if the window is open or not. Your safest course of action is to take shelter immediately when a tornado warning is issued for your area.

Mike

 

[beaudodson]

It is way to early to determine what happened over there. Let's not jump to conclusions.

IF everyone on here cares then I would suggest you do the following

1. Make sure the schools in your county have weather radios and HAVE THEM PROGRAMMED correctly. Who cares if the schools all have weather radios if they do not know how to use them or program them properly.

2. Make sure your local schools know that it is a bad idea to put kids in a gym or any other building with a large roof span.

If we all want to do something about this then let's be PRO-ACTIVE and deal with our own counties. I know that we will be doing exactly that during the next week or two.

 

[David Schuttler]

According to 2 students it was a hallway roof.
From FoxNews

After the storm passed, she found the hallway she was in was spared, but a roof and wall collapsed on students in another hallway.
"People didn't know where to go. They were trying to lead us out of the building. I kept seeing people with blood on their faces," Garcia said.
Martha Rodriquez, a 15-year-old sophomore at the high school, said she had left the school about five minutes before the storm hit. When she returned, she said that "a hall at the school collapsed, and there were kids inside."

 

[B Ozanne]

Everything I've seen this morning indicates more of a miracle than negligent homicide. Students huddled in closets and hallways. The nearby hospital had an immediate response, setting up triage. The military was right on their heels with search, rescue, and evacuation.

Quite frankly, I'm always amazed that more people didn't die, especially after seeing the photos.