Smoke in the SPED suite set off alarms Tuesday morning before first period, resulting in students and staff evacuating, which delayed first period for about 20 minutes.
“It wasn’t minor, but there weren’t any flames that we witnessed or anything, just smoke in the little kitchenette,” principal Laurie Kinne said. “You can definitely smell the smoke in that hallway.”
Kinne was proud to see how quickly the building was cleared. Some students were already in their first period class while others were roaming the hallways.
“It was all-hands-on-deck and everybody cleared the building really quickly,” Kinne said. “Our staff stepped up super fast, extremely fast and so I was proud to see how well we handled situations that aren’t planned.”
Officers helped ventilate the room with fans afterward. Classes around the SPED suite have been relocated to the school’s teacher planning centers and also the small tornado gym. Kinne hopes this change will only last “one or two days at the most.”
“Everyone’s been so flexible, and that’s what I love about our staff,” Kinne said. “When something arises, it’s all hands on deck. ‘What do you need?’ ‘How can we help?’ It was really great to see how quickly we can handle those situations.”
