The Tyrone Area School District is alerting residents to a scheduled evacuation drill which will be conducted next week.
In a release from Principal Rebecca Erb, the drill will be conducted on Monday between 1:25 p.m. and 2 p.m.
The district wanted to get the word out to the community to avoid any panic.
Erb said this is the first time the school is attempting the evacuation drill on a district-wide basis. She said such drills have been done at the elementary level in the past.
Erb said about 1,900 students will be evacuated during the drill. She noted that counting school staff more than 2,000 people will be moved during the exercise. Erb said the drill was being conducted because the district is always looking for ways to improve its emergency plan. She said the district-wide evacuation plan had been implemented four years ago but had never been tested.
According to the release, the purpose of the drill is to smoothly and efficiently evacuate all staff, students and visitors to the district ball fields.
The drill’s objective is to assess the effectiveness of the traffic flow of students and staff across the district’s foot bridge and down Clay Avenue.
The drill is also designed to time the complete evacuation of all staff and students from the elementary, middle school and high school facilities.
Several staff have been designated to handle crisis team assignments to help in the success of the drill. Students will be asked to remain quiet as they make their way to the athletic park.
